Sizergh Castle

Thursday
We were moving on from the Lake District to North Yorkshire today, and knowing we were in for a poor day weatherwise, and not great weather for walking, we decided to stop off at Sizergh Castle, a National Trust property near Kendal, at the southern edge of the Lakes. The core of the medieval castle is a 14th-century tower surrounded by a Tudor house. It was extended in Elizabethan times and has oak-panelled interiors, including the Inlaid Chamber, complete with period furniture and panelling inlaid with poplar and oak. The contents of the Inlaid Chamber had been sold to the Victoria and Albert Museum in London. During the last part of the 20th century, the V&A starting loaning the panelling back piecemeal. Finally, in 1999 the entirety of the panelling was restored under a long-term loan. The Strickland family has lived at Sizergh Castle for more than 750 years, and although it was deeded to the Trust in the 1950s, it remains their home today. We arrived around coffee time, only to discover the house was only open for guided tours in the morning and the remaining ones were full, so we decided to sign up for a tour of the gardens and had a coffee in the cafe while we waited for that. The tour of the garden, though wet (!), was interesting - the highlights are a national collection of hardy ferns and a superb limestone rock garden. There were some added items of interest around the gardens, in the form of scarecrows, made to represent different people on the National Trust staff and their occupations. After the garden tour we had lunch, then toured the house. We continued our drive to the Yorkshire Dales, stopping for a stroll round the small town of Sedburgh, and arriving at our guest house in a small village called West Witton, nr Leyburn, late afternoon. It was an old farmhouse, but totally renovated inside, and in a lovely setting. Having had a cup of tea and a chat with our hostess, who recommended various places to eat in the area, we decided to go for a walk along the lane and up the hill. In better weather, the views would have been spectacular, but we were practically walking up into the clouds. We decided to eat at one of the pubs in the village, but a rather up-market one, that has a great reputation as a seafood restaurant - which we found somewhat incongruous, as its name is the Wensleydale Heifer! The food was certainly excellent, but it was really pricey!

One year ago: Oak leaf hydrangea