A NORTH Yorkshire historic house is to celebrate the first birthday of its ingenious tree-top adventure playground.

The Skelf Island milestone will be celebrated at Castle Howard, near York, on Saturday and Sunday, July 25 and 26 with a hive of activity in the house’s gardens.

Rusticus Outdoor Theatre will be at Castle Howard bringing the Skelf characters to life and visitors can join in on free flow adventure trails between 10am and 4pm and interact with all five of the Skelves – including bringing to life two new characters, Luna and Moss.

The outdoor pizza oven will return to the boathouse, on the edge of the Great Lake. Pizza will also be available on Saturdays to Wednesdays from August 1.

Rusticus Outdoor Theatre will be in the Castle Howard gardens every weekend across the summer holiday. The trail will remain in place during the week – even when the Skelves themselves are elsewhere.

Skelf Island, with its rope bridges, slides, nets and climbing equipment, reopened to visitors on Saturday, July 4 with new ‘Skelf and Safety’ measures in place to ensure all visitors have the space to play whilst adhering to social distancing guidelines.

The Castle Howard Gardens reopened to the public on Monday, June 8 and visitors have since been enjoying the spacious grounds with acres of meandering woodland paths, lakeside terraces, temples, and fountains.

All visitors are required to pre-book tickets online via the Castle Howard website for capacity management purposes and will then self-scan at the ticket office to have contactless entry to the gardens.

The country estate has been awarded the ‘We’re Good To Go’ industry standard on behalf of Visit Britain in recognition of exceeding government guidelines, ensuring processes are in place to maintain cleanliness and aid social/physical distancing. Full information of the new measures in place can be found on the Castle Howard website.