Route: Askham Hall
Area: North Eastern Lake District
Date of walk: 7th April 2015
Walkers: Andrew and Gilly
Distance: 2.0 miles
Weather: Mostly sunny
After visiting Lowther Castle earlier in the day we drove through Lowther Park to nearby Askham (a walk linking the two would be very worthwhile and I shall bookmark that for the future)
After lunch in the village pub we walked across the road to Askham Hall. The hall itself is not open to the public. The Grade II listed gardens, which date back to the C17, are open however so we paid our admission fee and went in
We were the only ones there, but I don’t know why as it’s a lovely place – well designed and planted and in a delightful setting. There was an intimate feeling to it and we really enjoyed our time spent there
On the way back home we stopped at the Lakeland Bird of Prey Centre, where we spent a fascinating time watching a flying demonstration with rare and beautiful birds of prey
When we set out from home earlier in the day, we’d been planning a 7 mile walk in the Askham area but the distractions of Lowther Castle, Askham Hall and the Bird of Prey Centre (all in a radius of a mile or so), meant that we had no time for a proper walk. But never mind, we’d had a great time in this often overlooked part of the Lake District, and will be back to explore it further
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After our visit to nearby Lowther Castle, we parked in Askham and had lunch here
Before visiting the hall, we wandered around the pretty and unspoilt village
We enter Askham Hall garden
The start of the walk is through a small meadow
Entrance to the herbaceous border
Askham Hall
Lowther Church
The duck pond
Archway leading into the courtyard
Askham Hall from the courtyard
These two griffons once marked the entrance to Lowther Castle and were moved here when the castle closed in the 1950’s
After leaving the hall, we wandered down the road to see the village church
There’s so much to do in this area - on the way home we visited the Lakeland Bird of Prey Centre at nearby Lowther - this is a Gyrfalcon
Flying demonstrations are held in the afternoon - and the birds are trained to swoop down on the lure (too quickly for me to photograph them!)
A Harris’s Hawk
Bald eagle
What incredible eyes - Otto the Eagle Owl
What a day we’d had - three major attractions within a 1 mile radius - I look forward to returning to this beautiful area
