Wray Castle is a modern castle located in England's Lake District (in Cumbria in the northwest of the country). The castle was built in 1840 by a retired surgeon and his wife using her family's wealth. The couple did not have any children, so it was given to a nephew who rented it out to families for a few months but then struggled with the upkeep. Afterwards, the castle was given to the National Trust in 1929 and only recently (in 2011) opened to the public because it had been leased out to other companies to use as training centres or research and laboratory in the past. The castle is located above Lake Windermere and has stunning views, though a lot of it has become overgrown.
The castle grounds still show the remains of what was a beautiful garden, and during a tour, we were told that the National Trust were doing work on the grounds. The family who owned the place loved nature and trees and would plant a tree each year with friends, so several of the trees are rare here and not native to this part of the world. For example, there are a couple of young redwood trees here. The wood needs to be thinned out and the newer trees removed in order to bring the place back to its original design and restore the beautiful lakeside views, which are primarily hidden.
The front of the castle looks to the hills on the other side of the lake. The family bought all of this land, which was also being farmed, when they bought the land to build the castle in the early 1800s.
Wray Castle also has another claim to fame in that author/artist Beatrix Potter (who wrote "The Tales of Peter Rabbit") stayed in the castle when she was 16 as her family had rented it for a few months. She was from the area. It is here that she met and befriended the caretaker of the castle Hardwicke Rawnsley, who was also interested in wildlife. They left properties and land to the National Trust and were amongst the first to do so.
Wray Castle is a modern castle, and its architecture and design is inspired to appear as an older medieval castle used as a fortress. It was designed with arrow slit windows and the battlements. The Dawsons wanted it to appear as if it had always been there. The grounds also used to include 'ruins' to add to this ideal of an old and romantic castle, but the National Trust removed them after they were falling apart.
Many of the trees planted by the Dawsons and their friends, when they had friends stay with them, are still growing on the grounds.
The rooms of the castle actually do not have much inside as the furniture and furnishings have been removed. So, there is actually nothing to really see in the castle. The entrance is worth a visit with the grand hallway, and the staircase is also worth a visit. A couple of the rooms and the toilets are also worth a visit to admire the layout.
I loved this beautiful large room right inside the door and the other one at the back, with a beautiful bay window.
Although Wray Castle is newly opened to the public and has quite a bit of work to improve the gardens, it is worth a visit. I think that once the trees are thinned out and the garden finished, it will look nicer. I also hope that they do furnish the rooms; the ground floor and some of the rooms on the top would be great to showcase a museum of the other uses that the building had or to show the rooms furnished as they would have been in the 1800s.
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