I spent an afternoon at Lowther Castle in early August. The castle contains over 200 rooms. The Lowther family became bankrupt due to the extravegance of "The Yellow Earl" in the early 1900s. It ceased to be a home in 1936 and was used during World War II for a secret weapon, leaving some of the grounds covered in concrete. In 1947, one of the largest ever estate sales in the country took place when the contents of the castle were sold. The castle was inherited by a family member in 1953, and it was in great debt. The castle and grounds had started to become a ruin with livestock barns put on the grounds and the roof removed. The castle was in danger of demolition but was saved due to community support and the efforts of the family member who inherited the castle.
Lowther's grounds were once settled by the Vikings as some tombs were discovered there.
The castle has some rooms that function as a museum or information about the history of the castle and its owners. One of the rooms in the castle was set up as a dining set for when Kaiser Wilhelm came to visit the castle. A bracelet of the Kaiser's image was given to the Kaiser's countess when the Kaiser visited in 1902.
The colour yellow was favoured, and it was used as a colour at the castle.
After exploring the museum part, the route continued outside to the castle ruins. This is now landscapd as a garden.
After exploring the couple of rooms of the ruins, I went on a tour of the grounds and saw the orchard, rock garden, and rose garden. There was also a scented garden and Japanese garden, but these were under redevelopment.
I had a walk up the hill to see the amazing viewpoint at the top.
At the bottom of the hillside is a pond.
Next, I went to "The Lost Castle", which is an amazing children's playground. It is probably the best playground I have ever seen, and I wished to be a kid again so that I could explore and climb it. There was nothing like this when I was growing up.
The castle playground had slides and different climbing frames.
Afterwards, I enjoyed a mint chocolate chip ice cream.
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