A Bit About Britain

Acorn Bank offers an attractive garden and partially open 17th century red sandstone manor house. The estate at Acorn Bank dates back to the medieval order of the Knights Hospitaller. The main attraction now is the 17th century walled garden, with its fascinating medicinal and culinary herbs, pretty formal area, traditional orchard, woodland walks and industrial past complete with restored working watermill dating from the 16th century.

Beamish is an astonishing open air museum, telling the story of life in North East England during the 1820s, 1900s & 1940s.  It was the vision of Dr Frank Atkinson, the museum’s founder and first director, who could see the industrial heritage of the north east fading away and set out to preserve it.  So, in 300 acres on the site of a Durham coalfield, you will find a town from the 1900s, a pit village, colliery, Edwardian railway, 1940s farm – and more.  Many of the buildings have been painstakingly relocated from their original sites and rebuilt; others are faithful replicas.  There are thousands of exhibits, many of them working, and the museum is further brought to life with the help of costumed re-enactors.

The Craven and Murgatroyd Limeworks, better known locally as the Hoffmann Lime Kiln, is just north of Langcliffe between the Settle-Carlisle railway and Stainforth Scar. It is a disused Victorian industrial complex that includes the remains of two separate but adjacent limeworks - the Murgatroyd and the Craven Lime Company works. The remains of the huge Hoffmann kiln (it had 22 chambers) are astonishing – it’s like being inside a cathedral, but without the religion. The Craven Lime works lasted until 1931, though were used again briefly during WW2 before being abandoned and left to decay. The nearby quarry was used as a refuse tip by the local authority between 1967 and 1990, but the whole site has now been preserved. Plans to open it as a major tourist attraction were shelved; there is now a self-guided walk with information boards, some of which incorporate recorded commentary. In addition to the Hoffmann kiln, there are the remains of other types of kiln, ancillary buildings, an inclined plane, railway tracks etc. Once so busy and noisy, parts of the surviving complex now attract wildlife and it's a peaceful spot.

From the B6479 between Langcliffe and Stainforth, take a minor road east under a low railway arch and follow it to a small car park.

Eskdale Mill is a rare survival of a traditional watermill and drying kiln and the last remaining working water-powered corn mill in the Lake District National Park. The title deeds for the mill go back to 1737, when Edward Stanley of Haile sold it to Edward Hartley of Miterdale Head and many original features and working parts survive. It is located on the moorside edge of the tiny village of Boot, across a stone packhorse bridge over the fast-flowing Whilan Beck "at the centre of an intimate huddle of buildings" (Eskdale Mill's website). There is no vehicular access - park at Dalegarth Railway Station.

They say whisky was distilled at Morangie Farm since at least 1703. Glenmorangie's best selling malts, include The Original and the rich Quinta Ruban, are matured in white oak casks from Missouri and used to mature bourbon for 4 years before being shipped to Scotland. Glenmorangie is famous for its products allegedly being 'Perfected by the Sixteen Men of Tain' and its logo is based on a design from Pictish stone, the Hilton of Cadboll Stone, discovered nearby on the Tarbet Peninsula, Easter Ross. Various tours of the distillery are available and it is always advisable to book.