Garden Studios

It will explain the role a few of Britain’s great houses played in the course of the First World War and other conflicts.

The Historic Houses Wartime Trail reveals which HHA property was home to the last surviving war horse; which house was converted to an army hospital by a Duchess who acted as Officer to blame; and which property was used as a secret US naval marine camp in World War Two.

Many of those houses even have superb gardens, consisting of Castle Howard, near York, winner of the HHA/Christie’s Garden of the Year Award 2011.

Castle Howard’s 1,000 acres of grounds includes gardens with a proper baroque layout between two lakes and the famous Prince of Wales Fountain.

There is additionally a cascade, the Temple of 4 Winds and the Mausoleum, in addition to a walled garden.

Spring bulbs are entering their very own at present, and it won’t be long before the gathering of rhododendrons, rare trees, magnolias and azaleas are in bloom in Ray Wood.

The house, designed by architect Sir John Vanbrugh in 1699 for Charles Howard, 3rd Earl of Carlisle, is better-known for its role within the TV adaptation of Brideshead Revisited and is arguably the best Baroque stately home in Britain.

It has fabulous collections of paintings and classical sculpture.

Between 1815 and 1944, five Howards were killed in action and a lot of of the workers suffered bereavement – as commemorated on war memorials within the estate villages.

Castle Howard is open daily, although the walled garden might be closed for repairs in the course of the following couple of weeks.

For information visit www.castlehoward.co.uk and to determine more concerning the Historic Houses Wartime Trail click the link  www.hha.org.uk/friends-page/focus-on-properties/explorer-trails.html

There also are two other online trails to explore: the nice British Royalty Trail and the nice British Games Trail.

The trails are all available at the HHA website at www.hha.org.uk