The Inlaid Chamber
Elizabethan panelling sold to the Victoria and Albert Museum in the 1890s and back in its own room since 1999.
One family has lived in this house for more than 750 years, and they still do. The Stricklands arrived by marriage in 1239 and handed Sizergh to the National Trust in 1950 but kept a wing for themselves, so what you walk through is less a curated museum than an old family home that opens its rooms to strangers after lunch. At its core is a pele tower of the fourteenth or fifteenth century, the fortified kind northern families raised while Scottish raids still reached this far south; Tudor and Elizabethan wings grew around it until it became a country house perched on a limestone rise four miles south of Kendal. The real reason to go inside is the woodwork. The Elizabethan rooms are lined in carved oak, and the best of them, the Inlaid Chamber, is panelled in pale poplar and dark bog oak. The family sold the whole room to the Victoria and Albert Museum in the 1890s and it stood in London as a reconstructed period room for a century before coming home in 1999 on long loan, with ownership finally made over in 2017, so standing in it feels like witnessing a restitution rather than viewing an antique. Be warned that the house is small-roomed and stair-heavy: 26 steps up from the Lower Hall to the first floor, handrails on both sides, and more steps between the show rooms above. It is not for pushchairs, though a ramp to the ground floor can be asked for and manual wheelchairs are lent free at reception. The garden is the other half of the visit and arguably the better half with children. The 1920s rock garden is the largest limestone rock garden the National Trust owns and shelters part of the National Collection of ferns, which runs on through the stumpery and the orchard; alongside it are a mirror lake, a kitchen garden and paths of grass and loose gravel with slopes and uneven stretches a pram will not always like. Beyond lies a 1,600-acre estate of wetland, woodland, limestone pasture and orchard on waymarked trails, including the 1.5km Holeslack accessible loop, while the wider parkland has gates and stiles. Dogs are welcome on the estate, assistance dogs only in the garden. Driving is by far the easiest way here: Sizergh is about five miles from junction 36 of the M6, roughly ten minutes, and around 25 to 30 minutes south of Windermere on the A591 and A590, which makes it a natural first or last stop on a Lake District trip before the run back to Manchester. The nearest station is Oxenholme, 4.4 miles and about eleven minutes by taxi. The house opens Tuesday to Sunday, 12:00 to 16:00, last entry 15:15; it is shut on Mondays and closes for the season from early November until the spring, while the garden, cafe and shop open daily year-round, 10:00 to 17:00 in season and 10:00 to 16:00 in winter. Adult admission to house and garden is £15, garden only £11 and £6.50 in winter, children £7.50 with under-fives free. No advance booking is needed. The car park is pay and display for non-members, £3.50 for an hour up to £9.50 for the day.
Elizabethan panelling sold to the Victoria and Albert Museum in the 1890s and back in its own room since 1999.
The largest limestone rock garden the National Trust owns, with part of the National Collection of ferns and a mirror lake.
1,600 acres of wetland, woodland and pasture on waymarked trails, including the 1.5km Holeslack accessible loop.
Sizergh, near Kendal, Cumbria LA8 8DZ
With children under six, buy the garden-only ticket at £11 and skip the house: its rooms are cramped, the stairs are many and no pushchair goes in, whereas the garden and estate give them room to run, and under-fives are free anyway. The house earns its extra £4 only if someone in the party cares about history or carved woodwork.
The two houses sit about three miles apart south of Kendal. Sizergh suits a family wanting a big garden, estate walks and a £15 ticket that a National Trust membership covers; Levens Hall wins on its famous topiary garden but is smaller and dearer at £17.30, and its house shuts at 15:30. Levens opens seven days a week in season while Sizergh's house is closed on Mondays, so a Monday settles it. With one day, pick one rather than rushing both.