Heritage Open Day: Usually a private home, this Grade II listed building, Castle Bank will be open for visitors. The garden, stables and art display make the house well worth a visit. A riverbank villa with a walled garden and stables. The house reflects the quiet prosperity of Appleby in the 18th Century when it was built for the Hill family. It was inherited by the Holmes family in the late 19th century, who kept it as a country residence for most of the 20th century. Sir Charles Holmes was a painter, an author and a museum director. When director of the National Gallery, he oversaw the transfer of Thomas Gainsborough's masterpiece 'The Blue Boy' to its new owner in the USA, famously signing 'Au revoir' on the reverse. Several of Sir Charles Holmes' works will be on display, together with some vintage family photographs of their time at Castle Bank.