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This May bank holiday (28^th May – 30^th May) sees the return of the Great British Food Festival to Harewood House. Along with wonderful food and drink producers, there will be headline chef demos, foodie talks, and terrific live music to enjoy from the North Front.

The Chef Demo stage once again welcomes great names from the world of cookery including Howard Middleton, Luis Troyano and Sandy Docherty, finalists and contestants from the Great British Bake Off. Be inspired by the wonderful treats our experts create!

Luis, Sandy and Howard will also be judging the popular Great British Cake Off, where amateur bakers compete head-to-head in three baking categories (see www.greatbritishfoodfestival.com for details and to enter). Best of all, you get to try the entries! Luis Troyano said,

‘I love doing the demos and the cake off is great fun, it’s brilliant to see what the public can do!’

The Bake Off stars will also be heading to the new ‘Cake & Bake’ stage, introduced for the 2016 event. Hear from our celebrity chefs and discover their culinary secrets in a more interactive and intimate arena. Get your own foodie questions answered and finally avoid the dreaded soggy bottom or get the perfect biscuit snap!

Dan Maycock, Festival Director, said,

“We’re thrilled to announce the great chefs at this year’s event. The new addition of the “Cake & Bake” stage is something we’re excited to see come to life. We hope that people will head over to Harewood and lap up the wonderful atmosphere this event brings.”

Alongside the celeb chefs, some of the best regional talent will be showcasing their skills; from baking tips to fine dining know-how, the Demo Theatre is the place to be for any budding chef!

Lots of local producers will also be showcasing the best in seasonal, and specialty food and drink. Pulled pork, prime steak and local sausages are just a few of the flavours you can enjoy. For those with less traditional tastes, why not sample an ostrich burger or enjoy tasty Thai and Caribbean flavours? Sample, enjoy and buy!

Enjoy a quintessential English day out at the Great British Food Festival. The perfect recipe for a fun, foodie day out for the whole family.

Visit the Great British Food Festival’s listing for more details.

The Himalayan Garden at Harewood is a marvelous place to explore during spring. The bright colours of the rhododendrons, the fresh green leaves in the trees create a wonderful atmosphere which is a complete contrast to the formal Terraces which Harewood is best known for. It’s a place which includes a massive variety of naturalised planting which has matured since it’s creation in 2007. Here are a few highlights visitors to the garden can enjoy now.

The Camping and Caravanning Club has joined forces with the Treasure Houses of England as its exclusive campsite accommodation partner from 2016-2018.

All 10 Treasure Houses have at least one high quality Club Site located nearby, each of which makes the perfect base for campers, caravanners and motorhomers planning visits to Treasure House destinations.

For the nearest, recommended Club or Camping in the Forest Sites to Harewood House, click through for details.

All about The Camping and Caravanning Club

Founded in 1901, the Club is the world’s oldest and largest Club for all forms of camping. It’s a not-for-profit organisation that today represents nearly 600,000 camping and caravanning enthusiasts. Television presenter and outdoor enthusiast, Julia Bradbury, is the Club President.

We understand the importance of being able to switch off, relax, and enjoy precious moments with people who matter the most. That’s why the Club operates a UK network of more than 100 good-quality, affordable Club Sites.

The Club also operates 16 Camping in the Forest sites, in partnership with the Forestry Commisison, and more than 1600 minimum-facility certificated sites. This amounts to a total of more than four million pitch nights available each year.

Whether you fancy a beach-side break or a country retreat, there’s a Club Site for you. Owned and managed by the Club, we can guarantee you’ll find exceptional standards of cleanliness and some of the friendliest places to camp in the UK.

Our Camping in the Forest sites are set in beautiful Forestry Commission woodland, and offer a ‘back-to-nature’ experience.

Alternatively, our Certificated Sites are tucked away in secluded locations, ranging from back-to-basics hideaways in a national park, to full-facility family fun on working farms.

Try glamping with Ready Camp

What’s more, if you’re new to camping, or fancy a spot of glamping, the Club offers a choice of glamping units, including our Ready Camp network of pre-erected tents on 29 UK Club Sites.

They’re perfect for touring without the hassle of hitching up a caravan or pitching a tent. All you need bring are towels and bedding.

The Club’s also operates a Travel Service, which provides a one-stop-shop for all overseas camping and caravanning needs, from choosing the right campsite to arranging discounts on ferry crossings, plus escorted tours to European and Worldwide destinations.

“The Club wants more people to enjoy the outdoors and feel the same enthusiasm we feel for it,” says the Club’s Director General, Robert Louden MBE. “Sharing the adventure is hugely important to us.”

By the passion, knowledge and expertise we can impart, The Camping and Caravanning Club can play a major role in making everyone’s camping experience an adventure.

For information on joining the Club, click here.

Over the winter months, Harewood House was used as a location for the new ITV period drama, Victoria. The programme chronicles the life of Queen Victoria and has been filmed in locations throughout Yorkshire. Both the State Floor and Below Stairs at Harewood have been used for what promises to be a fascinating series.

As they continue to film, Harewood has once again been chosen as a location for this production. In order to facilitate the external shots required, Harewood will close completely on Wednesday 11^th May. There will be no access to Harewood for members or visitors. This will allow the production company to introduce a large green screen to the front of the House transforming Harewood digitally from the country house to a palace!

Thank you in advance for your understanding and patience.

Once the programme airs, we will update you with lots of behind the scenes pictures and news.

Best wishes,

Harewood House Trust
0113 218 1001
info@harewood.org

I took on my role as Bird Garden and Farm Experience Manager in December 2015, joining Harewood from Edinburgh Zoo. As manager, it’s my responsibility to oversee the daily running of the Bird Garden and the newly created Farm Experience. It’s an exciting, busy part of Harewood which is at the start of a three year development plan to enhance this much loved part of the grounds.

My day begins at 8am when I arrive at the Bird Garden kitchen with the rest of the team. The Bird Garden is home to 37 different bird species which all have specific dietary needs. From the tall, elegant cranes to the critically endangered Bali starling, we make sure each bird has the right food. We also prepare buckets of chopped carrots, apples, pears and leafy greens for our rabbits, guinea pigs and farm animals.

Once prepared, we head to the Bird Garden and begin the task of feeding and cleaning all the aviaries. We check all the birds to make sure that they are in good health whist we’re in the enclosures before the visitors arrive. One of my personal favourites in the Bird Garden are our family of palm cockatoos. These are unusual birds and it’s the first time I’ve worked with them. The youngest of the three birds is very inquisitive and he will often fly around the keepers, watching them closely as we clean and prepare the large aviary.

At this time of year we often find nests full of eggs which we will leave with parents to look after. On some occasions it may be necessary to take the eggs carefully to our artificial incubation room. Here we place them in specially designed incubators and hand rear any chicks that might hatch.

Once all of the birds are fed and checked, we go for a well- earned cup of coffee!

The next job is to clean out the farm animal paddocks and give them their first feed of the day. At 12pm, one of the keepers will take a bucket of eggs, veg and fruit to the pig enclosure. Here we invite visitors to take an item from the bucket and throw it over the fence for the pigs to enjoy. They are full of character and, since their arrival in March, I’ve grown very fond of them. Once the pigs have had their fill, we move onto the next paddock. Once again visitors can feed leafy greens to our hungry pygmy goats.

After lunch, I often leave the Bird Garden and Farm in the capable hands of the team and head over to the office to carry out the necessary (and inevitable!) paperwork for the day. This includes record keeping, ordering supplies, planning for upcoming events, liaising with the vet, managing new arrivals and arranging transportation of animals who may be leaving our care.

A significant role for the Bird Garden is the care and preservation of endangered species. Many of the birds we manage are in captive breeding programmes which supports their ongoing survival. These breeding programmes exist to support the genetic variation of captive populations. Computer databases help compile studbooks that record the details of each individual animal in the programme. This includes the animal’s sex, date of birth, and full family history. No money changes hands when we exchange animals with other zoos. Our aim is purely to save and protect endangered wildlife.

We have welcomed several new additions including six Humboldt penguins which arrived in early March from the Cotswold Wildlife Park in Oxfordshire. We also took on an egg which our colony have adopted. We hope that this foster-chick will hatch soon.

Other new additions include a pair of cheer pheasants which form part of our Himalayan themed enclosures overlooking the Lake, and a large group of roul roul partridge, an appealing, ground dwelling bird from Borneo.

When I’m in the office, it’s also the time that I catch up with the rest of the team who work outside the Bird Garden. The team at Harewood have a lot to juggle from school groups to TV interviews!

At 3:30pm, I will head back to the Bird Garden to carry out the Daily Penguin Talk and often find myself introducing not only the penguins, but also the wild grey herons and red kites that visit the enclosure hoping they might help themselves to a sprat or two!

Once I have answered the varied and interesting questions from visitors, I will either head back to the office, or carry out a variety of tasks around the Bird Garden until it is time to close for the evening. Every day there are new and exciting challenges arriving, so no two days are ever the same.

By Nick Dowling, Bird Garden and Farm Experience Manager