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.
