MATT CLARK takes a behind-the-scenes look the only stately home in the North York Moors National Park

IF you’re the richest commoner in the land you could choose to live anywhere you like.

For Charles Duncombe, though, there could only be one place; a hill near Helmsley with spectacular views across the Rye valley and ancient hardwoods hanging over the river as its foams over a cascade.

The Duncombes were originally in Bedfordshire but when Sir Charles made the family fortune as a London goldsmith and banker to King James II, he used his vast wealth to commission Yorkshire gentleman-architect William Wakefield to design Duncombe Park as the new family seat.

The house was completed in 1713 and remodelled with Italianate wings in 1846 by Sir Charles Barry, designer of the Palace of Westminster.

Today it is an imposing but welcoming place, helped considerably by its dramatic setting amid 35 acres of landscaped garden with temples and sweeping terraces.

Not that Duncombe Park has always looked this splendid. The main house was gutted by fire in 1879 and remained a ruin for a decade and a half.

The family finally left the house after the 2nd Earl of Feversham was killed at the Somme in 1916.

The 150-room house then became an Army hospital, before being leased to Queen Mary’s school for girls.

But in 1984 Peter Duncombe, the 6th Baron Feversham, acceded to the only stately home in the North York Moors National Park and decided to reclaim his family’s seat.

It was a mammoth project and not until a century after the fire was Duncombe Park truly back to its former glory.

Today it’s home to the 6th Baron’s son, Jake, his wife Raffaella and their children.

“My father activated a break clause but had he not done the lease would have ended this year anyway,” said Jake.

“I sometimes wonder about that.

It might have been down to me and I often think what I would have done.”

Fortunately that headache was solved with five years of hard graft during the 1980s when Duncombe Park gradually came back to life.

“We lived right at the top of the house in three rooms and gradually spread as we colonised the house,”said Jake.

“It was all very exciting. But there are 99 steps to the top and I also remember thinking, it’s such a long way to go to answer the door.”

Highlights of the house includes the stunning 40ft high Corinthian hall with rich Baroque panels containing female figures executed in plaster to look like stone.

The hall leads through double doors to a vast Ionic saloon, 90 feet long with oak panelling adorned by gilded enrichments.

Once it was stuffed with furniture and a forest of potted palms. Now, stripped almost bare, the room has a magnificent presence, with light flooding through the floor-to-ceiling windows.

Between busts of Roman poet Horace and Cicero, a Roman philospher, you pass into the withdrawing room with its silk damask walls and Savonnerie carpet, not to mention stunning views over the south parterre to an 18th century statue of Flora, goddess of flowers.

The house naturally divides into two, which makes it an ideal venue.

“It’s very well designed for weddings,” said Jake. “Someone once described it as like a pavilion with the hall and saloon next door leading straight into the garden.”

And being so well laid out, guests have the run of all the principal state rooms.

But they’re not the only ones to impress. The tiny ladies’ withdrawing room is utterly charming and was once used by Anne, daughter of the second Thomas Duncombe, who married Robert Shafto – otherwise known as Bonny Bobby Shafto, he of the silver buckle on his knee.

However, Shafto is not held in the same romantic esteem at Duncombe as the rhyme might suggest.

When he came back from sea the rogue proceeded to spend as much of Anne’s fortune as he could.

The house isn’t open to the public these days, not through choice, Jake said. It simply wasn’t a viable proposition, but the garden remains open throughout the summer.

“We’ve always enjoyed sharing Duncombe Park and I feel quite sad when people say we closed the house because of privacy. But it isn’t that at all, it’s just that we didn’t get enough visitors to make it worthwhile,” he said.

Something that should change later this year when the international centre for birds of prey opens its northern branch at Duncombe Park.

The formal gardens aside, Duncombe is also surrounded by 182 hectares of stunning parkland, home to ancient pollarded oak trees planted by William the Conqueror’s half-brother and the tallest lime tree in England.

It is also a site for many rare species of fungi and insects, and half the land has been designated a site of special scientific interest by Natural England.

“We lead a normal life but in a big space,” said Raffaella. “We tend to use all the house and the children love to play hide and seek.

“It really is a really magical place for them.”

Plan a visit to Duncome Park

DUNCOMBE Park gardens are open Sunday to Friday until August 31, 10.30am-5pm, last admission 4pm. Parklands, nature reserve and walks are open 10.30am-5pm, last admission 4pm.

The house is closed to the public, but concerts will be held in the saloon, this month as part of the Ryedale festival.

Duncombe Park will open for the August Bank Holiday and Christmas craft fairs.

For more information go to www.duncombepark.com