ANNETTE Howard has left Castle Howard after she and her husband Simon Howard completed their divorce, it was confirmed today.

Annette, known as Scruff to her friends, is reported to have moved from North Yorkshire's premier stately home to a farmhouse near Wantage in Oxfordshire

She is said to be living in a cottage which came with the five-acre property while the farmhouse - said to be the one-time home of a daughter of jockey Lester Piggott and close to stables - is being extended.

The couple's divorce after 16 years of marriage went through on August 30, Mr Howard confirmed today.

Mr Howard, the third son of the late Lord Howard of Henderskelfe - a former chairman of the BBC - and the late Lady Cecilia Howard, married the then Countess Annette Compton at Malton Register Office in November 1983.

The wedding was later blessed in a ceremony in the chapel at Castle Howard, conducted by the then Bishop of Whitby, Canon Michael Storrs-Fox.

Annette was always heavily involved in the running of Castle Howard, which won international fame as the setting for TV's Brideshead Revisited.

She told the Evening Press in 1998 how she got up at 6.30am each day to walk her four dogs and get on with the business of running the house, while her husband concentrated on the restoration and financial side of Castle Howard PLC.

Every Monday and Friday, she went from room to room, checking that everything was clean and in place and picking fresh flowers for the house, doing one dozen arrangements at a time. She likened herself to a housewife. "I've just got a bigger house to look after than most people," she said.

She revealed how after arriving at Castle Howard, she embarked on a decorating spree, using her background in interior design, to give the home a female touch.

News of the couple's impending divorce emerged last year, when a statement issued by Castle Howard said that the Howards knew the ending of a marriage was always a very difficult matter and they did not wish to discuss this "very private situation" publicly.

The statement also said the couple wished to resolve the matter amicably.

Mr Howard today declined to comment on reports that he had been escorting Marks & Spencer heiress Rebekah Sieff.

PICTURE: Annette Howard: cottage