Wray Castle

Today was a Beatrix Potter day, visiting her home at Hilltop and later this extraordinary mansion above the western shore of Lake Windermere. The Potter connection is that her family rented this for their three month summer holiday in 1882 when she was 16 years of age. What an amazing holiday rental!

Wray Castle was built by a retired Liverpudlian surgeon in 1840 with money from his wife's fortune. It was donated to the National Trust along with 64 acres of land in 1929. Since then, it has been used for a variety of purposes including a youth hostel and a training college for Merchant Navy radio officers. Today the building is largely devoid of furnishings and is now open to National Trust visitors.