As more country landowners look to make their estates and heritage properties work for events, CN visits a hidden Yorkshire gem owned by Lord Gerald Fitzalan Howard in Selby.
CN recently joined a group of corporate booking agents and meeting planners to taste #TheCarltonExperience for events, and teambuilding at Carlton Towers in Yorkshire.
The beautiful heritage venue is well hidden from the slightly less beautiful Drax electricity plant towers in nearby Selby, and owner Lord Gerald Fitzalan Howard has made a major investment in the house and 258 acres of grounds to open this Yorkshire venue jewel out for wider private event hire.
The dozen or so agents and planners were offered a VIP taste of the space and activities possible to undertake at Carlton Towers, including chocolate making and pizza Masterclasses at Cooks, located in the house basement. Cooks opened in May 2014 after a renovation project that brought the disused servants’ quarters back to life with a Downton Abbey-style cookery school.
There was also a chance to try the new offroad 4×4 challenge and to shoot a few clays, all under expert supervision of the local Arden Events team.
A dinner in the main hall gave the agents the opportunity to taste the estate’s produce, including beer from the onsite craft microbrewery, Little Black Dog, as well as learning a little about the art of brewing.
The house is the 17th century, Grade-I listed home of Lord Gerald Fitzalan Howard (younger brother of the Duke of Norfolk) and it doubled as Windsor Castle in the ITV1 drama Victoria.
A range of experiences can be packaged together with full exclusive overnight use of the house, which boasts 16 luxury bedrooms, as well as staterooms, drawing rooms and bar.
The staterooms – the Venetian Drawing Room, the Card Room and the Picture Gallery – can all be used as separate event spaces, while interconnecting doors also allow for one large space. The Housekeeper’s Sitting Room and The Armoury areas offer breakout space, smaller meeting areas and more intimate pre and post-dinner areas with open fires and sofas.
Clients can have full exclusivity of the hosue, staff and grounds based on a commitment to six rooms or more for a minimum overnight stay of one night.
Lord Gerald tells CN: “We feel incredibly privileged to live in this magnificent building. Having devoted nearly 30 years to maintaining and restoring the house and its parkland, one of our greatest pleasures is welcoming guests to enjoy them, too. For all its beauty and history, there are no airs and graces at Carlton Towers – just a relaxed Yorkshire conviviality.”
