Swinton Estate NORTH YORKSHIRE
Whatever time of year you decide to visit Swinton Estate, it will take at least a week to experience it all. There is certainly plenty to occupy every hour of the day, and if it has failed to impress anyone with even a passing interest in game shooting, sport in general or the Yorkshire Dales and its wildlife at large, I would dearly love to meet them to find out where the estate and its staff have fallen short. Setting aside its iconic castle hotel, revered pheasant shoot and renowned grouse moor, the estate is also home to a nine-hole golf course, a shooting school and a fishing school, 50 miles of woodland footpaths, a bird of prey centre, miles of single- and double-bank fishing, a cricket team, a cookery school, a country club and spa, a glamping site and…well, you get the idea.
The first dwelling at Swinton can be traced way back to the late 1600s when the estate was in the hands of Sir Abstruptus Danby. It is his ancestors – including William Danby – who we have to thank for their prolific development of the estate’s parkland, and significant renovations to the house by architects John Carr, James Wyatt and Robert Lugar, the latter pair responsible for many of the neo-Gothic features the Grade II*
