Lake District, May, Day 3

Despite firmly crossing fingers last night we woke again to gloom, slight drizzle and a chill wind.  There seemed to be worse places to go than Holker Hall, somewhere we had been wanting to visit for some time so, mid morning, we set out.  We took the quickest satnav route to get there and were soon pulling into the car park.  We went round the house first, originally built in the 1600s.  The family wing is still the original building but what is now the guest wing was completely rebuilt in 1870 after being destroyed by fire.  We were interested to discover that the house and estate belongs to the Cavendish family, the same as Chatsworth.  However, in 1908 the then Duke of Devonshire split the estate and now different branches of the family live in the two houses.  We enjoyed our tour of the hall and then went for some excellent leek and potato soup for lunch in the courtyard café before setting off into the gardens, a mix of informal, formal and parkland.  We enjoyed the wild flower meadow complete with camassias, although it is yet to come into its prime.  There is a labyrinth designed to look like a stone circle and an interesting sundial shaped as a bowl with the needle in the bottom.  The formal part of the garden contained tulips looking their best, rhododendrons just coming into flower and azaleas, perhaps past their best.  There is also the Holker Lime a magnificent specimen 400 years old.  We decided to return to the site via Newby Bridge and Windermere and then up the road through Crook and past the Wild Boar Inn to which we must return for a meal before too long, maybe wedding anniversary time.

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