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Levens

At the southern tip of Scout Scar, overlooking the Lyth Valley and the lower reaches of the River Kent, stands Levens Hall with its unique topiary gardens. The superb Elizabethan mansion (described as "one of the wonders of Lakeland") developed from a 14th-century pele tower and the gardens were first laid out in 1694. They were the work of Colonel James Grahame, a keen gardener who purchased the hall in 1688 and employed a Frenchman, Guillaume Beaumont, to create the amazing topiary work. (Beaumont also redesigned the gardens at Hampton Court for James II.) The grounds also contain a Fountain Garden created in 1994 to mark the tercentenary of the gardens. The interior of the house is equally rewarding - a wealth of period furniture, fine panelling and plasterwork, a dining room with walls covered in goatskin, and paintings by Rubens, Lely and Cuyp. A major location for the BBC TV serial Wives and Daughters, the Hall's other attractions include a collection of working steam engines, a tearoom, gift shop and plant centre.

Only a couple of miles north of Levens Hall, just off the A591, is another stately old residence, Sizergh Castle, the impressive home of the Strickland family since 1239, although the property is now administered by the National Trust. Originally a pele tower built to withstand border raiders, the house has been added to and altered over the intervening centuries to provide the family, as times became less violent, with a more comfortable home. Now boasting intricately carved chimney mantels, fine oak panelling, and a collection of portraits of the Stuart royal family, the castle stands in well laid out gardens and 1500 acres of grounds, which provide superb views over the Lakeland fells.