Ripley Castle 1) Please COPY the ENTIRE FORM below and paste it into an email to start 2) UPDATE your information carefully. We check it, but might not notice any errors, etc. 3) Prefix the SECTION HEADERS with: *** - Example: ***Opening Days: (new info) 4) email the ENTIRE FORM UPDATED back to us ASAP: wd (at) armchair-travel (dot) com **************************************************************** **************************************************************** Garden Name: Ripley Castle Last Modified (we set this): 08-02-2013 Garden ID (we set this): 0441 pic (we set this): 0441_RipleyCastle.jpg NOTE: If "missing", then please send us a picture for which is at least 1000 x 1000 pixels in size. Thanks! Garden Owner: Sir Thomas Ingilby Bt. Address: Harrogate Postcode: HG3 3AY County: Yorkshire Country: tel: 01423 770152 fax: 01423 771745 website: www.ripleycastle.co.uk public email: enquiries //at// ripleycastle.co.uk admin / private email: (add here for GG-only usage) group master website: English Heritage Grade (I, II, II*): I Opening Days & Times: Every day (except Christmas Day, Boxing Day and New Year's Day); 9am - 5pm. 4.30pm in winter months Parties / Coaches (Yes/No): Yes Parties / Coaches Comments: Welcomed. Viewing by Appointment (Yes/No): Yes Viewing by Appointment Comments: Groups Yes if tour with Gardeners requiredcontact Group Tour co-ordinator, Lesley Senior House Open for Viewing (Yes/No): Yes House Open Comments/Dates/Times: All year. Guided Tours only (approx.max.75mins) first 11am - last 3pm. Open April - end Oct daily. Mar & Nov, - Tues, Thurs, Sat & Sun. Jan, Feb & Dec; Weekends only.(Please visit website as Tours times vary seasonally) National/Scotland Garden Scheme days (Yes/No): Yes NGS/SGS Comments (PLEASE include DATES and Times): Best Times of Year to Visit: All year ...To see (pair by line with Best times to visit): Spring Flowers, Hyacinths, herbaceous borders. Admission Prices: Castle & Gardens, Adult £9.00; Child (5-16) £5.50; Over 60s £8. Children in groups £5. Children under 5 free. Groups (20+) £8.00Gardens only, Adult £6; Child £4; Over 60s £5.50. Children in groups £3.50. Children under 5 free. Groups (20+) £5Annual Pass available, check own website 12 (Yes/No only) items follow here- Parking: Yes Lavatories: Yes Disabled Access: Yes Shop: Yes Plants for Sale: Yes Lunches: Yes Teas: Yes Refreshments: Yes Picnics: No Dogs allowed: No Only on Lead: No Events: Yes Other Facilities or Comments on (Yes/No) items above: Guide dogs are permitted Special Features, Events/Dates and other comments: Winner of Best Small Visitor Attraction of the Year - Welcome to Yorkshire White Rose AwardsNEW for 2013 themed speciality tours - "Love and Heroines" looks at the love lives, losses and courage of some of the Ingilby Ladies. The "Skeletons in the Closet" tour reveals some of the intrigue and more colourful aspects of the Ingilby through 700 years of history. "Blood and Treason" is a truly "horrible" tour telling of Civil War, Kings and Conspirators all within one Yorkshire family. "Family Life" is a speciality tour exploring 700 years of one family focusing on day to day life in a Castle throughout the centuries. National Collection: Hyacinths Garden Designer: Description of Garden: Ripley Castle gardens are intended to be a delight at any time of the year, but are particularly impressive in the Spring when the wonderful collection of Hyacinths is in bloom in the Walled Garden. There are some 60 varieties of Hyacinth grown here, some traditional, some modern. The remainder of the Walled Garden is filled with lawns, beds and borders and some rare fruit trees. Vegetables, herbs and spices are grown here for the Castle's table. The herbaceous borders are some of the longest in Britain.The extraordinary range of hot houses, renovated in 1991, are some 60 yards long, and contain a huge variety of cacti, ferns and tropical plants including citrus, begonias and bananas. In the centre of the hot houses is the Orangery-cum-Palm House crowned over its whole area by a roof of curved glass, like that of a Dutch barn. In the Pleasure Grounds, a walk around the lake allows glimpses of the herds of Fallow and Red deer which graze under the ancient oak trees. Garden History: The gardens at Ripley were originally intended purely to supply the Castle with fruit and vegetables to complement the home farm's supply of meat and dairy produce. When Sir John Ingilby's over-ambitious plans for rebuilding the castle forced him and his wife into exile in the 1780s, gardening remained one of his consolations and he even requested his agent to bring him over a variety of seeds from Ripley, as they were much better than the ones he could obtain in France.His son, Sir William, started on a massive scheme to improve the estate, and especially the gardens, in the 1820s, with a Walled Garden of 4 acres separated into formal, flower and vegetable gardens by brick and stone walls. He also laid out the Pleasure Grounds of eight acres and the extraordinary set of hot houses on the other side of the wall of the formal garden. Local Inns (name, town): The Boar's Head, RipleyMalt Shovel, Brearton Accommodation (name, town): The Boar's Head Hotel, Ripley Restaurants (name, town): The Boar's Head, Ripley Village/Town/Sightseeing: HarrogateRHS Harlow Carr GardensFountains AbbeyYorkshire DalesNewby HallCastle HowardHarewood House