[Updated from a 2008 post]
In addition to the lakes themselves there is a wide variety of things to do in the Lake District. There are places to visit ranging from the literary connections of Dove Cottage at Grasmere (home of the poet William Wordsworth) to the practicalities (although also with artistic potential) of the pencil and mining museums in Keswick. And don’t forget the National Park visitor centre at Brockhole.

The National Trust

has several properties in the region and if, either deliberately or due to hitting a bad patch of weather, you decide on a programme of indoor visits you could well benefit from joining the Trust rather than paying separately for each location. With your National Trust membership ticket you get free access to all its properties, which can be a considerable saving if you vist several – and remember, the membership lasts for a year so you’ll have access to properties in other parts of the country. If you live in England or Wales you may even be surprised at what’s available to visit almost on your own doorstep as well as in the Lake District.

The National Trust (which, incidentally, is not a government body; this is sometimes misunderstood because of its name) owns large areas of the countryside in the Lake District National Park. Apart from areas of water it owns many hill farms which are let out to tenant farmers who take good care of the landscape to protect it for future generations. It also owns houses and gardens of historic or other special interest. Here are just some of the National Trust properties you could visit while in Cumbria:

• Acorn Bank Garden and Watermill, Temple Sowerby, nr Penrith
• The Beatrix Potter Gallery, Hawkshead
• Sizergh Castle, nr Kendal
• Wordsworth House, Cockermouth (William Wordsworth’s birthplace)

As I said in a previous post about the Mallerstang Valley it can be a wild place. Last time I was there the pictures were of gloom:

Pendragon Castle on a Gloomy July Day

This past weekend, however, I saw it in a different light.

Pendragon Castle on a Sunny October Day

Of all the castles inherited by Lady Anne Clifford, Countess of Pembroke, in the 17th century Pendragon Castle must have been in the wildest and most remote-feeling location of them all. The Mallerstang valley in Cumbria, between the Lake District and Yorkshire Dales National Parks, and just to the south of the North Pennines AONB (Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty) seems almost detached from the rest of the world even today.

Looking up the Mallerstang valley from Pendragon Castle

It all looks “green and pleasant” here, but what it might have felt like in stormy weather three hundred years ago one can only begin to imagine. The view below illustrates better the contrast between the roughness of the fellside and the improved land of the enclosures lower down, which postdate the journeyings of Lady Anne.

Mallerstang Edge from Pendragon Castle

It must have taken all Lady Anne’s energy and determination to venture into this country via the wildness of upper Wharfedale and Wensleydale and see to the renovation of her properties here and in Brough, Appleby and Brougham, but so she did – and on at least one occasion stayed at Pendragon for some time.

Travelling up from her main residence of Skipton Castle, she would have arrived in the area from the south but a few days ago I approached it from the opposite direction, driving southwards out of Kirkby Stephen on the B6259. To Nateby and beyond the road more or less follows the young River Eden toward its source high on the fells near the watershed and the ancient boundary between Westmorland and Yorkshire.

Mallerstang valley from near Dalefoot

About half way between Kirkby Lonsdale and the point at which the Eden valley is exchanged for that of the Ure and Wensleydale, I came to a road junction. To the west went a road over Wharton Fell to Ravenstonedale and a road sign informed me that I’d come only 4 miles from Kirkby Stephen. Even though I was on four wheels, not walking, it seemed much further than that.

It is here that the remains of Pendragon Castle stand in a field on the right hand side of the road. Behind the gate is a green signboard.

Pendragon Castle sign

The landowner allows visitors to walk around the castle and inspect the ruins. The extent of the Pendragon remains can look quite different depending on the direction from which one is viewing them. I spent a pleasant hour pointing my camera from just about every angle I could think of in a 360 degree slow circular walk around it. From the field side the ruins can look quite extensive. Looking up from the River Eden down in the valley bottom behind the castle they can appear sparse but threatening.

As I finished my circumperambulation (is that a word?) I was thinking about the retinue of three hundred men and women who typically accompanied Lady Anne Clifford on her journeys. Add to them any permanent castle staff at Pendragon, and the question arises, “Where did they all sleep and eat?” The place doesn’t look big enough for that kind of number, even allowing for maybe three floors. This is not like Brough or Brougham. Maybe the less favoured among them were billeted out on the local tenants.

As I was pondering this question some of Pendragon Castle’s current occupants appeared out of one of the doorways. In the past, long before Lady Anne’s day and her restorations, the castle was destoyed many times in fighting as men of the north invaded, but today the occupiers showed no inclination to repel my invasion. They were not exactly friendly, but were very quiet and unconcerned; in fact, they simply ignored me.

Recently I uploaded a post about Brough Castle, one of several in the Eden Valley area belonging to Lady Anne Clifford in the 17th century.  Yesterday I snatched this quick shot of another of the long-ago residences of this remarkable lady, Brougham Castle, just outside Penrith and beautifully situated beside the River Eamont, the river that flows out of Ullswater at Pooley Bridge in the Lake District a few miles away and eventually merges with the Eden before flowing north and west into the Solway Firth.

The Keep, Brough Castle, Cumbria

Brough Castle is passed by thousands of motorists every day as they plough past on the A66 between Cumbria and County Durham at whatever maximum speed the traffic will allow, hurrying towards or on the way down the Pennine slopes from Stainmore. Those using the Kirkby Stephen road pass even closer to the castle’s nine hundred years of history – in fact it’s much more than that as a Roman fort was here long centuries before the Normans embarked on their fortification of England’s northern border.

How many stop to take a look at this interesting structure? I would very definitely recommend a break in your journey for a short spell of castle-browsing. Centuries ago this was one of the main residences of Lady Anne Clifford, that doughty owner and restorer of castles from Skipton in West Yorkshire almost to the Scottish border. (Castles at Brougham, Pendragon and Appleby were others of her rebuilding projects in this part of the country).

True, what is left today is merely a pale reflection of the splendour that once was there, but English Heritage have done an excellent job of bringing the ruin to life through the provision of a series of well-written and illustrated information boards. What is more the English Heritage web site contains several highly informative pages on the castle’s history and significance, as well as describing the underlying research and archaeological investigation.

Brough Castle, Eden Valley, Cumbria

Over the centuries the castle has suffered many bouts of ill-fortune including invasion, fire and sheer neglect – including being burned down during a 16th century Christmas party! In between, however, and especially in the hands of that great northern dynasty the Cliffords, it was restored, enlarged and equipped as an important noble residence.

Brough Castle, showing part of the interior remains

Visiting recently for the first time, I had expected to be in and out of the castle site in fifteen minutes to join my wife in the adjacent very pleasant tea room. But no, I found myself reading, viewing and attempting to visualise how life might have been within these walls after the renovation three hundred and fifty years ago – not to mention trying to get some good photos. It is interesting also to try to identify the different phases of building. For example, how many different window styles are there in the remaining structures?

The Tearoom, Brough Castle, Cumbria

If you’re in the Eden Valley around Brough, Kirkby Stephen or Appleby, or even just ploughing over the A66 across the Pennines, don’t miss Brough castle. The countryside is great, Brough being right on the edge of the North Pennines AONB – a designated “Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty”. The ice-cream here is really good too, and there’s a children’s play area behind the tearoom.

In September Cumbria welcomes the World Sheepdog Trials to the parkland at Lowther Castle, near Penrith, Cumbria. More than 200 dogs and their handlers from over 20 nations will compete. Many thousands of spectators are expected at this prestigious event and its associated Food & Country Festival.

A parade through Penrith is planned for Wednesday, 14th September, and the trials commence the following day. After four days of competition the grand final is scheduled for Sunday, September 18th. This beautiful location, on the eastern fringe of the Lake District, could hardly be bettered.

For further details see the World Sheepdog Trials web site.

A few minutes ago I was bragging to myself about how many North of England castles I had mentioned here on the blog.  However, I must now confess that many of these have been more intention than action. I must improve my ways.

Last week I did mention Durham Castle in passing, but didn’t say anything much about it. Penrith Castle turned out to have been mentioned, but not here. It was on one of my other sites, The Lake District in Old Photos. I’ve referred briefly to Towneley Hall in Lancashire and Hardwick Hall in Derbyshire; they’re old but not castles, although Towneley is castellated in design. Others have had passing reference, but the four with posts devoted to them, even if short, have been:

Muncaster Castle
I really enjoyed staying in their B&B a year or two ago.

Lowther Castle
This is a massive restoration project.

Kendal Castle
Home of the Parrs, from whom came Henry VIII’s last wife.

Ripley Castle
The Yorkshire home, near Harrogate, of the Ingilby family for over 700 years

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There are very many more to go for. I must, for example, write more than a brief mention of Newark Castle, near my current home. And not far away down the A1 is Belvoir Castle (shown here), the home of the Duke and Duchess of Rutland.

But coming back to the North, there is a long list of castles built to defend England against the Scots, and the coastal fortresses of Northumberland and Yorkshire especially. Mountains, rivers, lakes … and castles.  There’s so much to see and enjoy in the North of England.

Last Wednesday I spent much of the afternoon walking around Kendal capturing views of the town. The intention is to produce a series of blog posts amounting to a photo-walk around the town centre, but for the time being here is one shot of Kendal Castle.  Centuries ago this was one of the homes of the Parr family from whom sprang Queen Katherine Parr (1512-48), sixth and surviving wife of King Henry VIII.

Kendal Castle from Abbot Hall Park, February 2011

The question as to whether or not Katherine was born in Kendal Castle has been much debated in recent years, some historians believing that the building was by 1512 already in poor condition and therefore unlikely to have been the place to which Sir Thomas Parr (a descendant of Edward III, and Lord of the Manor of Kendal) would bring his wife for the birth of their first child.  Either way, Kendal has for centuries been proud of its royal connections, and rightly so. Even if not born here she almost certainly would spend some of her youth at this family home of the Parrs.

When, many years ago, I first saw Lowther Castle I was quite taken aback.  Driving near Askham, south of Penrith, on the Eastern side of the English Lake District, suddenly this amazing building appeared on the horizon.  Decades after its substantial destruction and exposure to the elements the massive skeleton stands impressive still.

Lowther Castle c1880

Over the course of its history Lowther has gone through many ups and downs.  It has suffered from fire, weather, and sometimes profligacy and neglect as human generations have come and gone.

The present structure stands on the site of earlier buildings, its construction relatively recent in historical terms. It was just over two hundred years ago, in 1806, that Sir Hugh Lowther the 5th Earl specified to his architect this residence of great splendour, and one has to say extravagance, that later generations eventually found uneconomic to sustain.

After glory days before World War I Lowther Castle began to decline, and its once internationally praised gardens began to suffer from inadequate care as costs spiralled.  After use by the army in World War II the castle’s contents were taken away in the 1940s and by the end of the 50s the roof had been removed to make the building safe.  Gradually Lowther Castle became a symbol of past glories.

Having said that, Lowther Park is not dead.  A wide variety of activities have continued to take place in the grounds, including the annual Lowther Horse Driving Trials and Country Fair.  Also, the Lakeland Bird of Prey Centre is based in the walled garden.

What is more, there are plans for the future of Lowther Castle.  One of the biggest restoration projects in the UK is currently underway. The first stages are expected to open to the public on Good Friday, 22nd April 2011 when part of the gardens will be open and people will be able to see something of the progress of the building work. It will, however, take years for the castle itself and its gardens to be brought back to anything approaching its previous splendour.   For more on the redevelopment of this historic building and its environs visit the website of the Lowther Castle & Gardens Project.

The above edited picture of Lowther Castle as it was in the past is taken from Morris’s Country Seats (1880) and shown here courtesy of Wikimedia Commons.

Hoard of Roman coins near Silloth. A man with a metal detector was on his way home after finding nothing that day when he diverted to check on a freshly ploughed field near Silloth.  He’s glad he did, as he found a hoard of Roman coins.  See the story as told by the Whitehaven News.

Beautiful, and potentially dangerous. The annual figures for 2010 from the Lake District Search and Mountain Rescue Association once again emphasise the fact that although incredibly beautiful the Lake District mountains can also be extremely dangerous. Anyone going up these slopes must take care, and go properly equipped. There were 28 fatalities last year, up from 19 in 2009.  BBC report.

Cumbrian Eden? No, I’m not organising another search for the biblical Garden of Eden.  This is about the redevelopment of the old Broughton Moor military arms dump.  One of the proposals is for something with similarities to the Eden Project in Cornwall.  Actually, though, I’m puzzled at the strength of opposition to cleaning up the area by a few years of opencast mining.  But then, it’s not in my backyard.

“The earth moved”. Staying with family in Kendal just before Christmas we decided to have an early night.  Suddenly, about eleven, everything started to shake.  Was the roaring noise caused by the past few days’ weight of snow all slipping off the roof in one fell swoop.  No.  It was an earthquake centred deep below Coniston.  A few days later, having retreated to the safety of the East Midlands, we heard of another, this time centred near Ripon in North Yorkshire.  So Cumbria felt two earthquakes within just over a week.  This is nothing unusual in some parts of the world (I remember Guatemala City shaking every few hours while I was there a few years ago) but it’s not a typical Lake District experience.