For a hands-on taste of history, a visit to Leighton Hall at Carnforth, a 30-minute drive from Kirkby Lonsdale, must be on your bucket list. Its earliest records date from 1246 and as you step inside the Hall you take a step back in time. The house is often busy with visitors, but it still retains the atmosphere of a Read more...

The National Trust looks after this beautiful medieval house, which lies just four miles south of Kendal, and is within the extended Lake District National Park. The Grade 1 listed building is a ‘lived in’ home, which can affect opening times. The earliest part of the building is a tower of 14th or 15th Century origin. Oak-panelled interiors include the Read more...

Those who visit Lowther Castle travel into the historic county of Westmorland. Cumbria as a county was formed only in 1974. The building itself was created in the late 17th Century when the then Lowther Hall was rebuilt. It was requisitioned for tank development during the Second World War, but fell into disrepair and was an abandoned ruin for more Read more...

Levens Hall is a magnificent Elizabethan mansion built around a 13th Century pele tower, which was expanded and rebuilt towards the end of the 16th Century. It is the family home of the Bagots, and contains a collection of Jacobean furniture, fine paintings, the earliest English patchwork and many other beautiful objects. Levens has a celebrated and large topiary garden which dates back Read more...

Holker is the home of Lucy Cavendish and her husband Tor McLaren. The land was originally owned by Cartmel Priory, by local landowners, the Preston family who then passed it to the Lowther family by marriage. In 1756 it passed to the Cavendish family by marriage. The Estate has gardens that merge into parkland, all framed by the Lakeland fells. Read more...