It's not a real castle, of course, but a "Mock-Gothic castle...with turrets, towers and informal grounds" built in the 1840's to house just two people (or ten people, if you include all the servants). In short it's an interesting place to see, though the rooms are all empty and only some period features remain - it has had many owners, none of whom could really afford to keep the place in good shape, including a business school, and some Maritime Cadet Radio School thing...oh, I can't remember.
Anyway, all the info' is here /http://www.nationaltrust.org.uk/wray-castle/ if you want to know. I'll just shut up and stick up some photo's...
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| The Front Door |
You're free to wander the grounds, which contain some impressive trees including an ancient Black Mulberry allegedly planted by Wordsworth, and which run down to the shore of Windermere.
We took advantage of this to have a very peaceful lunch listening to the lapping waves and not much else, although it did start to rain at one point so we moved under some trees hoping it wouldn't last long. But then it turned to hail, which plinkety-plunked its way down through the branches and into our coffee and sandwiches - nice.
So, Gift-Aid. One of K's hobby horses. Well it wouldn't be if all you had to do was declare yourself to be a British tax-payer and let them reclaim the tax. But no, having got you into a warm cosy giving kind of mood they then try to charge you extra for the privilege (this is the NT, by the way, not other organisations like the Eden Project and Westonbirt Arboretum).
You simply couldn't do the gift-aid thing on it's own, so we said No, and paid the lower price, denying the NT anything extra at all. Strange. At least they didn't also try to sell us membership - K would have probably gone mad...
Ok, we're off to the 'Bitch and Bazooka' for a slap-up meal to prepare us for something special tomorrow - walking! Radical, eh?
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