Raby Castle near Staindrop in County Durham is celebrating a 71 percent increase in visitor numbers after last year’s opening of it restoration project.
Raby Castle’s new 24-acre site opened last June. It included a remodelling of the 300-year-old walled gardens, and new and restored buildings.
New spaces in ‘The Rising’ project included the Vinery Cafe, and a new retail outlet and exhibition housed within an 18th century coach house.
Since then, Raby Castle has welcomed more than 300,000 visitors and seen a 71 percent increase in attendance from June 2024 to June 2025, compared to the previous year.
Claire Jones, head of leisure and tourism at Raby Estates, said: “It’s wonderful to see that our lifestyle destination has welcomed a significant increase in visitor numbers as more people, no matter their age or interests, enjoy the endearing charm of Raby Castle with our wealth of history, beautiful gardens, the Plotters’ Forest woodland adventure playground and more.
“We’re hopeful this has also translated into even more people exploring the wider County Durham area too.”
New guest experiences at Raby Castle
Raby Castle’s new visitor attraction is its largest and most significant project for decades.
Via tourism figures released by Visit County Durham, Durham County Council’s tourism service, the region has also seen a 7 percent increase in visitors from 2023 to 2024.
Duncan Peake, CEO at Raby Estates and chair at Visit County Durham said the figures “are a promising sign for the county”.
“When designing the Rising scheme, we were aware that creating our lifestyle destination would also have a positive impact on the wider economy in the region, and to see such an encouraging uplift over the last year is incredibly reassuring,” he said.
“Everyone at Raby is pleased to be recognised as one of the new and enhanced visitor attractions that have played a major part in the region’s latest success.”
In November, Raby Castle announced the addition of a new deer safari and moorland tour to its expanding portfolio of visitor experiences.
Images courtesy of Raby Castle
