The North Westerly

Levens Hall once again and on a sunny day in peak flower season. Read our previous post for more information.

The walk through the deer park.

In 2024 Blackpool Heritage Tours are operating a reduced range of trams as the Heritage Tram depot in Rigby Road is being refurbished. Those being run are kept at Starr Gate depot.

Today, while we were there, three heritage trams were operating, 700 in Wartime Green livery and with B fleet doors for use on the new platforms, 717 in streamline livery and with double destination boards and roof lights. These English Electric trams were made in Preston in the 1930s.

Blackpool had a lot of taste with its art deco style tram and bus liveries specified by the General Manager Walter Luff, and the art deco buildings built by the Borough Architect, John Charles Robinson, which include libraries, The Cabin Lift and Derby Baths on North Shore, park buildings such as Stanley Park Art Deco Cafe, tram terminals such as Bispham.

The new tram spur to North Station is being tested and drivers trained. The heritage trams near North Pier.

The Boat tram 227 named, in 2018, Charlie Cairoli after the famous Blackpool Circus Clown.

The view from tram 717 with its Art Deco shaped wrap round windows.

Blackpool on the 21st November 2022, a damp Monday enabling reflections from the lights.

Sizergh Castle near Kendal is looked after by the National Trust although the Strickland family live there, as they have for some 700 years.

The castle has a strong and square tower with a more recent slate roof living section and large chimneys.

On arrival park in the Car Park which has a ticket machine, free for National Trust members. The Visitor Centre is a long wooden building with a cafe, outside seating, toilets and a shop.

Choose to visit the house and garden or just the garden. Alternatively take a walk along the well marked paths.

The cafe is a pleasant environment although the food gives the impression it was cooked by an ex-farmer. They do try though with some vegetarian choices. It’s the pies, heavy looking with thick pastry that don’t look very stylish.

The gardens have a large range of planting. A UK National Collection of ferns, flower borders, a large rock garden wit a lot of big planting, acers etc. A vegetable garden and large orchard. Bees and hens. There’s also a small lake and a large barn with some old items and a second hand book sale. In autumn they sell the apples with lots of varieties.

The house has several sections with an old baronial style dining room and family rooms. Some interesting panelled rooms and a large library.

For the walks you can head for St John’s at Helsingham, a tiny church on top of the valley with views over the Lake District and the wide and flat Lyth Valley. Then decide whether to head back or down the big hill road to Brigsteer and carry on round a circle to the castle. You can head from the castle to the woodland in the valley. You can also head towards Sedgwick and the old northern dry section of the Preston to Lancaster, Kendal Canal. There’s also a walk to Levens Village and Levens Hall.

None of these walks are strenuous although there are some hills on the St John’s walk.

A visit to Levens Hall near Kendal in Cumbria. Famous for its topiary. Through the narrow gates up the drive into the decent sized free car park. Levens Hall also takes coach tours.

You can either go to the cafe first or buy tickets to the garden and the house, or just the garden.

We’ve been round the house a couple of times and it is interesting. Today we just took a guided garden tour and then wandered ourselves. The two lady guides were excellent, with good nature and being gardeners knew all the plants. In summer the gardens are wonderful. The topiary and flower beds divided into ‘rooms’ by high hedges. There is a magnificent border of shrub roses if you catch it in full flush just through a ‘gate’ in the high hedge. A red rose of Lancashire is also grown in a nearby bed and was coming to its end during this visit.

The topiary is always exquisite each with their own nickname. At the back next to the Gardeners Cottage are pots of honey from the local hive, to buy.

First though we went into the cafe. It’s an attractive cafe with a nice outdoor seating area although we find it’s not exactly our taste. You can also buy ice cream and drinks from a stall near the cafe entrance.

After the garden walk the exit is through the shop which has some interesting local items including it’s own bottled beer.

Outside the premises and across the main road is the old entrance drive which is a long straight tree lined drive with deer, following the River Kent. This can lead on to other walks.

The River Kent is known for its tidal bore and long railway viaduct at Arnside. Nearby is the village of Levens and further west the River Leven drains Lake Windermere into Morecambe Bay.

A visit to the Lakeland Motor Museum coupled with a walk to the nearby Lakeside and Haverthwaite Railway.

First stop is the neighbouring cafe, quite a decent one with riverside seating. Then entry to the museum which contains cars, motorcycles, bicycles and memorabilia. Plus the Donald Campbell display in a separate building. There are some fabulous cars here and you need to snake around the building.

Then a walk to Haverthwaite Station where small locos haul carriages to Lakeside where a ferry boat waits bound for Bowness or Ambleside on Lake Windermere. Haverthwaite also has a small engine shed containing a few locos, some dismantled.

A visit to the BCVM in Leyland. Just a few minutes off the motorway and a free car park or a fairly cheap one across the road.

The museum has several different manufacturers on display but there are a couple of descriptive boards and some vehicles covering the story of Foden and ERF which is interesting. The original company was called Foden but two brothers wanted to go in different ways so one split off and formed ERF or ER Foden both based in Sandbach, Cheshire.