In August, a wonderful peacefulness descends on the estate around Levens Hall – the ancestral home of the Baggot family. The Levens Estate is a few miles south-west of the Cumbrian town of Kendal.

The recently upgraded cafe – with its large, open courtyard – makes for an ideal destination by car or, as with me and the Collie, on foot. Many people walk several miles to get there, restoring themselves at the cafe before reluctantly lacing the walking boots back up and setting off for home.

There’s another approach if you’re lucky enough to live relatively close. One person can walk the dog, the other leaving an hour later to join and collect the dog and its walker – via lunch.

We’re lucky enough to live an hour’s walk away. It’s the perfect dog walk, and just about at the limit of what our old Collie can manage these days. At ten years old, she is towards the end of the life expectations for the breed.

The first part of the walk crosses over the busy A590, the main feeder road from the M6 motorway into the heart of the Lake District. It’s good to be above and not in the flow of this hard-working road.

It’s worth noting that there is also a largely-unseen dimension of the terrain below the A590, which is also the crossing point of the River Kent just before it enters the Levens Estate and flows out into the top end of Morecambe Bay.

From the bridge – and staying on the quiet country lane, we come to a very tall stile that literally bestrides the sturdy stone wall of the Levens Park estate.

Dogs have to be on leads as there are deer. It is also the home of the unique Bagot Goats, named after the ancestral family who own the estate.

The first half-mile of the walk is a wide avenue between tall trees, with little variation. But soon the River Kent comes into view on the right-hand side and the path descends to meet it. This stretch is the most valued by photographers.

After a further twenty minutes’ walking we cross the busy A6. This used to be the main ‘trunk-road’ route between north-west England and Scotland, bridging the two with the notorious Shap Summit – one of highest stretches of road in England.

The huge ornamental gates of Levens Hall are dead ahead. Immediately after, we enter the grounds and seen the grand house on the left. The garden is one of the few surviving Tudor designs in the UK.

Tess has just about enough ‘puff’ to make this distance, and she enjoys a rest in the courtyard while we order a snack and a latté.

I hope you enjoyed the walk…

©️Copyright Stephen Tanham, 2025.

Photos by the author.