Tuesday, June 03, 2003

 

Day 40. Wednesday 04 June 2003. Sizergh Castle

Neither of us had been to Sizergh Castle before just down the road from Kendal so today we decided it was worth a visit.

Being a National Trust property John and Edith's National Trust cards came in useful. The Castle although 750 years old is more like a very large house or large mansion and although it was mid-week and out of the holiday season the place was quite busy especially when we visited the cafe for cool drinks and light lunch.

There were numerous stories to the Castle depending which side of the Castle one stood on the sloping ground. The 1600-acre property is criss-crossed with walks but we kept to the Castle area.

The Castle has been in the hands of the Strickland family for most of its 750 years. An interesting fact not normally known is 2 brothers of the family came to NZ in the early 1800s and opened up the Wellington and Nelson provinces. A statue in Wellington commemorates one of the brothers.

An interesting feature of Sizergh Castle was many of the windows had a central stone pillar that at a distance seemed to be of the same or similar design to Vicky and Ian's house at Cricklade Priory. There is a name for this pillar but it escapes me now.

Another feature, which lodged in my mind, was the large rock garden along side of the Castle wall, once an orchard I believe. The rock garden continued a series of small ponds with limestone rocks, a feature of this area of Cumbria. Among the rocks were planted coloured leafed maples and other coloured leaf plants. They looked beautiful, almost an autumn look although it was barely Summer yet.

In the souvenir shop as I browsed a small book caught my eye. Just what I wanted, a book of British wild flowers and reduced to clear too! As a boy I knew all my wildflowers, living so close to nature but as the decades pass with no close interaction with wild plants the memory dims. Seeing them again I recognize the flower or leaf but the name usually escapes me so the book will bring back pleasurable moments. NZ has many British plants in its fields and hedgerows brought over with the early settlers both by design and accident.

We returned to Kendal after a pleasant warm and sunny day.

posted by OldEric 12:13 pm