Cumbrian Castle Signals Full Steam Ahead In 2024

Booming visitor numbers have led to a call to arms from Muncaster Castle in Cumbria – We Need You!

The historic building is attracting an increasing number of visitors and the family who’ve lived there for over 800 years are looking to strengthen their team in preparation for new visitor developments in 2024.

The castle’s latest custodian, Ewan Frost-Pennington, has revealed that visitor numbers have risen by seven per cent on last year and are even higher now than during the pre-Covid year of 2019.

From February to December, the castle attracted over 64,000 visitors compared with just over 61,000 in 2019.

In 2022 the number of visitors was just over 60,000.

And with further development plans due to be announced next year – the future for the ancient castle is looking bright and they have jobs to fill!

“It has been a really exciting year,” says Ewan. "Next year we want to build on that success but need more staff in key roles to help achieve that.”

2023 has been the first full year with Ewan in post as Manager of Operations at Muncaster having returned to his ancestral home after seven years working as an energy consultant in California.

“I've been able to bring back the traditional Muncaster Sausage Festival and add new events like “Dragcaster” – the castle’s first ever drag festival,” he says.

“We’ve also started to change how we stage the traditional Medieval Muncaster event which is developing into a more elaborate festival than in previous years. And we’ve also expanded the Krankenhaus Music Festival and Race the Tide run event.”

They’ve also developed their popular Halloween offering by developing a more adult themed “Scarecaster” event which runs alongside the traditional family friendly Halloween Festival.

“Because of this growth, there are now some exciting job opportunities,” says Ewan. “Firstly, there are not many people who can oversee castle fine dining, fantastic café food and festival catering but we are determined to find the right person to do that.

“Secondly, we need other senior people including an operations manager to run our festivals and the new offerings we have in the pipeline.

“There is a real buzz around Muncaster at the moment and we want to build on that,” says Ewan. “There are going to be some big changes announced in the New Year as we push to make Muncaster even more of an attraction to visitors of all ages. That’s why we need to strengthen our top team going forward.

“It’s a great opportunity to be involved with and work in an ancient castle that is heading into one of the most exciting times its seen throughout its long history!”

For more details go to www.muncaster.co.uk/