£500,000 funding support to complete outdoor visitor attraction

Property consultancy Carter Jonas has helped North Yorkshire stately home Castle Howard realise its vision for a new visitor attraction by securing funding of up to £500,000.

The money is from The Agricultural Mortgage Corporation (AMC), a provider of long term mortgages for land and rural-based businesses.

The funding was structured in a way to provide flexibility for Castle Howard and consolidates the strong historic lending relationship.

It has enabled Castle Howard to redevelop its existing play area and extend it further into adjacent woodland to create a visitor attraction called Skelf Island.

Designed by CAP.Co – which stands for “Creating Adventurous Places” – Skelf Island comprises a series of treetop nests connected by rope bridges, slides, nets and climbing equipment to emulate the natural landscape and is inspired by the bird life and ecology that can be found on the land surrounding the Great Lake.

At ground level, there is a picnic area and connecting walkway to the existing adventure playground, which remains in place.

The concept was developed to encourage children and their families to engage with nature through wilderness and adventure play.

Castle Howard commissioned illustrator Steve Pearce to bring the legend of the Skelves to life, who have inhabited a secret world over the water of Castle Howard’s Great Lake for centuries. They are said to cause mischief and mayhem high up in the trees, interact with the birds and protect the wildlife.

Dan Taylor, Partner at Carter Jonas, said: “Skelf Island not only cements Castle Howard’s position as one of Britain’s best leisure destinations, but underscores its commitment to environmental stewardship.

“The new adventure playground sets out to educate and engage children with nature, which is a critical to safeguarding the environment for future generations.

“We are proud to have helped the team at Castle Howard realise its vision for this important diversification project and we are certain visitors will thoroughly enjoy the new attraction, which will complement the existing offering on the Estate.

“AMC have been supportive of a variety of diversification projects recently and this is a great example of what can be achieved.”

John Hoy, CEO of Castle Howard, said: “Creating sustainable wildlife habitats is a major priority for the team at Castle Howard, and this latest family-orientated addition will allow young visitors to learn, through play, the importance of the environment around them and encourage participation with other wildlife projects across the estate.”