Belvoir Castle - Present Use

Present Use

A corner of the castle is still used as the family home of the Manners family. The castle's name means beautiful view.

The name "Belvoir", is in fact, a Norman import by the French-speaking conquerors, though the native Anglo-Saxon population was unable to pronounce such a foreign word, preferring to call it "Beaver Castle". Belvoir Castle is still pronounced "Beaver"—despite its spelling—to this very day.

Several films and television programmes have used it as a location, notably the film Little Lord Fauntleroy starring Sir Alec Guinness. The castle itself was used as a location for The Da Vinci Code - it represented Castel Gandolfo, the Pope's summer residence. It also featured in the 1985 film Young Sherlock Holmes starring Nicholas Rowe and Alan Cox. In September 2007, it was used as a location for The Young Victoria. In the 2001 Jim Henson production of Jack and the Beanstalk: The Real Story, the castle is where the giant bones have been discovered. The kitchen scenes of Hill House were filmed here for the 1999 version of The Haunting which is the remake of the 1963 version.

Belvoir Castle is the host of Belvoir Fireworks, an annual pyrotechnic and firework competition that takes place in mid-August.

The grounds also host Belvoir Cricket Club in Knipton, a village cricket club with teams playing in various leagues across Nottinghamshire. The 1st XI play in the Nottinghamshire Premier League.

In 2009, Belvoir castle hosted the CLA Game Fair.

In August 2010 the castle's website was mistakenly hacked and taken over by an Algerian group who blanked the pages and inserted anti-Semitic texts in Arabic. The hackers had mistaken Belvoir Castle for Belvoir Fortress that is located in Israel.

In September 2010, the Belvoir Wassailers – the castle's own male voice choir – was reformed at the request of the Duchess. Directed by Robert-John Edwards, and accompanied on the piano by Paul Emmett, the Belvoir Wassailers performed at the castle's annual "Belvoir by Candlelight" celebration in December 2010. The choir is currently working on a variety of new material, including popular and folk music.