Constructed in the 1870s, the staircase forms the beginning of the tour of the house. It features a collection of antique sculptures and family portraits which hang beneath a skylight containing 74 panes of glass.
The Victorian mahogany china cabinet was moved to the China Landing in 1882 and enlarged for the 9th Countess. Today it houses over 300 pieces of china, mostly Meissen, Sèvre and Chelsea.
The bedroom of Georgiana Cavendish, 6th Countess of Carlisle, from the 1830s until her death. The room is filled with 19th century portraits of the Howard family and their relations.
Known briefly as the Yellow Dressing Room in 1825 when it contained two French mahogany ladies' cabinets and a pair of mahogany Pembroke tables, this room was always used as Lady Carlisle's Dressing Room.
During the 19th Century the room was used as Lord Carlisle's Dressing Room. The wallpaper, rose branch on gold ground, was bought from Maples in London in 1884 by the 9th Countess.
The earliest description of this room dates from c.1812 when it was known as Lady Morpeth's Dressing Room. By 1825 the room was briefly known as Lady Cawdor's Dressing Room before being used as Lord Carlisle, the sixth Earl's bedroom.
Running the length of the house from east to west, the Antique Passage is lined with busts, statues, marble table tops and urns collected chiefly by the 4th Earl during his second visit to Italy in 1738-39.
The Great Hall is the crowning masterpiece of Vanbrugh's design. From the outside the dome presents Castle Howard with a unique silhouette; on the inside the hall rises 70 feet into the air and is decorated with columns, carvings and painted frescos.
Recently restored and opened to the public following the fire of 1940, the view from the High South Balcony takes in the Great Hall beneath, the dome above and the masonry, ironwork and painted details of this vast space.
Transformed into sets for the filming of Brideshead Revisited in 2008, the lost High South Saloon rooms are now used as exhibition space detailing the tragedy of the fire of 1940 and the story of filming Brideshead Revisited, not just once but twice.
Like the High South rooms, the original Garden Hall was lost to the fire of 1940 and would have originally been decorated by Pellegrini. It was restored for the first filming of Brideshead in 1981 and decorated by artist Felix Kelly.
Marking the furthest point of the fire of 1940 which destroyed almost twenty rooms, the Cabinet Room is now used as an exhibition space and behind its drapes lies the bare brick walls.
Originally known as the Blue Velvet Drawing Room and then briefly referred to as the Blue Dining Room, this room seems to have alternated between being a Drawing Room and a Billiard Room until becoming known as the Music Room in the early part of the 19th Century.
Originally known as the State Bedchamber this room was decorated with yellow damask and dominated by a four poster bed. Later it doubled as a Billiard Room/Games Room and in 2002 it was renamed the Crimson Dining Room after the red silk damask that covers the walls.
When the House was first built this room consisted of a small chamber used as Dressing Rooms with an adjacent closet; later in the century it was turned into a Drawing Room. In 2002 the room was refurbished and the walls covered in a turquoise damask which was specially designed and woven for the room.
Apart from the Chapel, the Museum Room is the most Victorian in the house. The Japanese leather wallpaper was purchased by the 9th Countess, while the walls are filled with landscapes painted by the 9th Earl.
Built by Sir Thomas Robinson in the 1750s the interior of the Long Gallery remained unfinished for half a century. Conceived of as a gallery in which to display paintings and sculpture it extends 160ft in length.
This area was in use as a chapel by the end of the 18th century and had previously been a dining room. It is lavishly decorated with William Morris and Edward Burne-Jones designs and in 2014 had new LED lighting installed.