Winter Works & Harewood House-Keeping

Spring cleaning at Harewood House is a big job. With 447 lightbulbs to check, 10,000 books to keep dust-free, hundreds of copper pans to clean, feather beds to fluff, pictures to re-hang as well as conservation and general repair work, it's a winter-long project.

The winter closing of the House provides us with the perfect opportunity to get the cleaning and any more major works of restoration/conservation done. This year several of the Entrance Hall flagstones have been replaced - 70,000 visitors a year have taken their toll on the flagstones immediately inside the door.

As Anna Robinson (Head of House & Collections) comments, "We let the House relax. The carpets are unrolled and the curtains are left down to rest, including those on the State Bed which are allowed to hang down".

It's not only the House that needs restoration this year - the snow flattened some of the plants and repair work was needed to some of the borders.

The aviaries in the Bird Garden are being revamped to house our new arrivals - Eagle Owls, and the Adventure Playground will get it's yearly re-turfing ready for the new season.

...And when the doors open, there'll be no sign of scaffolding, the curtains will be back in place, paintings hung and the Grounds and Gardens ready to delight all our visitors this year!

The Yorkshire Post have been to have a peek behind the scenes during our winter works period, take a look at the article and video here.