“Winder Barn was a lovely secluded property, located in between Askham and Pooley Bridge with beautiful views all around.”
I was a little concerned about the length of the single file track on arrival but once we'd navigated it a couple of times, this wasn't an issue and provided many encounters with nature en route making it a pleasure to drive. Only met one vehicle on the track over the course of the week. The house is well laid out and had everything we needed. They even allowed our dogs on the sofas with our blankets on which meant for the dogs it was like a home from home too. Took a while to work out how to ...
I was a little concerned about the length of the single file track on arrival but once we'd navigated it a couple of times, this wasn't an issue and provided many encounters with nature en route making it a pleasure to drive. Only met one vehicle on the track over the course of the week. The house is well laid out and had everything we needed. They even allowed our dogs on the sofas with our blankets on which meant for the dogs it was like a home from home too. Took a while to work out how to turn lamps on, didn't realise they were connected to the light switches but cosy in the cottage when lit. It was warm enough in the cottage and although we didn't need the gas fire on we did use it occasionally for drying some washing and it felt like having a real fire.
Instructions about the middle shower was very useful, easy to follow and worked every time, although we did have a drop in cold water pressure (trickling out) every morning. I think it was everyone showering and possibly impact of water pressure from Kendal Calling being round the corner? We soon got used to this though and it didn't take long to come back properly so wasn't a problem.
The dog paddock was great to allow the dogs off the leads although with all the great walks from the house they got plenty of exercise even if they did have to stay on their leads everywhere else. We had a small area at the back of the cottage that we could let them be in which we weren't sure was shared to start with but when we realised it wasn't shared we could get out with a book and let them enjoy the fresh air too or have a sneaky wee in the early hours or last thing at night without having to walk up to the dog paddock.
It was a great base for Kendal Calling and not much noise pollution at Winder Barn when you wanted peace and quiet too.
Super location for visiting the Lakes, not far at all from Ullswater, some of us walked to Pooley Bridge, Kendal Calling and Askham from the cottage. Penrith isn't far for groceries and petrol etc. Lovely milkshakes from a local farm, this is advertised and bottles in the cottage and well worth a visit. We bought our own bottles and kept returning!
Nature encounters were amazing, over the week our family saw a red squirrel, sheep and ponies on the fell above the cottage, numerous rabbits (once they got used to the dogs in the paddock, they'd come out in the field while we were there!), hares, tawny owl (several times on the drive up to the cottage) so many butterflies (even had a new one join us for lunch as its wings dried), pigeons, doves, a variety of song birds, buzzard and a peregrine flying over. All in all a fabulous visit in a well maintained property, beautiful surroundings and we will look forward to returning.
Thank you so much for your lovely informative review. We are so glad you had a great time and look forward to seeing you again in the future. If it was the blue campervan you met on the drive, that was me and it was a pleasure to reserve up the hill as I will always allow guests to come through and never make them reverse.
Property Owner
