Hovingham Hall

This attractive family home, with its stunning architecture, was designed and built by Thomas Worsley between 1750 and 1770. Oliver Cromwell was an ancestor of the Worsley family and there is a portrait and a bust of Cromwell in the house.

The house was the childhood home of the Duchess of Kent, who was married here in 1961 with a reception attended by many of the crowned heads of Europe. It is unique in being entered through an enormous riding school which is approached through a large stone arch from the village street.

There are wonderful vaulted ceilings on the ground floor, while the principal rooms have different architectural styles and are gracefully decorated and furnished. The house has important collections of pictures and furniture.

To the north and west of the house lie the attractive gardens with magnificent yew hedges, lawns and flower beds. A principal feature of the gardens is the seventeenth-century dovecote.

Cricket has been played in front of the house since the 1830s and the ground has been played on by many of the Yorkshire greats. It is reputed to be the oldest continuously played on private cricket ground in England.