I’ve visited Sizergh Castle many, many times over the years, but have stepped inside the castle itself just twice. That’s because there are a whole host of reasons to spend time at Sizergh that not everyone may be aware of (although visiting the castle itself is a good start!). Here are 10: 1. A tour…
Category: Historic Houses
Heritage Open Days 2017 in the Lake District
Heritage Open Days is an annual festival of history and culture held across England for four days every September. The event brings together over 2,500 organisations who open their doors to the public for FREE – some well-known, and some less so. In 2017, it’s taking place between Thursday 7 and Sunday 10 September (although…
27 things to do on a rainy day in the Lake District
One of the very first posts I wrote for the blog was a list of 10 things to do in the Lake District on a rainy day. We do get quite a few wet days here, but, as they say, the Lake District wouldn’t be the Lake District without them! Since writing that post however,…
10 reasons to visit Mirehouse alongside Bassenthwaite Lake
I’ve wanted to visit Mirehouse for a long time, and one beautiful sunny Saturday in July, my gem-hunting companion and I decided we’d risk the busy weekend traffic (which curiously turned out to be almost non-existent that day) and head north to Bassenthwaite. We thoroughly enjoyed our look around Mirehouse, but the house itself forms…
The world’s oldest topiary garden: Levens Hall, near Kendal
Although the gardens at Levens Hall, near Kendal, are world-famous for their historic topiary, in my experience it’s a less well known fact just how important the gardens really are. Levens Hall holds the Guinness World Record for the world’s oldest topiary garden, and with over 100 pieces to look after, the gardeners have their…
Where the National Trust began: Allan Bank, Grasmere
I always love hearing which are your favourite Lake District Gems, and it was thanks to the recommendations of two blog readers that I recently visited somewhere new to me: Allan Bank in Grasmere. Allan Bank is a relatively recent addition to the National Trust’s visitor offerings in the Lake District, and was opened to…
A visit to Derwent Island House
Always on the lookout for something a bit different to visit in the Lake District, I was intrigued to come across Derwent Island House on the National Trust’s website. This historic house, which dates in part back to the 1700s, opens to the public for just five days each year. There’s just one catch though:…
A house for all seasons: Blackwell, The Arts and Crafts House
At the end of the season, a number of the Lake District’s historic houses shut for the winter, however, Blackwell, just outside Bowness-on-Windermere, is an exception that is well worth visiting at any time of year. Blackwell is a famous example of a house from the Arts and Crafts movement, and was built in 1900…
10 great ways to find discounts during your time in the Lake District
There’s no doubt that the costs of holidaying anywhere in the UK can easily mount up if you take into account admission prices, food and drink, public transport and parking. If you know where to look though, there are a few things you can be doing to save those pennies on your visits to the…
A peek behind locked doors: hard hat tours at Wray Castle
My fascination with Wray Castle started back in September this year when I visited the inside of this enormous mock-gothic Victorian house properly for the first time. It was whilst writing about Wray that I then came across its November ‘hard hat tours’ and thought what a great thing they too would be to share…
Wray Castle: The many lives of a grand Victorian estate
Wray Castle is an unusual National Trust property in that you are told not to expect to find a well-furnished, pristine historic country house on a visit here. Children will love Wray however, and outside of the school holidays, I think there is plenty of intrigue to make it a destination for people of all…
Poetic licence: Dove Cottage, the home of William Wordsworth, and a former inn
One of the Lake District’s most celebrated gems and once the home of William Wordsworth, Dove Cottage lets you discover more about the man behind the poetry.
Garden heaven at Holker Hall, Cark-in-Cartmel
If you visit the blog on a regular basis, you’ll know that I love to visit gardens, but despite having been to Holker Hall and the annual Holker Garden Festival on several occasions, I’d never actually visited the gardens until last weekend. I expected the gardens to be good, but didn’t realise just how much…
Spiral stairs and stone passages: exploring Brougham Castle
My first visit to Brougham Castle was on a coach trip while I was at secondary school. Digital cameras were not mainstream then, but I proudly took photos of the castle’s many wonderful features with my point-and-click film camera, and thought it strange that when I’d taken 26… 27… 28… photographs, the film still hadn’t…