Brockhole facts for kids

Quick facts for kids Brockhole Lake District Visitor Centre
Brockhole House
General information
Location	shore of Lake Windermere, Cumbria, England, United Kingdom
Coordinates	54°24′04″N 2°56′34″W / 54.401026°N 2.942883°W / 54.401026; -2.942883

The Brockhole Lake District Visitor Centre is a really cool place to visit! It's also known as the Brockhole National Park Visitor Centre. This fun spot is managed by the Lake District National Park Authority. It's located right on the shore of Lake Windermere. You can find it between the towns of Bowness-on-Windermere and Ambleside.

Brockhole has a big house and 30 acres of land. This includes 10 acres of beautiful gardens. There's even an adventure playground! You can try many activities here. These include orienteering, kayaking, and open water swimming. They also have interesting exhibitions often.

It's free to enter the centre and its grounds. However, there is a charge if you bring a car to park.

Discovering Brockhole's Past

The land where Brockhole stands was bought in 1896. A silk merchant from Manchester, William Gaddum, bought it. He wanted to build a summer house there. The house was built the next year, in 1897. An architect named Dan Gibson designed it.

The amazing gardens were created by Thomas Hayton Mawson. He was famous for designing gardens during the Arts and Crafts movement. Mawson had worked with Gibson before. They had teamed up at Graythwaite Hall.

The famous author Beatrix Potter often visited the house. She even wrote about it in her journals! In 1946, William Gaddum passed away. The house was then sold. In 1948, it became a place for people to recover from illness.

The Lake District National Park Authority bought the property in 1966. Then, in 1969, it opened as the UK's first National Park Visitor Centre!

Getting to Brockhole

Brockhole is located off the A591 road. This road runs between Windermere and Ambleside. You can catch a Stagecoach bus right outside the centre.

Bus route 555 goes from Lancaster to Keswick. Bus route 599 travels from Bowness-on-Windermere to Grasmere. Both of these bus routes also stop at Windermere railway station.

There's a jetty in the grounds of Brockhole. You can catch a boat from here! Windermere Lake Cruises offers boat services from March to October. One boat goes from Ambleside. It returns to Ambleside via Wray Castle on the other side of the lake.

Another boat service runs from Bowness-on-Windermere. This one returns to Bowness via Ambleside. There's also a special "Bike Boat." It's designed to carry bicycles! This boat goes across the lake to Bark Barn in Claife.

Images for kids

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  The entrance to Brockhole Visitor Centre.

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  The beautiful gardens at Brockhole.

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  The jetty where you can catch a boat.

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  A lovely view of Windermere Lake.