Sheriff Hutton Castle; found it at last

I've driven through Sheriff Hutton a fair few times and always spot the castle on my way through, but have never seen anything indicating how I get to it, so today on my way back from Yorkshire Lavender in no particular hurry I decided to have a scout around. There are no signs until you are pretty much in front of it and even then they're not obvious, I'm half convinced that if you asked a village resident how to get to the castle they'd deny that they even had one.

Some ruins

 Turns out you need to follow the sign for 'Parish Church' (on the right coming from York) then there are couple of spaces outside the shop where you can park for 20mins (that's all you'll need, unless you're a slow walker). From there you walk further down the lane until you seen a green "public footpath" sign on the right, follow this.

Ruins from a different angle with more trees in the way

You'll walk up a drive way until you find signs for a circular walk around the perimeter of the castle. There's another sign saying that 'bona fide visitors' are welcome provided they call first. Given the circular nature of this walk it doesn't matter which way you go round.

Another view of the ruins

If seeing the crumbling remains of what was probably a great castle from several different angles through varying amounts of folliage then this walk is right up your street. Also if you're trying to kill time before going home after a day out north of York and sitting in a layby for 15mins doesn't appeal, this would also suit you. Or, if you've only ever seen this when driving through the village and you've always wanted to get a slightly closer look then it'll satisfy you too.


The Sheriff Hutton website has a little bit of history about the castle if you're interested: http://www.sheriffhutton.co.uk/history.htm