Finally decided to write a review for here and several years of visiting. This time we visited for the Christmas ‘Alice in Wonderland’ in the house this month. Fantastic display, even better than last years. The work that must go into it is crazy and the great big Christmas tree. Being a Castle Howard member, I usually get up 3-4 times a year. The grounds are fantastic with hours of wandering around through gardens, woods and open fields. The kids love the playground which I consider one of the best there is, split over 2 parts with the bridge between them. Food and drinks are good quality though depending on time of year and which outlet you use they can get very busy. All in all well worth going especially with the membership which requires a couple of visits a year to get your money back, which is easily find with how good it is.

We went to the Christmas display at castle Howard on a Saturday. The castle is beautifully decorated, like a fairy tale. At some areas it felt a bit crowded but most of the time it was all right and enough opportunities to take photos. We went to Chatsworth last year, but the rooms at castle Howard were definitely much nicer. It really had the wow factor. Every time we went to a different room it surprised us. The only reason I gave it 4 stars (for the castle I would have given 10 if it was possible) is: normally you don’t need to pay for parking, but now we had to pay £6 on top of the entrance tickets. Our entrance time was 3 pm and we did not know that we already could enter the grounds and enjoy the gardens and marquee before. We had to queue 30 minutes for a coffee in the courtyard with nowhere to sit. And lastly the waiting time to go in the house was very long, luckily it was not raining. The only good thing about this was that when we came out it was dark and it felt magical to walk back in the gardens with the Christmas lights. Definitely would visit again, but probably on a weekday.

I could not fault the fabulous location nor its farmshop and butchery (with super helpful butchers) The only disappointment was the courtyard cafe. In all honesty I could only give an average score because the cooking of the food was….Average. 3 of us visited and all 3 were disappointed. Eggs Royale - The poached eggs were hard and way too much smoked salmon which caused an overbalance of flavours that were too rich Eggs Benedict - Poached eggs were hard and what little bacon was there was, was cold Cheeseburger - bacon was way too thick and overcooked. Strongly suggest that staff review how to cook poached eggs and look at the portions of bacon and salmon A further suggestion is that perhaps staff can ask owners of very large dogs who repeatedly bark in the cafe to exit.

I would like to give a big shout out to the lovely young lady who served me the best takeaway flat white on Saturday morning - all with a big smile! The Christmas House was less satisfying unfortunately- timed slot but slow queues and very slow courtyard service at 3pm! Not sure why I had to pay car parking when people parked for free!

Alice in wonderland theme was beautifully done but we preferred last years Peter Pan theme. We arrived at early a little early at 1110 for our 1130 slot and we were allowed in. A steady queue throughout. Really nice food in the marquee but £12.95 for a beef roll and £4.50 for a cupcake is very steep but these types of places do seem to be on the higher price. It was a nice treat for Christmas.

The decorations were nice to see and the theming was spot on … one of the most outstanding memories I now have is in the room with a log fire roaring with the huge spectacular Christmas tree in it. The Kelly train was very useful and a bonus was it was great to see the grounds from, as my mum would not have been able to walk the distances required from the courtyard to the house never mind the grounds. The only down side to the visit was the sheer amount of standing in queues. The one to get in the house was 1/2 hour stood in the cold, there was a small part with a shelter but much of it uncovered so thank goodness it wasn’t raining. Although we had our coats, we got very cold just stood. Once in the house a lot of time was spent waiting in dark corridors to enter a room. we were not expecting this having booked a time slot. Judging by other comments fellow visitors made and conversation on the train we were not alone in this. That length of time is difficult and some times not always possible for people with certain conditions for example one man had a back problem and a mum had a child who had autism. For this reason as much as I and my mum enjoyed seeing the decorations we wont be doing so next year.

My daughter took me to see the wonderful adventures of Alice in wonderland at Castle Howard. I was not disappointed, there was plenty of parking spaces ,plenty of disabled spaces. You can use a standard wheelchair to get around, they have a wheelchair accessible lift with which a volunteer goes up with you, it's very slow but that's because of the safety. Most of the staff are volunteers, they were very helpful, very friendly and answered and questions that you might have. Every single item was hand made, the colours the lights and the models were were all fantastic even the flowers were put together beautifully. But the most inspiring thing was the 25ft Christmas tree in the main hall, adorned with things from Alice's adventure. It was the best 2hrs I have had in a long time.

After not being back to Castle Howard since I was a child, I was very much looking forward to the visit to see the Alice in Wonderland Christmas festival. Although tickets are pricy I thought it was worth every penny, fun, colourful a bit mad, and on the whole well put together. I can get some points about the story being lost in areas but well, why not. The main Christmas tree was superb, others that were themed were well done and eye-catching. We were not rushed, it was all done in a very leisurely pace, it was not crowded at all even though our 'slot' was sold out you could see everything without waiting. Good interaction with staff in the different rooms as well. So lovely to see all the real fires lit, made it all the more Christmassy. A visit also to the Chapel, which had beautiful nativity set out, I'm glad I did not skip this. Had food in the marquee, yes some items were expensive but the pizzas were good and the Christmas Lunch pizza, was a one off! You can also buy Christmas themed gifts in the marquee, though some items were very overpriced for what they were. Then a walk out in the grounds, I love a bleak winter landscape, and must congratulate the ground staff on how well everything looked. Few other comments, each and every member of staff was welcoming, helpful and professional, making the visit more special. However feel the toilet facilities in the courtyard were less than clean and perhaps more visits to clean/tidy when its busy. I would of gave 5* but for one thing, and yes there is the stock answer for this from the reply's of Castle Howard, but I think its rather greedy and very grabby to charge £7 to park at this time of year, no matter what the reasons are for 'providing' a safe car park, should that not be a given for such a visit at any time?. Having said that, we had a fantastic visit from start to finish, thoroughly enjoyable all round

What a joy. The tine and effort spent on this Christmas display was simply magical. It led you through rooms of Alice in Wonderland, the decorations and projections were gorgeous, well worth the money. Nice cafe, pop up Betty’s, farm shop and gift shop, let’s not forget a visit to Santa as well. Will definitely visit again. Thank you.

We visited to see the Christmas Alice in wonderland special, we all enjoyed it. It was extremely busy and had to queue all the way round the house, so I didn't think you couldn't take it in properly as we were always surrounded by people and often felt you couldn't stand and look too long. I feel that extremely expensive for what you get, and some of the grounds were closed due to the weather. Everything in the shop was ridiculously expensive, and a felt Christmas decoration was £15. We had the mad hatters afternoon tea, it was ok but you didn't get much for your money. All the staff were lovely, kind and friendly. We also nipped into Betty's pop-up shop, but again, everything was silly prices. Overall, we had a nice few hours. the day cost me about £250. Would I go again? No, not worth the money. It was £36 pp I think it was only worth about £15 -£20 max for the house tour. I can't remember how much the afternoon tea was. Parking cost about £6.