JUST as spectacular as what visitors see at Castle Howard, is what they don't.

As many as 200,000 visitors each year head for that elegant 18th century building set in a 10,000 acre estate in the Howardian Hills near Malton. And they love it.

But what is not immediately obvious are the massive efforts made to recycle, to cut down on fuel use and to manage its 2,000 acres of woodlands in a sustainable way.

Castle Howard's landscape and wildlife department won two awards at the 2006 Purdey Awards for Game and Conservation.

Over the past four years, head keeper Wyne Bennett and his team have established a wild game bird management programme and are reintroducing English partridge on the estate.

As part of its comprehensive recycling programme, building works rubble is unused as hardcore for tracks and paths and cardboard boxes and other packaging is recycled.

Even waste from hedge trimmings is reused - to help treat cancer. Clippings from the yew hedges are used in a treatment which is particularly active against leukaemia, ovarian and breast cancer, No surprises, then, that Castle Howard is pitching not only for the Tourism and Hospitality title in The Press Business Awards 2007, but also the Think Green Business Of The Year Last Christmas 83 per cent of the 15,000 who visited the stately home over 12 days rated the experience as either "good or excellent."

And 85 per cent felt the same way about the shops there.

The Proms Spectacular attracted 15,000 people and the Ryedale Festival of Food and Drink lured 9,500.

This year, a series of farmers' markets in the Stable Courtyard - giving local food providers a chance to sell their produce direct to customers - is also proving a great success.

A huge contribution to this success comes because Castle Howard now has a training officer dedicated to making customer care a top priority.

Since last month, some visitors have been getting glimpses of filming at the stately home for Ecosse Films' new production of Brideshead Revisited which, just like the 1981 version shot there, should attract a whole new generation of visitors to that domed wonder full of architectural and arts treasures.