Stately Homes in Yorkshire with Beautiful Gardens

Stately Homes in Yorkshire – Yorkshire has some truly magnificent stately homes with completely stunning gardens.  Here are some of my favourites:

Beningbrough Hall

Beningbrough Hall near York was built in the 18th century, and has been shaped by its numerous occupants.  It was built by a wealthy teenager, occupied by the RAF in the Second World War and later became a country-house gallery with the National Portrait Gallery.  It’s a lovely relaxed place to visit and has a fabulous children’s playground that was extended in the summer of 2018.  The gardens are beautiful and set over eight acres.  In 2016 Andy Sturgeon started implementing his garden vision and 300,000 bulbs were planted along the ha-ha walk.  Read our review of Beningbrough Hall here.

beningbrough hall (12)

Castle Howard

The Castle Howard Estate, which features over 200 listed buildings and monuments, is situated within the Howardian Hills, a designated Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty 15 miles north-east of York.  It’s a magnificent building, and a real treat to visit at Christmas too.  The children’s adventure playground is a great size and there is a lake where you can take boat trips too.  There are stunning walled gardens and the daffodils in Spring are glorious.  See our review of Castle Howard in the summer here and our review at Christmas here.

Family Days out in Yorkshire with the Kids – 30+ Ideas!

Harewood House

Near Leeds, Harewood sits in the heart of Yorkshire and is one of the Treasure Houses of England. The House was built in the 18th century and has art collections to rival the finest in Britain.  At the front of the house sit formal gardens with a stunning view.  There is a marvellous adventure playground – one of the best I have seen for older children.  They also have a collection of Humboldt penguins that you can watch being fed (maybe take a brolly to protect you from the seagulls overhead – I was caught out last time!).  You can see our review of Harewood House here.

Harewood House North Front view

Sledmere House

Sledmere House is not too far from us, near Driffield and we have visited many times since the children were small.  From the website: Sledmere is a Georgian House – and it is also an Edwardian House. Sir Christopher Sykes, 2nd baronet, rebuilt and redecorated the house in the 1790s, but in 1911 it was almost completely destroyed by fire. Fortunately most of the contents were rescued and they can still be seen on view today. It is worth a visit just to see the splendour of Joseph Rose’s plasterwork and the fine examples of furniture by Chippendale, Hepplewhite and Sheraton.  Sledmere House runs regular events throughout the year, one of our perennial favourites is the Deer Safari.  As the garden changes with the seasons you are offered an extensive collection of daffodils and other spring bulbs, vibrant tulips, wonderful scented roses and a stunning late summer display of tender perennials and annuals in the acclaimed double ‘exotic’ borders.  I found some identical scented roses in this online flower shop.

Stately Homes Yorkshire

Burton Agnes Hall

Built between 1598 and 1610 by Sir Henry Griffith, Burton Agnes Hall is an Elizabethan stately home that has stayed within our family for more than four hundred years. Fifteen generations have filled the Hall with treasures, from magnificent carvings commissioned when the Hall was built to French Impressionist paintings, contemporary furniture, tapestries and other modern artwork in recent years.  Another favourite of ours, we have visited many times over the years, they do a fabulous ‘Pirates and Princesses’ party over the summer and a spooky Hallowe’en trail in the Autumn.

Stately Homes in Yorkshire

Stately Homes Yorkshire

There are so many stately homes in Yorkshire, it really is a treasure trove of beautiful houses!