The castle and gardens are now open. Please purchase tickets on arrival on your preferred day. Our last day of opening is Friday 1st November 2024. Dismiss
We are delighted to confirm that our lovely castle, country gardens and tearoom, near Leyburn, North Yorkshire, are open from Saturday 2nd March to Friday 1st November 2024. Tickets are available on the day, it is not necessary to pre-book. We look forward to welcoming visitors to enjoy our gardens, including our maze, vineyard and superb views across the glorious Wensleydale valley and our impressive medieval castle and shop which has lots of locally produced gifts and souvenirs. Our castle tearoom with quality freshly made cakes, quiches, sandwiches and other homemade food along with hot and cold beverages is open every day. The falconry displays will be taking place twice a day as well as our daily archery demonstration and Wild Boar talk and feed.
We look forward to welcoming you back!
Here at Bolton Castle we’re looking to grow our green credentials by becoming a member of Green Tourism and recognising and supporting eco-friendly achievements throughout our visitor offer. These will be primarily in our practices but will also need the support of our visitors. The initiatives include reducing energy use, saving water, efficient and eco-friendly waste disposal, ethical buying, staying local and seasonal, minimising food miles, promoting biodiversity and adopting a smart, sustainable outlook. Some of these we’re already doing, and some need improvement. Come on our journey with us to win a Green Tourism award and do your bit along the way. For more information, please visit Green Tourism or sign up to our Newsletter for further updates (see our home page).
We’re a Travellers Choice Award Winner, which means we’re ‘in the top 10% of visitor attractions WORLDWIDE! We ‘stood out by providing great service and experiences to our guests’ – all part of our everyday commitment to our visitors. Congratulations team! #TravelersChoice
Brilliant Castle with lots to see and do - and a great café too!What a fantastic Castle! So much to see, every room was so interesting. Lots of info, but not too much to get boring. The day we visited was bright and sunny, the view from the roof top was truly 360' and we could see for miles! The star of the place was LEE! He did a brilliant chat and display of Archery and then we were truly entertained and informed about the birds of prey that he obviously is totally passionate about, flying display and close-up contact with beautiful birds. It was superb. Finally we went to see the Wild Boars with their little Humbug piglets! Our lunch in the cafe was delicious and so fresh. We cannot recommend this highly enough.
From all of us at YDCCC a huge thank you for Sunday. Please thank all of the staff at the castle for being very kind and extremely helpful. Everyone who attended was very happy at the location for our picnic as you can imagine. It was also nice to see visitors having a look around the cars. Sadly with the arrival of the rain we had to leave in a hurry and did not get to thank the staff in person. So please pass on my thanks to all who helped to make our day a very special one. Look forward to visiting again in the future.Mike Cowan
I just wanted to say my husband and I visited the Castle and thought it the most splendid place! From the staff, Tea Room, signage information so well presented, but one of my main reasons for contacting you was to say that Kelly, one of your members of staff excelled herself. We joined her for a bit of archery, managed to hit the board, my husband 86 and myself 77 didn’t do too badly! Her rapport and information with the Birds of Prey was second to none, she obviously loves her job, she is truly an asset to the Castle, thank you. Please pass on this email to the relevant source, thank you.
Another brilliant experience on Friday with my pre booked 2 clients from OhioBirds of prey on arrival for 3pm falconry display; followed by castle and boars feeding - whilst I had time to feed in your cafe tooJust brilliant - thanks and we always get a genuine warm welcome from all you staff and the ladies in the cafe too !Warmest regards,Nick
To Bolton Castle staff,My father and I visited Bolton Castle today (Friday 21st July) and I wanted to express our gratitude for the wonderful experience we had. The Castle staff were all so friendly and welcoming.I was most impressed with the Lad who facilitated the Falconry and Archery. His knowledge on the birds was phenomenal and his presence and confidence during his time showing the birds was wonderful to watch, we were really impressed.We really appreciated his time spent answering questions and chatting with us and the other Castle guests.Thank you so much for a great experience.
Download our new audio App from Apple's App Store or Google Play Store and hear the stories of the castle brought alive. Our easy to navigate App is a fun way to find out about our turbulent history, our castle incumbents and their way of life through the ages. There's an audio tour for each room of the castle, so you can dip in and out as much as you wish, with voices from our Living History team who know and love the castle. Find out about Mary Queen of Scots' captivity, how Lord Scrope's army prepared for war, and how the servants made sure life included some luxuries as well as day to day chores to keep this home functioning, amongst other sneak peeks on life in a castle. It's time to immerse yourself in our history and find out more than you ever thought you needed to know! Free with entry, the audio App lets you unlock the stories behind the castle walls.
Bolton Castle in Wensleydale provides a huge range of exciting things to do in Yorkshire. From family days out to educational trips and historic tours you will find a raft of sights, sounds and smells which bring the castle to life and make for a truly memorable trip.
Bolton Castle is one of the country’s best preserved medieval castles; originally built as one of the finest and most luxurious homes in the land, the castle bears the scars of over 600 years of fascinating history. The castle is still in the private ownership of Lord Bolton, the direct descendant of the castle’s original owner Sir Richard le Scrope.