Over the Easter week we've been travelling about visiting friends and exploring new places. One of the gorgeous properties we visited was Blackwell The Arts and Crafts House in Bowness-on-Windermere designed by Baillie Scott as a holiday home for the wealthy Holt family who came from Manchester, it was a visual feast. Photographs are not permitted inside the property, but if you click the link above it will take you to the website where you will be able to see what they have in store for you if you visit.
Baillie Scott designed every element of the house from floor to ceiling. Although the walls are mainly clad with wood, there are carved and beautiful stained glass sections to break up the spaces. There were lots of window seats to sit in and take in the lake view and also for the evening snug little seating areas by the inglenook fireplaces. The loveliest spot I found was by the fireplace in the white drawing room where I sat and admired the white plaster work ceiling and the Art Nouveau book covers on the shelf next to me.
I left with a handful of gorgeous postcards, a new book and lots of lovely inspiration and a renewed love of the Arts and Crafts movement.
Below are a couple of Google images of the house and my favourite window.
Window in the entrance porch (www.visitcumbria.com)
Blackwell The Arts and Crafts House (www.craftanddesign.net)
Our next new place was Wentworth Castle near Barnsley almost on the opposite side of the country to Blackwell!(we get about a bit). This was once the home of Thomas Wentworth and his family, although the house itself is more of a mansion than a castle. Thomas had a folly or mock castle built for his children on the highest point of land and called it Stainborough Castle, to give the idea that it had always been there. He then renamed the whole of the estate, mansion house and gardens Wentworth Castle. The gardens have an interesting layout and include a union jack garden and a very old gnarled tree. All the gardens wrap around the deer park, where on the day we visited the deer basked in the sun.
The gardens are lovely and full of interest, inspiration and birds. I did hear an owl hooting but did not manage to spot it to take a photograph as proof. The pictures below were taken as we made our way round the fairytale like garden in the sun.
I loved this avenue of trees.
Hellebore's lined the tree walk.
To prove the sky really was blue!
The castle folly.
The deer park.
If you ever find your self in the South Lakes or in Yorkshire and fancy somewhere new to visit I would highly recommend these two places and be ready to be inspired and surprised.
Thank you for dropping by, see you next time :-)
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