Tour country houses, art collections, and medieval sites across Yorkshire and Durham. 

Travel with Oxford-educated art historian Frank Dabell for an inside look at Yorkshire and Durham’s country houses, museums, Georgian interiors, and medieval architecture.  Begin with a special after-hours visit to Ripley Castle, owned by the same family for over 700 years, followed by Champagne Afternoon Tea in the Drawing Room. Explore Harewood House’s neoclassical interiors, furniture made for the house by Thomas Chippendale, Italian Renaissance paintings, and portraits by Reynolds and Gainsborough. Visit the UNESCO-listed Fountains Abbey and Studley Royal Water Garden, and take a guided look at the Centre of Ceramic Art at York Art Gallery, which holds over 5,500 works by British studio potters. 

In Durham, enter the cathedral to see the shrine of St. Cuthbert, a seventh-century monk and bishop, and medieval paintings in the Galilee Chapel. Tour Durham Castle, the former palace of the Prince-Bishops, including the Great Hall and 12th-century Norman Chapel. At the Bowes Museum in Barnard Castle, view European paintings and decorative arts inside a 19th- century French-style museum built by John and Joséphine Bowes for the public.   

Highlights

• Tour Ripley Castle after hours and take Champagne Afternoon Tea in the Drawing Room of a house owned by one family for over 700 years. 
• Explore the grandeur of Castle Howard, a spectacular Baroque stately home with richly layered interiors and historic art collections.
• Visit Harewood House, an elegant 18th‑century Palladian country house with acclaimed collections of Italian Renaissance paintings, Chippendale furniture and works by British masters in an iconic Yorkshire setting.
• Wander the art and interiors at Newby Hall & Gardens, where Gobelins tapestries and classical sculpture illuminate Georgian collecting and taste.
• View a leading collection of British studio ceramics at York Art Gallery, which holds over 5,500 works by twentieth-century potters.
• Explore Treasurer’s House and Barley Hall, historic York city residences filled with antiques, textiles and curated displays that tell layered stories of urban life through the ages.
• See the extraordinary collections at the Bowes Museum, a French‑style château in Barnard Castle holding masterpieces by El Greco, Goya, Canaletto and decorative arts spanning porcelain to tapestries.
• Discover Durham Cathedral and Castle, a UNESCO World Heritage Site. Admire the cathedral’s grand Norman architecture and the revered tomb of St. Cuthbert and walk through the castle’s impressive Great Hall and 12th-century Chapel for a glimpse at medieval power and daily life. 
• Encounter the dramatic ruins of one of England’s richest medieval Cistercian abbeys at Fountains Abbey and Studley Royal Water Garden, a UNESCO World Heritage Site. 

Photos Courtesy of VisitBritain