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New Route Opens - Tarn Howes

Tue 08 Jul 2008

In 1835 the Monk Coniston estate was sold by the Knott family to James Garth Marshall and he was responsible for the creation of Tarn Hows. After his fortune declined, the house and gardens were sold to a Mr J.P. Bradshaw, in 1926. The rest of the estate, including all farmland and Tarn Hows, was purchased in 1930 by Beatrix Potter. She sold half of this at cost price to the National Trust (NT), which bought the land with a large donation by Sir Samuel Scott of Windermere. The remainder was passed to the NT after Beatrix’s death in 1943. In 1945 the NT purchased the hall and gardens, re-uniting the estate once more.

Since then, Monk Coniston Hall has been leased by the NT to HF Holidays, and the hall and grounds have been closed to the general public. The hall remains private, but part of the original Victorian path, from Coniston Water to Tarn Hows, has been reopened by the NT whose staff, with the help of many volunteers, have worked hard clearing the grounds and vegetation. All this work has been supported by a £450,000 Heritage Lottery Fund grant and £20,000 of Lake Distict Sustainability Fund grants. Walkers can access the start of this new route from the car park at the head of Coniston Water, grid ref 316978, reached by taking the A593 from Ambleside south to Coniston, or by taking the Steam Yacht Gondola to Monk Coniston Jetty.