Eight centuries of one family, one estate, one limestone valley. The Elizabethan north at its most complete.
This is a private afternoon guided tour of Sizergh Castle — exclusively for your group of up to seven guests — departing at 1:30pm. You visit the castle, home of the Strickland family since 1239, with its Elizabethan interiors, 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.
The afternoon Sizergh tour follows the same programme as the morning session — the peel tower, the Elizabethan interiors, the Inlaid Chamber, the rock garden and the full Strickland family story. The tour departs at 1:30pm and returns to Windermere by approximately 5:00pm.
The afternoon light on the castle's stone and the garden's rockwork is particularly fine in summer and autumn — the western aspect of the building catches the low sun from early afternoon onwards.
Catholic recusancy, Jacobite exile, parliamentary disadvantage and eight centuries of continuous occupation — a family history that reads against the grain of English mainstream history in ways that are consistently illuminating.
The Inlaid Chamber, the Great Hall and the sequence of family rooms — the finest surviving Elizabethan carved interiors in the north of England, in the house where they were made.
Collection from your chosen station.
Arrival and introduction to the estate's history.
The full interior programme — peel tower, Great Hall, Inlaid Chamber, family portraits and the Catholic and Jacobite connections.
The rock garden and walled garden.
Depart Sizergh, arriving back by approximately 5:00pm.