Deer Park

Raby Deer

The Deer Park at Raby is home to two species of deer; Red Deer, the largest British wild land mammal and the smaller Fallow Deer. Both herds include the descendants of deer which have been here since Norman times.

Both herds change their behaviour during the year with the males largely living apart from the females and only coming together during the mating season, or ‘rut’. It is at this time that the park is a hive of activity and reverberates to the roaring of the Red Stags and the groans of the Fallow Bucks while they challenge their counterparts and spar for the attention of the hinds and does.

Both the Red and Fallow Deer give birth in the early summer and it is then that the hinds and does separate themselves from the herd to drop their young. The Red calves and Fallow fawns, as their young are called, can walk within hours of birth but their mothers leave them hidden and return to feed them until the young are strong enough to follow their mothers.

The Stags and Bucks shed their antlers in the spring and regrow new ones each year through the summer. Red stags grow in a classical style with many points and the Fallow bucks have the very distinctive palmated antlers. The antlers harden in time for the rut in the autumn shedding the velvet, which the antler grows in, as they do so.

Dogs

Put on your walking boots, grab a lead and head over to Raby Castle’s Deer Park with your dogs. Situated where we are, you’ll be spoilt for choice for ‘walkies’

There are plenty of scenic walks across our 200-acre parkland for you and your four-legged friend(s) to explore. Routes feature impressive views of the castle fortress and an abundance of wildlife across our ponds and woodlands. Please note that dogs must be kept on leads at all times.

Deer Sanctuary

Lord Barnard, in consultation with the deer management team, a renowned deer vet and deer park historian, have undertaken the works with a view to providing more deer-friendly habitats within the Park. We have incorporated an area to the south-west of the main park encompassing the corner of Bath Wood and a small proportion of previously arable fields to the west.

This latest extension incorporates areas of the historic deer park which was once much larger than the area we know today. Crucially this area includes a parcel of mature woodland (conifer and broadleaves), a water course with areas of low-lying wet ground and two areas of newly sown, deer specific grassland.