The team at Castle Howard are busy cleaning the House ready for the new season. The Grounds including the woodlands, adventure playground and gardens remain open to the public daily, but before the House re-opens on 30th March our team take a few weeks to deep clean.

If you think a spot of dusting is light work then think again. Our team of housekeepers and caretakers have the challenge of 'extreme dusting' 70 feet up in the air when it comes to Castle Howard's iconic Great Hall, with the Dome designed by Sir John Vanbrugh in the 1600s, long before modern cherry pickers and cleaning equipment had even been conceived. We estimate we hoover up 2080KG of dust every year!

A total of 8640 hours are allocated each year to our team who look after the cleaning of this magnificent North Yorkshire Stately Home. On the jobs list the team have 846 square meters of floors to wax and buff, which uses 350 liters of wax a year. Not to mention the 3001 window panes that take 1200 liters of purified water to clean.

With 301 rooms, 59 staircases and 897 steps the job description for our team includes the need to be fit and willing to cover a lot of ground. No need for fit bits or step counts here!

In any historic environment it takes a lot of care and planning to undertake the upkeep and cleaning as we need to ensure all of the art, artifacts and furnishings are not damaged or put at risk. This can involve hours of environmental control and seeking out the correct products and techniques that can be used to preserve and conserve this spectacular home. For example 4160 litres of water is removed by dehumidifiers per year.

Admission tickets for the new season are now on sale here.

Photo Credit: Charlotte Graham.