Rising out of the green swathes of County Durham, Raby Castle has the dreamy quality of a mirage; its sentinel towers – crenellated like teeth bared against encroaching enemies – still take visitors a little by surprise. In its infancy, back in the 14th century, those ‘visitors’ might have been itinerant peasants, or marauding Scots; or high-ranking guests hosted by the prestigious Nevilles who built Raby, rather than the countless visitors who travel from far and wide to explore this property’s rich history today. What early travellers felt, on seeing the imposing beauty of the building – more a defended home than a fortress – isn’t difficult to imagine, for most of the external fabric of today is little changed from its medieval beginnings.
‘This is, in a sense, a strange location for a grand house,’ explains curator Julie