Map - Google
Map - Ordnance Survey - NY 230323
Places to Stay and Eat:
Looking over Trotters Animal Farm, and Armathwaite Hall, and Bassenthwaite Lake
to Bassenthwaite village then on to Skiddaw, Ullock Pike and Dodd.
Bassenthwaite is a small village not far from Bassenthwaite Lake, under the shadow of the Skiddaw massif. Containing just a single pub and no shop, it is largely an agricultural community, with two farms within the village itself, with a number of holiday homes. It contains many elements of the archetypal English village including a green, primary school, church and a stream running through it. On the outskirts of the village are several grand houses.
Bassenfell Manor - Christian Outdoor Pursuits Trust
Bassenfell Manor was built in 1848 by William Rathbone, a Member of Parliament and successful international trader. Since being sold by the Rathbone family around 1910, the Manor has served as a hotel, school and old peoples home. The Manor was purchased by the Christian Outdoor Pursuits Trust in 1983 and developed as a centre to promote the Christian Faith through involvement in character building training by means of outdoor pursuits.
Armathwaite Hall Hotel
Armathwaite Hall is a castellated Victorian 'Tudor' mansion, built in 1881, and the former home of the Spedding and Vane families. It is now a hotel set in 400 acres of deer park and woodland. Next to Armathwaite Hall and owned by the same family, is Trotters World of Animals, where you can see many domestic and more exotic animals, most in natural open enclosures.
Mirehouse
Further south is Mirehouse, a remarkable historic house and gardens facing Bassenthwaite Lake, with Dodd Wood and Skiddaw at the rear. The gardens contain adventure playgrounds, varied sheltered gardens to amble around, and lakeside walks through woods and parks. The house has a wide range of literary and artistic connections, including portraits and manuscripts of three poet laureates - Southey, Wordsworth and Tennyson. It was originally built in 1666, and bought by the Spedding family in late Georgian times.
Within the Mirehouse grounds is the little church of St. Bega, dating from pre-Norman times and well worth walking across the fields to see. The village also has the more modern St John's Church, built in 1879.
Looking across Bassenthwaite Lake to St Bega's Church. Photo by Mike Faulkner
St John's church
Ouse Bridge over the River Derwent, at the head of Bassenthwaite Lake
Aerial photos by Simon Ledingham
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