Very warm welcome, great historic house, superb gardens
Disadvantages:
Limited admission times to the house
Recommend to potential buyers:
yes
Full review
If you visit The Lake District / Cumbria, I strongly recommend that you go and visit one of my favorite attractions in the area which is Mirehouse Historic House & Gardens.
Mirehouse is located on the A591 about 3.5 miles north of Keswick.
You'll find some breathtaking scenery there. When you leave your car at the car park, you can either start having a walk in the forest nearby or just cross the street and enter into the large gardens surrounding the house.
Our children certainly enjoyed the adventure playgrounds and the nature notes that you can find there, but you will also see a walled honey garden (The Bee Garden, created in 1780), a collection of different shrubs, meadows of wildflowers etc.
Take a walk at the lakeside (yes, there is quite a pretty lake close to the house - Bassenthwaite Lake) and enjoy the impression of pure nature and silence there, or take the route through Catstocks Wood to see St Bega's Church first.
Opening times are from easter to the end of October from 10 am to 5.30 pm for the gardens and the tea room (The Old Sawmill Tearoom, built in 1880, located next to the car park).
Make sure you come to Mirehouse on a Wednesday or Sunday, because only on those two days and just from 2 to 4.30 pm you can actually visit the Historic House the oldest part of which was built in 1666 by the 8th Earl of Derby. In August only, entrance to the house is possible on Fridays as well (again 2 to 4.30 pm).
The reason for such limited admission times is the fact, that the owners of Mirehouse (the Spedding family who have been owning Mirehouse since 1802) are still living there, and they just allow a few hours for visitors to see their home.
But it is definitely worth to go there, the owner himself is welcoming all visitors and showing them around, telling stories about particular items of furniture, pictures, books in the library and about all the connections that this house has with famous writers and poets (William Wordsworth, Alfred Tennyson, David Wright, Melvyn Bragg, Thomas Carlyle)
You can visit the Hall, the Smoking Room, the Dining Room, the Bell Passage, the Drawing Room, The Library, the Schoolroom and Nursery, all of which are worth spending some time.
Our children liked most the Bell Passage with all its bell-wires linked to the various rooms and the old Victorian kitchen equipment which is displayed here. And - as you may expect - they were excited about the items displayed in the Schoolroom and Nursery including an old rocking horse which they were allowed to try.
We will never forget our visit to Mirehouse, to both the Historic House and the Gardens including the Lakeside Walk, and if we come to the Lake District again, we will certainly stop at Mirehouse again for at least half a day.
Of course, there are many more attractive places to visit in The Lake District, like for example
- Lake Windermere - World of Beatrix Potter in Bowness-on-Windermere - The Beatrix Potter Gallery in Hawkshead - HillTop - Dove Cottage and Wordsworth Museum in Grasmere - Hoker Hall and Gardens including the Lakeland Motor Museum - Cars of the Stars Motor Museum in Keswick - Sizergh Castle & Gardens
I have been to all these places as well and I might write reviews on some of them later, but Mirehouse certainly is my favorite.
Many thanks for reading. Let me know what you think after you've been there.
Michael
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