A house that has been with one family since 1679. Medieval, Tudor, Georgian — all of it still there.
This is a private full-day guided tour of Dalemain Mansion — exclusively for your group of up to seven guests — departing at 9:00am. You visit home of the Hasell family since 1679, near Ullswater, with house entry included and the expert storyteller’s full attention on your group alone. £459 per group, with free cancellation up to 24 hours before the tour.
Dalemain sits at the northern end of Ullswater, in the limestone country between Penrith and the Lake District fells. The Hasell family have been here since 1679, and the house they occupy today is a Georgian façade added in the 1740s to a building whose bones are medieval and Tudor — the great tower, the cobbled courtyard, the medieval hall and the Tudor rooms all survive behind the dignified Georgian front.
This is not a showpiece house run by a trust. It is a family home that happens to be of exceptional historical and architectural interest. The experience of visiting Dalemain — the personal quality of the rooms, the family's continuing presence in the building — is different from a National Trust property in ways that are immediately apparent.
The walled garden and the surrounding grounds add a further dimension: the Medieval Knot Garden, the rose garden and the terrace walk give one of the finest garden views in the northern Lakes.
Behind the Georgian façade, the house's medieval and Tudor bones are intact — the great tower, the oak-panelled rooms, the 16th-century Chinese wallpaper in the drawing room, and the sense of accumulated domestic history that four centuries of continuous family occupation produces.
The family have been at Dalemain since 1679. Their personal collections, portraits and possessions fill the rooms in a way that feels inhabited rather than curated. The house tells a family story, not an architectural one.
The Medieval Knot Garden, the rose garden, the terrace walk and the views across the parkland toward the Ullswater fells. The grounds are at their finest from May to September.
Collection from your chosen station.
Arrival at Dalemain, on the northern shore of Ullswater. Your expert storyteller introduces the Hasell family and the building's layered history.
The full interior programme — the medieval great tower, the Tudor rooms, the Chinese wallpaper drawing room, the Georgian additions and the family collections.
The walled garden, the Medieval Knot Garden, the rose garden and the terrace walk.
The Dalemain tea room is available for lunch. This is at your own cost.
The northern shore of Ullswater is minutes from Dalemain. Your expert storyteller covers the lake's history, the geology and the literary connections.
Depart for the return journey, arriving back by approximately 4:30pm.