Gardens & Grounds
Entry for our Gardens & Grounds is via. Grindhus Coffee House opposite the Tearooms.
View our Current Rates online via. our Booking System
Our Gardens & Grounds are open from 10am to 4pm.
HHA and YGHC&G Members enjoy free access with their membership cards on arrival.
The Walled Gardens are a pleasure to visit at any time of year and in April contain a collection of Hyacinth giving a riot of colour in Spring as well as a magnificent aroma. The huge range of hot houses contain a highly impressive collection of tropical plants, ferns and cacti. Ancient wisteria and clematis thrive on the high south-facing walls.
The Walled kitchen garden contains an extensive herb bed and an extraordinary collection of rare vegetables, grown in cooperation with the Henry Doubleday Research Association.
The pleasure grounds contain a collection of specimen trees from around the world and thousands of spring flowering bulbs, daffodils, narcissi, snowdrops, aconites and bluebells.
No visit to Ripley Castle would be complete without a stroll into our deer park. Some of the oak trees are one thousand years old, and they still look magnificent with their impressive girth and gnarled branches. You will see plenty of wildlife on your way round the deer park: fallow deer, rabbits, squirrels, heron, canada and greylag geese, mallard, teal and wigeon, pheasants, woodpeckers and, if you are very lucky, a kingfisher as it flashes past.
The park walk takes you round the castle’s large ornamental lake, across the waterfall and into the deer park itself.
We now welcome Dogs on leads in the Gardens & Grounds!
Please note we sadly cannot allow dogs in the Deer Park or Showfield due to livestock.
Monthly Market Dates – Click HERE
Parking Charges Apply; Don’t forget to redeem your first hours parking!
Thinking of booking a Private Guided Tour?
If so, please contact us for more information – enquiries@ripleycastle.co.uk
Private tours are available for parties of 15 and above.
Our Castle tours run for approximately 45 minutes to 1 hour.
You will enjoy six of the Castle’s Rooms including the Library, Drawing Room,
Tower Room, & the Knights Chamber.
Please note part of the tour is upstairs – as the Castle is a listed building we do not have a lift. We do however, offer visitors a video of the upstairs rooms to enjoy viewing downstairs
Learn more about Ripley Castle’s history
Parking Charges Apply; Don’t forget to redeem your first hours parking!
Grindhus Coffee House
Grindhus Coffee House is open for visitors who want to grab and go, or relax with a coffee, serving a selection of drinks and snacks and the ever popular Brymor Ice Cream.
The ideal location to enjoy a coffee with friends, people watch or use as a quiet space to work remotely. Grindhus Coffee house is open from 9.30am daily and the Main Entrance to the Castle Gardens and Grounds is open from 10am.
Castle Tearoom
is open everyday from 10am – 4pm, providing a warm, friendly and efficient hospitality to all our customers offering indoor and outdoor seating available.
Our menu includes everything from light bites to satisfying seasonal meals. For visitors looking to eat earlier, Breakfast is available at The Boar’s Head from 8am. – Click here to book & view the breakfast menu.
All our dishes are made using locally sourced ingredients and we also have a special children’s menu.
We have indoor and outdoor seating available tables are offered on a first come first served basis and cannot be pre-booked (with the exception of Afternoon Tea bookings which must be pre-arranged at least 48 hours prior to arrival).
We are Dog Friendly across the Estate
Gardens & Grounds | Grindhus Coffee Shop | Castle Tearoom | The Boar’s Head
Dogs unfortunately cannot visit inside the Castle, Deer Park or Showfield on non-event days.
Our monthly markets allow well behaved dogs on leads too.
There are disabled toilet facilities at the following locations in Ripley:
- The public WC’s in the village car park.
- The Boar’s Head in the center of the village.
- Grindhus Coffee Shop
Wheelchair users:
Ripley was built on fairly level ground, so progress is relatively unhindered throughout the village. The Market Square is cobbled but a good tarmacadam road runs the full length from the Main Street to the Castle gates.
Entrance to the Castle:
Parking spaces are available very close to the entrance point.
Parking Charges Apply; Don’t forget to redeem your first hours parking!
The Castle Tearoom is fully accessible to wheelchair users and have disabled WC’s. The Castle’s main entrance is ramped and four of the six rooms on the tour are fully accessible to wheelchair users.
The Castle terrace is surfaced with gravel: not ideal for wheelchairs, but it is reasonably manageable. The gardens and grounds are reasonably level and a good network of stone paths ensure you can get to most places. The majority of the hothouses in the Gardens are not currently accessible, but you can pass through the Palm House to get to the grounds. The Park walk is not recommended for wheelchair users.
Facilities for the blind and partially sighted:
The guided tour system works very well at Ripley Castle, and because virtually all of the items here are on open display anyway, blind people are encouraged to handle some of the items as they are being discussed. We have always worked on the basis that the civil war armor was made for fighting battles in: anything our visitors manage to do to it while handling it can’t be much worse!
Please note we no longer have a mobility scooter.
If you need any further information, please do not hesitate to contact us.
Parking Charges Apply; Don’t forget to redeem your first hours parking!
Parking tariffs apply across the Estate.
Don’t forget to redeem your first hour parking (£1) at one of the village outlets:
- The Boar’s Head
- The Tearoom
- The Castle Main Entrance
- Grindhus Coffee House
- Visitors to Ripley Castle
- The Garden & Grounds
- Ripley Store & Ice Cream
- Harrogate Tipple
- Just Makers
- Fizzy Fox.
Please note our parking charges are 24 hours, 7 days a week.
To view our parking charges ahead of your visit, please click here.
