FREE ENTRY TO LOWTHER CASTLE – 20th & 21st March 2020
Lowther Castle & Gardens is delighted to announce that on Friday 20th and Saturday 21st March – 10.00 am-4.00 pm – it will be throwing its garden gates open to the local community.
Entry to the castle, the gardens, the exhibition, the adventure playground will be FREE for everyone.
All visitors have to do to take advantage is book their tickets in advance – not later than midday on Wednesday 18th March – via Eventbrite.
The Community Days mark the first of two proposed annual events. “We are very keen,” said Head of Marketing Claire Logan-Stephens, “that people from the local community who might not otherwise think of coming to Lowther have a chance to do so – that is why entry will be free. A great deal has been achieved here over the past twenty years and we feel that as many local residents as possible should be able to share in this. In addition, we are keen to show off how much volunteers have contributed to the project – and we would love to persuade other volunteers to join us.” In that vein, on both days, existing volunteers and volunteer coordinators will be on hand to explain the Lowther Castle project and to show just how much work at Lowther, in the gardens particularly, has been contributed by volunteers. To accompany this, there will be a slide presentation using footage and stills taken from the past ten years – to be shown in the Sculpture Gallery.
From Lowther Castle, members of the gardening team will be on hand to show and share Dan Pearson’s Garden Masterplan – which continues to direct the maintenance of the gardens and the creation of new designs. There will be an opportunity for anyone who wants to see what volunteering might be like to try it out – working in the Garden-in-the-Ruins and also round the new Dan Pearson Rose Garden.
From Lowther Estate, Jim Bliss, the estate’s conservation officer will explain to visitors the progress being made around the rewilding project – the upcoming enclosed release of beavers, the introduction of pigs to the woodland and longhorn cattle to the park, the planting of wildflower meadows, the creation of a substantial bee colony. In addition, some of the estate’s charity partners will have stands – including the RSPB, the Cumbria Beaver Group, the Penrith & District Red Squirrel Group and the Woodland Trust.
Head Gardener Martin Ogle, Senior Gardener Natalie Gargett and some of our garden volunteers.
Susie Grainger, the Lowther Castle & Gardens Trust Outdoor Education Officer, will be present to show off all the amazing achievements she has had with her groups of young people – explaining their work on
the estate, their outward bound activities, how much confidence many of them have gained from being allowed to learn practical skills in the great outdoors.
Outside in the amphitheatre, the team from Arragons’ Cycle Hire will be available to discuss the joys and pleasures of cycle-hire – demonstrating their latest range of electric bikes, talking about the trails throughout Lowther Park and beyond. Free taster sessions will be on offer.
Three weeks before Easter, one week before the clocks change, moments before the school holidays, this event will mark a great beginning to the spring season. A chance for members of the local community to visit somewhere they may not otherwise go to, a chance to meet the people who have made it what it is, a chance to
mingle with other families and friends and, who knows, an opportunity to become involved in one of the most intriguing conservation projects in the north-west.