Ripley Castle has been awarded the Visit England Best Told Story accolade.

Awarded to our Castle Guides in recognition of an excellent interpretation and sharing of the Castle’s special stories, told through guided tour.

If you haven’t been to Ripley before you really should make the effort to come because the Castle is one of Yorkshire’s great historic attractions.

The Ingilby family has lived here for over 700 years; very few families can have lived in the same place for longer!

The Castle Guided Tour is entertaining, amusing and informative; join a tour and…

• Discover the priest’s secret hiding hole where Catholic priest Francis Ingilby and his brother David, “the most dangerous Papists in the North” hid when officers sent by Elizabeth I came looking for them; it was so well concealed that it remained undiscovered for almost 400 years.
• Learn how the Ingilby’s were related to or associated with no fewer than nine of the eleven main Gunpowder Plot conspirators and how after the Battle of Marston Moor ‘Trooper’ Jane Ingilby, a staunch royalist, held Oliver Cromwell at pistol point in the Library: how did she get away with it?
• Only the English could pursue their love of a nice cup of tea to the extent of designing a piece of furniture in which to store the tea which can be seen in the Oval Drawing Room.
• In the 1680’s head housekeeper Elizabeth Eden kept her own hand-written recipe, Mary Berry wouldn’t want to try too many of these today!
• Feel for yourself how heavy the Ingilby Civil War armour is and appreciate how very uncomfortable it was to wear.

Ripley Castle is set in acres of majestic Yorkshire countryside and no visit would be complete without exploring the Walled Gardens, Wooded Pleasure Grounds, Deer Park and Lakeside Walk.

Within the Castle yard are the Admissions and Gift Shop, Castle Tearoom, Artisan Craft Shop and Live for Today Adventures office.

Ripley Village on the Castle’s doorstep is a model estate village with individual charming shops,

The Boar’s Head, a traditional coaching inn, Village Store and Post Office.