Fell Foot

On Sunday, as we started our journey home, the sun appeared. Fortunately we weren't hurrying anywhere and were able to enjoy it at the National Trust's Fell Foot Park.

A grand Victorian house once stood on the site but that was demolished years ago. Boathouses and their remains still survive at the water's edge though - and one has even been turned into a lovely, and unusual cafe.

There are water activities on offer here but we contented ourselves with a downhill walk to the cafe, and a back uphill one to the car park. It wasn't a long walk as yet again some of the paths were wet and muddy after the recent (and not so recent) rain.

It's a pleasant spot though, to just amble by the waterside and watch boats and canoes going past.

Another place that I'd like to visit again, hopefully in drier weather.

 

Wray Castle

Wray Castle, on a promontory overlooking Lake Winderemere, looks like it's stood there since the middle ages.

But, from foundations to battlements, it's a fake, built in the mid-1800s as a countryside retreat by a wealthy Liverpool doctor and his wife, and now owned by the National Trust.

Other Lakeland houses of the time were comparatively modest villas but Margaret Dawson inherited a huge fortune from her father, and the couple could indulge their every whim. The castle is designed to look as if it has stood there forever, and had changes made as fashions changed. There are even mock ruins suggesting demolished outer defences in the grounds! 

After the Dawsons died, the property passed to a distant relative who leased the castle to summer visitors, among them the family of Beatrix Potter. Inside the castle there's currently an exhibition of photographs taken by Mr Pottter on holidays around the Lake District - some informal family groups, some of landscape. I was quite surprised at them as I must admit that, based on the film Miss Potter starring Renee Zellweger, I'd thought of him as a rather dull businessman with no interest in arts of any kind. 

Inside, is a gothic re-imagining of how a castle should look with tiled floors and fireplaces, and ornate windows to frame the view.

Unfortunately the grounds were too soaked for walking other than along the well maintained paths of the arboretum, so it's one of those places I'd love to return to in better weather.

For this time, though, distant views of snow-topped hills had to suffice.

 

Thornbridge Hall

Sometimes you can drive past a place for years but never stop, so I thought it was time to at last visit Thornbridge Hall, near Bakewell, Derbyshire. I'd been persuaded to visit at this perhaps less-than-delightful time of year by the promise of snowdrops (I'd seen Thornbridge feature in a Top Derbyshire Places to see Snowdrops guide) but apart from the occasional clump here and there I didn't see any. 

The delight of Thornbridge lies though in its water garden and formal Italian garden.

In the first, streams tumble down the hillside, with mini-cascades and still pools breaking their journey. 

Grottoes provide a place to sit and relax - though possibly more appealing in warmer months.

The lawns in the front of the hall take advantage of the terrain, looking out over fields to the surrounding countryside.

Returning towards the exit, we ambled through the Italian garden; formal with trimmed box-hedging, but quiet and relaxing.

 Last stop - the cafe for tea and cake (as always)

Lake District - day 3; heading home Sizergh Castle

Heading away from the Lake District, we still had time for one more stop - Sizergh Castle, not far from Kendall, and almost en-route for the M6. It shouldn't have taken more than 20 minutes to get there - but roadworks held us up, making it nearly lunchtime when we arrived! 

Fortunately, while the car park and cafe were busy, once we'd paid to enter the grounds the crowd thinned noticeably. To be honest I felt the gardens were a bit disorganised, - a rock garden here, a stumpery there, a small vegetable garden, a huge orchard - as if various elements had been added without a thought for the overall design.

The orchard was lovely though and we possibly caught it at its best with all the trees in flower.

On the far side of the castle, looking east, sloping lawns surround the mirror pond and would have been a lovely place to sit in the sunshine ... but... this side faces a busy 'A' road, and the noise from it is dreadful. Not a place to relax at all, sadly.

What certainly appealed to me was its convenient 'just off the M6' situation. It's an ideal alternative to motorway services style breaks in a journey, and if time permits there are short (couple of mile) walks from the cafe, so I might be back.

 

Lake District - day 2; Holker Hall gardens

I was going to put my 'day 2' adventures together as I did 'day 1' but we spent so much of the day at Holker Hall that it deserves its own post.

I only heard of Holker Hall recently, through an article in the RHS magazine, and was so taken by the photos and description that I decided we HAD to include it in our Lakeland trip. I suppose it's not actually in the Lakes area as such, but out on one of the southern peninsulas near Grange Over Sands. It was close enough to easily visit from out base, though satnav tried to misdirect us.

The Hall itself looked fascinating but my interest was mainly in the garden, so we wandered round to the front of the house and the formal beds filled with simple yet stunning displays of tulips and late narcissi ...

... then onward to a wilder meadow area studded with bluebells and camassias, and with a labyrinth (which, yes, I had to walk) with views out over the parkland ...

... then to a tree-lined avenue with carpets of bluebells and wild garlic - and the odd tulip.

As we tend to start any day rather late, and I was finding far more to explore than I'd expected, we decided now was the time to head back to the cafe and re-fuel before further exercise. We both went for the venison burgers which were delicious.  

Then back to the gardens - through the formal areas again but heading out of them in a different direction, through rhododendrons to a cascade which fed a hidden fountain.

Then onward in a sweeping arc, through more rhododendrons, and old trees with bluebell-studded grass around their roots, up to the higher points of the grounds ... 

 ... before dropping down to a sunken garden with tulips, honesty, and a romantic summer house covered in magnolia blossom.. This was a really special place - the formal lay-out of the beds contrasting with the natural feel of the planting, and on a summer day I suspect a real sun-trap.

As closing time approached, we headed past Neptune sitting at the head of the cascade, back to the formal gardens, and on to the cafe.

 For once this was a cafe with the sensible notion of staying open for a while after the gardens had closed. Too many don't. Some even close earlier! It's a mistake in my opinion. When I've spent all day walking I'm in the mood for cake, and a cup of tea, but mainly cake, and I'm sure many other visitors feel the same. As with lunch, the cake was excellent - good-sized slices of blueberry sponge with cream and coconut topping. To be honest, if you're in the area Holker Hall is worth a visit for the food alone! I'll be going back sometime to see the gardens again in another season (and maybe just a little something from the cafe)