Last week we visited Castle Howard, as a press visit to see the Tony Cragg sculptures that are displayed there until the 22nd of September. There is always plenty to see at Castle Howard anyway, but the sculptures give an extra dimension – you can see more photos of them here.
While we were there we stopped for lunch at the Courtyard Cafe; you can read more about it and view the current menu here. I follow Castle Howard on Facebook and they are always posting fabulous photos from the Courtyard Cafe, so I was keen to try it out. It’s located in (you guessed it!) the courtyard as you approach Castle Howard. There is also a gift shop and farm shop here (and the loos!), but it’s before you go in, so you could just visit the cafe and shops (and perhaps the garden centre) without actually going into Castle Howard itself if you were short of time for the full day’s visit.
The Courtyard Cafe has seating indoors over two floors as well as a large seating area outside, which is lovely on a warm day. We were greeted at the door by lovely, friendly staff, who were very accommodating when we asked for a quieter table (our youngest is neurodiverse, and a quieter table to the side makes all the difference to our experience).
The cafe serves brunch, lunch and homemade cakes and sweets. You can order from the brunch menu at lunchtime too if you fancy something lighter (or a full English!). It’s child friendly (I saw a stack of high chairs) and they have a children’s menu available on request.
It’s dog friendly too and dogs are also welcome in the gardens. If you look in the photo above you will see a ‘doggy sausage’ I have been assured this is for the doggies and not made from them! They are proper sausages too, from the farm shop!
We all tried different items for lunch. I am a big cheese fan, so plumped for the Yorkshire Rarebit (toasted sourdough crumpets, topped with cheddar rarebit and bacon and served with salad and chutney.
My husband went for the Full English, otherwise known as the Stable Courtyard breakfast (Estate butchery sausage, smoked bacon, black pudding, fried egg, portobello mushroom, tomato and baked beans with a toasted muffin). He asked for no mushrooms and they offered an extra egg instead!
Finally our youngest went for fish and chips, which were served with mushy peas and tartare sauce. I think this was the best dish as the fish was huge, but the stand out component were the simply marvellous chunky chips (some of which were hidden under the fish in the below photo). You can buy a portion of chips on their own, I would definitely recommend them! You can even get rarebit topped chips!
Finally, we decided to try out the cafe’s homemade desserts. My husband chose the rhubarb crumble and ice cream (he said it was lovely – he was worried it might be a bit tart, but it wasn’t!).
My youngest went for this huge scone with jam, cream and butter (always nice to see butter – often it is missing and you just have jam and cream).
I went for the sticky pineapple upside-down cake which was delicious.
The staff were lovely and welcoming and took great care of us. It was a real treat!
We visited the cafe as part of our press visit to Castle Howard. As always, all opinions expressed are my own.
