Lakeland
“I read, and loved the books in which I read;
For books in every neighbouring house I sought,
And nothing to my mind a sweeter pleasure brought.”
Holker Hall & Gardens
The name Holker derives from the Old Norse language and translates as “a rising in marshy land.”
The original House was built in the early 17th Century. After it was almost destroyed by a disastrous fire in 1871, William Cavendish and his daughter Louisa recruited the most eminent architects and designers of their time, to rebuild Holker in the very latest style: Neo-Elizabethan.
Our primary interest in the house were the gardens, but here are two shots from inside the house.
The grand staircase (above).
Holker icons emblazoned on the windows.
Stepping into the Elliptical Garden.
Monster cream-colored peonies.
Amazing trellis work in the Summer Garden.
Another amazing trellis formed with Portugal Laurel (PRUNUS lusitanica).
Wonderful umbrella-shaped trees (Crataegus laciniata)
Iridescent green East Indian Cayuga ducks live around this fountain.
Gorgeous Iridescent blue-green dragonfly spotted in the Sunken Garden.
Levens Hall & Gardens
From Holker, we drove north to Levens Hall. Levens Hall takes its name from the nearby town of Leven—which means “life.”
What began c1250-1300 with only an imposing Pele Tower, has grown into a much larger (though still quite old) privately-owned home and garden.
The age of the house made it fun to look through, despite the fact that we were mostly there to see the garden.
In fact, the estate is home to one of world's oldest topiary gardens.
Because it is a “family home,” they ask that you not take pictures inside. I couldn’t help snapping this one that had me singing, “Hickory, dickory, dock, the mouse ran up the clock…”
Out of curiosity, I looked it up the nursery rhyme, and apparently “Hickory, dickory, dock” may be a distant cousin of “Eeny, meeny, miney, mo,” used as a way to determine who will go first in a game. How the mouse comes into it, though, remains a mystery.
The gardens are awash with color, but don’t overlook the topiaries that border everything.
The wide angle lens distorts things a bit, but I wanted to capture the entire pond in one shot.
Beautiful water lilies.
Beautiful lavender delphiniums (ironically, with lavender in the background).
The topiary garden.
Sizergh (sy-zer)
The house draws its name from an ancient Scandinavian name meaning “summer pasture” or “dairy farm.”
One final house for the day (then we had to hurry off to the grocery store because everything still closes early on Sundays in England).
Much like Levens before it, Sizergh has that Medieval old creaky wooden floors vibe throughout, reminiscent of our favorite: Haddon Hall.
Amanda really loved the dress in this family portrait.
The incredible Banqueting Hall.
A door directly behind the Banqueting Hall leads to the extravagant Inlaid Chamber, designed to impress very important guests.
The inlaid panelling in this bedchamber is considered to be among the finest ever made for an English country house. Its style is predominantly Italian Early Renaissance, perhaps received via Flemish pattern books.
The carved and inlaid state bed.
All the main panels and friezes are inlaid on a sumptuously large scale, and use inlays of poplar and bog-oak to create contrasts of light and dark.
The three-sided corner porch and door is not inlaid, but has lion masks in relief on the upper tier and a dome. It was made for privacy as well as draught-proofing, and is an extremely rare feature outside of the southern counties.
The Rock Garden is an amazing blend of colors.
Sadly we ran out of time to explore more; it’s off to Sainsbury’s.
After returning home and making dinner, we enjoyed this glorious Sunday sunset from our balcony. The monsoonal weather made for a hot and muggy day, but it brought with it nice clouds to emphasize the setting sun.
Wray Castle
On Monday (Jun 12) we visited Wray Castle (now owned by the National Trust). As English houses go, the “castle” is neither particularly old nor impressive to explore. However, it’s the owners and some particular guests that give the home its true appeal.
Despite its very castle-like exterior, the house was built in 1840 for a retired surgeon, James Dawson, who built it along with the neighbouring Wray Church using his wife's fortune.
After Dawson's death in 1875 the estate was inherited by his fifteen year old nephew, Edward Preston Rawnsley. In 1877 Edward's cousin, Hardwicke Rawnsley, took up the appointment of vicar of Wray Church.
You may recall from my last post that Hardwicke Rawnsley was responsible for establishing the monument to the artist Charles Gough on the summit of Helvellyn (you know, the guy who fell from Striding Edge and whose dog ate his body to stay alive).
It was Hardwicke and John Ruskin who conceived of a National Trust that could buy and preserve places of natural beauty and historic interest for the nation.
The house has an association with another key player in the National Trust, Beatrix Potter, who spent her 1882 summer holiday there when she was 16.
Above are boats for tourists lined up on the shore of Windermere when it started becoming popular in the late 18th century to visit the Lake District (shortly after when Wray Castle was built)
It may be hard to read, but each of the small piers on lake are labeled and the one denotes “Longstaff.” You say Longstaff, I say Langstaff.
Tarn Hows
From Castle Wray we drove to nearby Tarn Hows, an area well-known for its natural beauty.
Foxgloves, ducks, and lily pads…oh my!
I’ve got to stop taking pictures with my stupid phone clipped to my side under my shirt!
We stepped out of the sun and enjoyed a beautiful view from this shady spot. From here we also watched people below whose dog was swimming in the lake but found a resting sheep and started chasing the poor thing around. I hear sheep are pretty dumb, but this one outsmarted the dog, who was left running in circles while the sheep walked away down the lakeside.
Let me see if I can set the stage for this: you’re driving along a very narrow and windy road, the stone wall and thick vegetation above it endlessly rushing by immediately left of the car. Suddenly, a giant sheep’s head is jutting nearly into the roadway from the left—its evil right eye staring at you like the spawn of satan! I mean this thing is a foot way and eye-level, like an evil sheep in a haunted house thrust in front of your face—we both about jumped out of our skins as we passed the little devil!
By the time we turned around to see if we could capture the impudent bugger on film, she and her two lambs had already jumped the wall and were wandering in the road. Sure, she looks cute now, but 😳 ! We’re seeing her left eye here; the right one might be red!
You just never know what you’ll see when driving in the country!
Cockermouth
Yep. That’s really the name of the town. The literal translation is "the mouth of the River Cocker," which doesn't sound so bad. BUT…the river takes its name from the Celtic word kukrā, meaning “the crooked one.” And just like that we’re back in murky waters! It has frequently been noted on lists of unusual place names.
The poet William Wordsworth was born and spent his childhood in this home in Cockermouth.
William was the second of five children.
Dining Room
Front Study. Note the drawings on either side of the desk.
For everyone who just finished the most recent Bridgerton season: Queen Charlotte.
King George III
Pretty cool kitchen with stewing stoves to the left, a large roasting range with a Smoke Jack (a convection powered mechanism to turn the spit), an oven behind Amanda’s left shoulder, and a boiling copper tucked in the right corner (see the door at the bottom where fuel was added to heat the water).
The family dining room off the kitchen, where William and his siblings ate.
The Drawing Room is the grandest room in the house and, like the dining room, would have been used only if the Wordsworths were entertaining.
After dinner, the ladies would have retired here to drink tea and talk, play cards, or listen to music, while the gentlemen carried on drinking and discussing business and politics downstairs.
The mid 18th century oak table belonged to William's sister Dorothy.
This beautiful four-poster Chippendale-style bed dates from around 1770—the lawn curtains are copied from a 1765 design.
Amanda playing dress-up in the kids’ bedroom. It’s believed that all five Wordsworth children could have shared the children's bedroom, with the youngest sleeping in the willow cradle.
From this bedroom, the children would have been able to look out over the River Derwent, which runs behind the house. William and Dorothy fished and swam in the rushing waters of the River Derwent and read on its banks; they roamed the countryside, climbing trees and hunting for birds and butterflies—life events remembered with much affection in his autobiographical masterwork The Prelude.
The River Derwent directly behind the house.
“For a whole day together, have I lain
Down by thy side, O Derwent! murmuring stream,
On the hot stones and in the glaring sun, And there have I read, devouring as I read...”
Sadly, the children’s mother died in 1778, when William was almost eight, Dorothy just six. Their distraught father packed Dorothy off to relatives she had never met in Halifax, and it was nine years before the siblings were reunited.
William and his older brother Richard were sent to school in Hawkshead, returning to Cockermouth only in the holidays.
Their father died five years after their mother, following a short illness. The boys saw him buried in All Saints churchyard, then left this house forever, to be cared for by their strict maternal grandparents in Penrith.
William went to St John's College in Cambridge when he was 17. In 1790, aged 20, he toured Europe on foot with his belongings tied in a handkerchief.
In 1799, William and Dorothy moved back to the Lakes, to Dove Cottage in Grasmere (near Ambleside), where he wrote much of his best-known poetry (we’ll visit Dove Cottage on Thursday).
William married Dorothy's friend Mary Hutchinson in 1802, and a year later their son John was born. Four more children followed: Dorothy (Dora), Thomas, Catherine, and William.
In 1805, the year William completed his epic autobiographical poem The Prelude.
The family had outgrown Dove Cottage and, in 1808, they moved to nearby Allan Bank.
In 1811, the Wordsworths took up residence in Grasmere's Old Rectory, where tragedy struck again when Thomas and Catherine died, aged just six and three. The loss of those dear to him had a profound impact on William's work. Two years later, the family made their last move, to nearby Rydal Mount (we’ll visit Rydal Mount on Thursday).
We’ll show you Wordsworth’s other two houses after we visit them on Thursday. In the meantime, I have a date with England’s highest peak tomorrow—Scafell Pike.
