Lowther Castle is a country house located near Penrith here in Cumbria England where we live. It has belonged to the Lowther family, Earls of Lonsdale since the Middle Ages. The family home underwent a number of revisions and a couple of compete reconstructions over time. What stands here today are the partially restored remains built between 1806 and 1814. As you would expect this place too has a very interesting past. Due to financial hardship the family closed the castle in 1937. During the Second World War the estate was requisitioned into service and hosted a tank regiment, and used to develop the tanks that would eventually help to win the war. Fortunately, they did not use this great old building for target practice. In 1957 the castle had fallen into disrepair and the roof was removed, leaving the building structure which stands here today. It is impressive none the less and is surrounded by very nice gardens in a beautiful countryside location. Our good friend Susie was here visiting us from the States so we timed a visit to the castle to take in the Lowther Show.
The Lowther Show is an annual event held on the castle grounds and it is great fun. It is massive and quite a celebration. The event features a variety of competitions involving horses and everything you can imagine to do with dogs. We enjoyed watching a horse drawn carriage "over country and around obstacle course" race and then moved on to enjoy several of the dog shows. I think our favorite was watching the working hounds. We also took in the large display of arts and crafts, literally miles of them, and greatly enjoyed the local culinary delights along with a cold pint or two.
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| and...the music was nice |
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| Release the hounds... |
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| Wellies and all Just Precious! |
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| Susie and Scott enjoying the music |
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| A family friend! |
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| Susie conquerors Lowther Castle! |
