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Home Visitor Information

Education

Thank you for your interest in School Visits and Activity Days at Bolton Castle.

The following information is designed to help you plan a successful visit, however if you have any more specific questions please contact us before completing the enclosed booking form.

School Visits

Background History

Bolton Castle is a spectacular medieval fortress situated in the heart of Wensleydale, with stunning views over the Yorkshire Dales National Park. Completed by Sir Richard Le Scrope, in 1399, its scars bear testament to more than 600 years of fascinating history making it an ideal venue for educational school visits covering topics from Medieval life to the English Civil War. The Castle is extremely well preserved with approximately one third of the rooms still intact and the rest of the Castle fully accessible giving great insight into its turbulent past. The authentic and atmospheric room displays show castle life as it would have been for different members of the community: the archers and men-at-arms, the monks, the cooks, Lord and Lady Scrope and, for six brief months, Mary Queen of Scots.

School Activity Days

We are now offering an exciting range of opportunities for schools and other groups of young people to visit Bolton Castle and learn more about what castle life was really like, the fascinating historical events that took place here and how much things have changed.

Most of the day is spent with ‘hands on’ history, the children dressed in period costume enjoying activities as diverse as dancing, archery, spear drill and pomander making. A full day can run from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m.

Different options for school visits include Full Activity Days, themed guided tours, teacher led activities, and self-guided tours with activity sheets available for different topics and themes. Topics available include ‘Medieval life’, ‘Castle defences’, ‘Castle life’, ‘The Tudors’, ‘ The Stuarts’, ‘Mary, Queen of Scots’, ‘Rich and Poor’, ‘The Wars of the Roses’, and the ‘Civil War’ but we can adapt to your individual theme or topic on request.

Included in all school visits during our open season (usually February – October) is the chance for students to watch the incredible falconry displays, enjoy the archery demonstration, visit the Wild Boar and Wensleydale sheep and see the bees in their hives (seasonal).

We will do everything we can to ensure all the activities we offer are differentiated to give your students the best possible learning experience dependent on their age and ability or any additional support they may require.

Please contact Dave Manning at dave@timetalks.org.uk or 07951956553 for more information.

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School Visit Booking Form

  • About your visit

  • DD slash MM slash YYYY
  • :
  • :
  • About your group

  • Please indicate if you have any special requirements or if there is anything you feel we need to know in order to give your group the best possible experience.
  • Data Protection

    We would like to keep your details on file so we can keep you updated on special offers and new developments at Bolton Castle. This will also enable us to monitor school bookings at the Castle. We promise that any information you give will be used for this purpose only by Bolton Castle and will not be passed to any other company. We need your consent to hold your personal details to fulfill our obligations under the Data Protection Act. I hereby give consent for my information to be used in the manner detailed above.
  • Additional Information

    Please complete all relevant information as this will help our staff run a successful day for you and is essential for Health and Safety procedures. Please return along with your booking form to confirm your booking.
  • If you need any further information or have any questions on this form you can contact Dave on the email address above or on 07951956553 If any of the above details change between you confirming the booking and the day of your visit please inform us a soon as possible. Please confirm the change in writing by email.
  • This field is for validation purposes and should be left unchanged.

What our visitors say about the castle

Emma Benny
To Bolton Castle staff,
My father and I visited Bolton Castle today (Friday 21st July) and I wanted to express our gratitude for the wonderful experience we had. The Castle staff were all so friendly and welcoming.
I was most impressed with the Lad who facilitated the Falconry and Archery. His knowledge on the birds was phenomenal and his presence and confidence during his time showing the birds was wonderful to watch, we were really impressed.
We really appreciated his time spent answering questions and chatting with us and the other Castle guests.
Thank you so much for a great experience.
Visitor March 2025
Well worth a visit Impromptu visit to the castle on our weekend van trip. The castle is easy to find with a good sized car park. The castle is full of history and information for each area telling you stories of the past! The cafe was really nice but the best thing for us was the falconry show at 3pm hosted by Kelly who was absolutely fantastic, enthusiastic and informative!
Dom Bristow

I rarely write emails like this but feel compelled to in this instance. We visited the castle on 29th July, on a weekend when there were a number of volunteers demonstrating and talking about life in a Tudor household. It was absolutely brilliant. The patience of each person to talk us through different aspects of life and the amount of passion they had for the history was astonishing. The few hours we spent there was fantastic and we really want to come back.

I think it was Keith in the kitchen that mentioned they do this on four weekends a year, two for the Tudors and two for another period. Would it be possible to find out when they will be at the castle again?

Keep up the good work and please pass on our praise to the volunteers.

Emma Rieley 
I visited yesterday and just wanted to say thank you for a lovely day, it was my first time visiting and it was brilliant.
I especially really enjoyed the falconry display and Luke was fantastic. Do the falconry team have their own social media showing their work with the birds? I couldn't find anything but please pass on my thanks to Luke, if it wasn't such a scorching day, I would have loved to have spoken to him more about the birds.
Hope you're well and thanks again.
A Visitor
Best castle I've EVER been to
Absolutely loved it here, we were lucky enough to come when people were in costume. Master David provided a GREAT tour, very very interesting, extremely knowledgeable, and humorous. I would recommend it to anyone

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.

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Bolton Castle
Nr Leyburn
North Yorkshire
DL8 4ET

T: 01969 623981
E: info@boltoncastle.co.uk

School booking enquiries
E: dave@timetalks.org.uk

Bolton Castle

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