Appleby-in-Westmorland - a free First Night with Air BnB

Last week I spent a few days near Appleby-in-Westmorland courtesy of winning a free night away through Air BnB. It wasn't quite so much a 'competition' as a 'get in there first', but Air BnB were giving away single nights, on the condition of buying at least a second, in areas around the UK which are perhaps ignored in favour of better known neighbours; Pwllheli, Callander and Pontefract were among the other places on offer. I suspect most people just rush past Appleby on their way to the Lake District or south-west Scotland without stopping to explore the town or surrounding countryside (I've certainly done it) and this seemed an ideal opportunity to explore somewhere new.




The Appleby area is much less touristy than the places I've visited in the Lake District, but we found plenty to do on a weekend break, even though we seem to have ended up with the only wet day of the whole week!

The first evening we wandered round Appleby, to get a feel for the place - walking by the river Eden, through the churchyard (it was Halloween after all), and up its old main street to the walls of the castle which overlooks the town. The castle is now converted to a hotel and open to the public with guided tours, but, with basically one day there, we didn't want to tie ourselves down to one.






Our AirBnB was a self-catering cottage in the village of Long Marton, about five miles from Appleby, so the first thing to do on our 'holiday day' was walk round the village itself.

The Settle-Carlisle railway runs through the village (we saw trains but not a steam train), and you can even stay in the old railway station, now holiday cottages ideal for railway enthusiasts. 

Then we headed back down to Appleby, walking round the town and through the woods alongside the river Eden where we spotted a red squirrel scurrying among the similarly-coloured leaves, and a heron waiting patiently for dinner.

In the afternoon we visited Acorn Bank gardens (a National Trust property not far away). The gardens themselves were probably not at their best this time of year but the woodland walks, to quarries turned into nature reserves, past a watermill, and along a small river, were beautiful in their autumn colours.

Afterwards, as night drew in, we headed to Penrith, then on to Pooley Bridge with the intent of seeing at least a little of one of the Lakes. Unfortunately it was dark by the time we reached there, but the swans and geese could still be heard out on the water.

On our last morning, and with the sun now shining brightly, there was time to stop for another wander under trees by a different section of the river. At this spot the castle can just be seen above the trees - but although we saw another red squirrel, that's again hiding among the leaves.

I think most of us drop into a rut and just visit familiar places, so it was nice to go somewhere completely new. This is definitely a place I'd return to. There are ruined castles at Brough and Brougham that I'd love to explore, longer walks to be taken round Appleby, and of course another time I'd like to actually see a Lake