The park is situated one mile south-west of Helmsley, North Yorkshire, England and stands in 300 acres (120 ha) of parkland.

The estate has a commanding location above deeply incised meanders of the River Rye within the North York Moors National Park.

In 1879 the main block was gutted by fire and remained a ruin until 1895 when rebuilding was carried out by William Young.

The house itself is not open to the public but visitors are allowed into the 30-acre (12 ha) garden from April until the end of August.

In 1694 Charles Duncombe, one of the richest commoners in England, bought the 40,000-acre (16,000 ha) Helmsley estate, occasionally staying at the castle.

On his death in 1746 it passed to his son, Thomas Duncombe II, who extended the grounds to include the Rievaulx Terrace.

[1] The other Grade I buildings include the gates and railings which front the entrance court to the house,[10] the Northern and Southern stable blocks,[11][12] and the Ionic and Tuscan Temples in the park.

It consists of an open rotunda, with a stepped podium and nine unfluted Ionic columns, an architrave, a frieze and a dentilled cornice.

The central bays form an arcade of round arches with keystones, and above is a dentilled cornice and a blank parapet.

In the centre is a doorway with a radial fanlight, flanked by four attached Tuscan columns, with an entablature and a stepped pediment.

It was designed by Robert Richardson Banks and Charles Barry, and is built of sandstone, rusticated on the front, with a dentilled cornice and a plain parapet with urns.

The main central part has three bays and a flat roof, and contains three round-arched windows separated by Corinthian pilasters, paired on the corners.