What you see

From the approach road the house reads as a long, whitewashed volume beneath a steeply pitched slate roof, its gables and bay windows projecting and receding in a rhythm characteristic of Baillie Scott’s mature domestic manner. The entrance is quieter than the lake-facing elevation, which opens in wide bays framing the water and the fells beyond. The roughcast render, textured and slightly warm in bright light, contrasts with the dark timber of the window surrounds — a deliberately understated exterior that does not prepare the visitor for what lies inside.

The Great Hall is the heart of the house. Its inglenook fireplace is large enough to sit inside; the carved woodwork and plasterwork above it carry stylised plant and berry motifs. The White Drawing Room on the first floor is the most celebrated space: a frieze of peacocks and berries runs at cornice height, rendered in low relief, while the light from lake-facing windows catches the pale surfaces throughout the day. Elsewhere, the rare Hessian wall-hanging in the dining room, the leaf-shaped door handles, and the distinctive window catches are exactly as Baillie Scott detailed them — evidence of a Gesamtkunstwerk approach in which every designed surface was held to the same standard as the architecture itself. Metalwork by W.A.S. Benson, ceramics from Pilkingtons and Ruskin Pottery, and furniture associated with Morris & Co. complete the picture.