Scotland: Wray Castle (England)

It's time to get back to my trip reports and this time we head to Wray Castle in the Lake District. Our visit to Hill Top Farm was in pouring rain and the day didn't look like it was going to improve so we decided to head to Wray Castle and spend some time indoors.

Since Lucy at Attic24 had posted just weeks before our trip about Wray Castle being such a great place for children I figured there had to be something to it. It turned out it to be the kids' favorite castle of our entire trip! Andrew loved it so much he made a donation on the way out!

The significance of Wray Castle for me lay in its connection to Beatrix Potter. This was the first place she and her family stayed when they began to come to the Lake District for their summer holidays. Beatrix would ever after have her heart tied to this countryside. You can read more about the history of the Castle here.

Today the castle is empty of all furniture and is a giant playhouse for children. Guests are invited to roam the entire building and they will find various activities in each room.

In the former dining room area there were foam blocks for building:

The entryway was perhaps its most impressive area.

Looking up:

And there was quite a grand staircase!

It was funny to think of four people renting this enormous house to live in for the summer. I suppose the Potter's had some wealth and perhaps they would have entertained friends. They did only take the Castle for one summer due to its cost.

Looking out the window one can see Lake Windermere.

Can you picture Beatrix walking these halls?

I enjoyed being able to go any which way I liked with no signs that said "off limits". I could run around and imagine the house teaming with servants and how each room functioned.

The kids loved all the activities. This was a Peter Rabbit room.

The tile floor in the entry hall:

And there was dress up and sword fighting:

And more windows to look out:

The Castle was only built in 1840, so it is a "fake" castle. But it still has some beautiful elements to it.

Dressing up:

And here are the royals:

Maps in one room. You can see "Hole House" where we were staying just to the left of the center. Wray Castle was about a 20 minute walk through the fields from Hole House.

Here's a picture of the Drawing Room at the time the Potters rented the house.

Here is the drawing room today. The National Trust would like to restore the room to its former glory.

The library has a mural on the wall to suggest what it looked like once. Beatrix painted a picture of this room as it looked when she stayed here.

I couldn't get enough of the entry hall.

And there was a craft room:

And a giant checkers room!

And a room with a beautiful ceiling that housed the gift shop!

And the view to the mountains outside was just gorgeous!!!

Up the drive was the Wray Church and the Wray Castle Gatehouse.

After Wray Castle we decided to head to Bowness on Windermere.

To get there we went back to Far Sawrey and caught the ferry across:

It was quite the tourist town on the other side!

We wandered the streets a bit, but most of the shops were closing since it was 5 p.m.

I never tire of these quaint streets!

Couldn't resist looking in the candy shop!

And we did run into this adorable dog:

And I imagined buying a plaid dress for Laura:

Another thing I can't resist is a red postbox.

You can see that on this side of the lake things are so much more built up and covered with tourists.

We found a cozy pub/restaurant for dinner:

It was an education in itself teaching everyone how eating out works! It just doesn't happen here in the States. Everyone had practice learning to read and choose from a menu and make wise choices.

I chose the traditional fare:

And here is the description:

It was a wonderful day and the children still talk about Wray Castle and the fun they had!! I'm so glad we decided to try it out! Next up will be James Heriot Country.

Scotland: A Cottage in the Lake District

As part of our Scotland trip we headed south and spent four days and nights in the English Lake District. Oh the beauty, history, and joy of this area! It hit me so deeply and profoundly that I will be forever different in some way.

Here is Hole House, the 16th century cottage that we stayed in during our visit, formerly owned by Beatrix Potter's husband, William Heelis, before being donated to the National Trust. The cottage itself was worth driving down for, let alone the countryside around it and all the sites we wanted to see.

We spent much of our time in the cozy sitting room with the tiny wood stove burning and a pot of tea ready to hand. The ceilings were low and the black beams sagged with the centuries. And there was a paned window to gaze out of.

The Lake District is a very wet place. And while we were there it was also on the cool side which made the fire very attractive.

In the UK, all the houses seem to have doors on every room. This is meant to help conserve heat. It also lends to the cozy feeling. I loved the ancient black boards on which the coats hung. I never see wood that old in my normal life.

And I loved the little holes in the entrance way -- perfect for the glass bottles of milk that arrived each morning from the dairy.

It was the view out back that completely captured me. Everytime we drove in the driveway I had to run out back just to see how gorgeous it was! And not another soul or house visible.

I had to take picture after picture of this, trying to memorize it forever in my mind's eye.

The kids found the barn yard to be full of adventure and took the liberty to turn the fencing posts into war machines.

Isn't this the ideal situation for children to grow up? Countryside, farm yard, outside, fresh air, etc. Too bad it only lasted a few days!

Michael enjoyed time for reading in the shelter of the entrance way.

I discovered an ancient Bramley apple tree out back and thought how perfect it would be to make a Bramley apple and bramble (blackberry) crisp with apples from our own garden and brambles from the hedgerows about.

Even with the simplest of ingredients, this was delicious! (Especially with the thickest of local dairy cream poured on top!)

One morning I heard a very loud "moo" and looked down the stairs to see a cow staring at us in the window!

There were other things that stared in the window too!

I definitely had to make use of the dairy delivery and phoned in my order the evening we arrived, ready for delivery in the morning.

Every morning I stuck my head out our window and inspected the day. It was just too story-bookish.

Another view from my open window:

And this is the food we ate the night we arrived: Karen's Lake District Soup. Since we couldn't stay the whole week at the cottage we'd sent a friend on ahead of us to use up the first few days. When we arrived she had the leftovers of her invented soup in the fridge and since there were still more ingredients, suggested I make this for dinner. Oh it was so good, and so perfect for a cold, autumn night. Leeks, mushrooms, ham, rice, cream, and hard cider. The combination is delicious!

So that is where we stayed in the Lake District. At some point I will have to post about what we did.......