The forecast for today was for rain which unfortunately turned out to be correct so a quick consultation of our plan for the week and we decided that we would head back in the Keswick direction and go to Dalemain House this would mean that if the rain stoped we could walk around the estate and possibly drive back over the pass for the great views and if it didn’t at least we would have seen the house and we could come back and walk round Ambleside as we haven’t actually explored the town yet. We arrived at Dalemain house just as it was opening which was a good thing as they only let you visit on a guided tour which was just starting. It was really interesting as the house has been changed and extended over time but has been in the same family, who still live there, since 1679. For the first 400 years it was owned by one family, however the last male heir died leaving five unmarried daughters so his will stated that all his assets should be sold and the money divided equally between his five daughters to be used either as a dowry or to maintain them. It was brought by Edward Hasell who was a steward to Lady Anne Clifford who was effectively the ‘Queen of the North’ and was left his a legacy when she died, as a side note the Clifford family now run a B&B as their fortune has been eroded by various heirs mis-management and taxes, whereas the Hasell’s still live in the home purchased by their ancestor. There is not much to see from the original Jacobean house, but it actually forms the middle of the house and you can see the courtyard and previous front door, there is also a stone spiral staircase and a couple of rooms that have wonderfully decorative ceilings and oak panelling. The georgian look for the house was added in 1744 by the son of the original owner, he was also responsible for purchasing the hand-painted wallpaper which is still on display in the Chinese Room, this wallpaper has hidden figures dotted around the room which are very hard to spot but I imagine it is great fun trying to find them. Unfortunately it was still raining by the time the tour finished so we decided to head back to the apartment to have lunch then go for a walk round Ambleside. The town was granted a charter to hold a market in 1650, and received another charter for the town to collect tolls so the market place became the commercial centre for agriculture and wool. The packhorse trail between Ambleside and Grasmere was the main route between the two towns before the turnpike was completed in 1770. The town saw a resurgence as a result of the tourist boom in Victorian times when the ferry terminal opened at Waterhead Pier providing rides across Lake windermere. There is a house built on a bridge – known as ‘Bridge house’ which is two rooms over the river it has two rooms and once housed a shoemaker and his six children – one way to keep warm! Just down the road in a restaurant is a waterwheel, there were once 12 watermills on the river although it isn’t clear what they were used for. After we finished walking round the town which is very much a tourist town now we went back for a relax before having something to eat and hoping for better weather tomorrow.
