By coach from Dorking staying on a half-board basis at the three-star Damson Dene hotel at Crosthwaite, five miles from Bowness-on-Windermere, and visiting these places of interest:
• Little Moreton Hall, Cheshire
• Holker Hall
• Lakeside & Haverthwaite Steam Railway (train ticket included)
• Cruise on Lake Windermere (boat ticket included)
• Wordsworth’s House & Garden
• Ravenglass & Eskdale Steam Railway (train ticket included)
• Cruise on Ullswater (boat ticket included)
• Kendal
• Sizergh Castle & Gardens
• Moseley Old Hall, Staffordshire
Itinerary
Day 1 We depart by executive coach from our designated pick-up points and en route to Cumbria we visit the National Trust’s Little Moreton Hall in Cheshire. Begun in 1504 and completed 100 years later, Little Moreton is regarded as the finest example of a timber-framed moated house in the country. We continue to the three-star Damson Dene hotel at Crosthwaite for a four-night stay on a half-board basis.
Day 2 Our Blue Badge guide meets us at our hotel and accompanies us throughout the day. Holker Hall is our destination this morning. Home to the Cavendish family, this grand Victorian mansion is lavishly furnished with marble fireplaces, splendid linenfold panelling, fine plasterwork and intricate carving. We then take an included one-way journey on the Lakeside & Haverthwaite Steam Railway, taking us through the Levan Valley, one of the Lake District’s most beautiful valleys. Later this afternoon we enjoy an included 45-minute one-way cruise to Bowness-on-Windermere, affording us wonderful views of the lake and its shores.
Day 3 With our Blue Badge guide this morning we visit the National Trust’s Wordsworth’s House and Garden. This fine Georgian townhouse in Cockermouth was the home of the Wordsworth family in the 1770s, and the childhood home of William. His early life here inspired some of his most moving poems. This afternoon we enjoy an included return journey on the Ravenglass & Eskdale narrow-gauge steam railway. Affectionately known as La’al Ratty by the locals, the railway runs from the coastal village of Ravenglass and passes through two of Lakeland’s most picturesque valleys on its seven-mile journey to Dalegarth.
Day 4 With our Blue Badge guide we enjoy an included morning cruise on Ullswater, sailing from Glenridding to Pooley Bridge, where our coach meets us. We have free time for lunch in Kendal, the southern gateway to the Lake District. Granted its market charter in 1189 and built largely of grey stone, earning it the nickname of ‘the auld grey town’, Kendal was the home of Catherine Parr, the last of Henry VIII’s wives. This afternoon we visit the National Trust’s Sizergh Castle and Gardens, a medieval house extended in Elizabethan times and surrounded by beautiful grounds.
Day 5 After checking out of our hotel and en route home we visit the National Trust’s Moseley Old Hall in Staffordshire. Built around 1600, Charles II hid here after escaping the 1651 Battle of Worcester. Taking carefully selected comfort stops en route we return back to our original pick-up points.
Cost
£739 plus £28 insurance (including Covid cover). Single room supplement £99.
To book
Contact organiser Ianthe Cox: email ianthecox72@gmail.com or telephone 01737 843105.