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Opening Times and Daily Activities

Bringing Your Dogs To The Castle

What our visitors say about the castle

Visitor Aug 2024

We enjoyed this more than Windsor Castle!

Even though Bolton Castle gets good reviews, having visited multiple castles our expectations weren’t that high. This was better than most castles we’ve visited (and we live not far from Windsor Castle) , our kids loved every minute and didn’t want to leave. A brilliant, fun day out for all of us. The highlights being the bird of prey show and the Mary Queen of Scots show. I strongly recommend visiting if you’re in the area and looking for a fun, interactive, educational and value for money day out.

Visitor August 2024

Excellent visit!

What a fabulous place the castle has a lot to offer both variety of complete rooms and scale. The grounds were lovely (boar family!) and the falconry display was excellent - led brilliantly by the staff member. The staff were all friendly and helpful and topped off with a pot of tea from friendly tea room staff.

The Axcell family August 2024

I'd just like to pass on our thanks for a lovely visit yesterday. We had a fantastic day at the castle; the falconry display was fun and informative, the archery demonstration was fab, and nicely rounded off with the wild boar feeding at 16:00. Kelly was brilliant, but very special thanks to Dave who helped make the past come alive; Eleanor and Joseph had a day they will never forget thanks to the generosity of your time and enthusiasm (the parents too)! It's hands down the best visit we've ever had to a historic property and we'd recommend it to anyone. We're happy for you to post the review on the website if you wanted.

Thanks again, and we'll definitely come back again if we're in the area.

Yorkshire Dales Classic Car Club

From all of us at YDCCC a huge thank you for Sunday. Please thank all of the staff at the castle for being very kind and extremely helpful. Everyone who attended was very happy at the location for our picnic as you can imagine. It was also nice to see visitors having a look around the cars. Sadly with the arrival of the rain we had to leave in a hurry and did not get to thank the staff in person. So please pass on my thanks to all who helped to make our day a very special one. Look forward to visiting again in the future.

Mike Cowan

A visitor October 2024

Awesome cafe awesome castle

First things first! The Cornish Pasties here are made by a lady (81 years old - originally from Cornwall) - they are the best pasties I’ve ever tasted. You must try them! Secondly the castle is brilliant Lots to see and do. Dave and his wife that run the Mary Queen of Scot’s room and the archery are super friendly and knowledgeable. Dave was lovely with our boy. Both went above and beyond.

Download the Bolton Castle app

Download our new audio App from Apple's App Store or Google Play Store and hear the stories of the castle brought alive. Our easy to navigate App is a fun way to find out about our turbulent history, our castle incumbents and their way of life through the ages. There's an audio tour for each room of the castle, so you can dip in and out as much as you wish, with voices from our Living History team who know and love the castle. Find out about Mary Queen of Scots' captivity, how Lord Scrope's army prepared for war, and how the servants made sure life included some luxuries as well as day to day chores to keep this home functioning, amongst other sneak peeks on life in a castle. It's time to immerse yourself in our history and find out more than you ever thought you needed to know! Free with entry, the audio App lets you unlock the stories behind the castle walls.