PATTERDALE HALL
Stit,—I am writing in the hope that the most fruitful use for a house and grounds in the heart of the English Lake District may occur to one or more of your readers and that they will be kind enough to let me hear from them. Let me very briefly give particulars.
. Patterdale Hall, situated at the head of Ullswater, bought primarily for preservation of the land, of which the major part is now protected by a covenant with the National Trust, has been used since its acquisition in 1936 for a variety of occupants from evacuees to soldiers. The house itself, which dates mainly from the early nineteenth century, is very far from convenient, and both structurally and for essential modern con- veniences would need a considerable amount of money spending on it—a figure of £5,000 to £10,000 is a fair estimate. To those who do not • know it, or the surroundings, I would say that it stands in an attractive setting of garden and stream, looking out on some of the best Lake scenery and at the foot of the Grisedale Valley, famous for its beauty and as the approach to Helvellyn. There is an atmosphere of peace and rest for those sensitive to such things, which has been noted by many.
A variety of uses have been suggested for the Hall, one or two of which came near to completion, but for reasons outside our control have fallen through or seem unlikely to mature. Always we have been left with the feeling not wholly of disappointment, because they have not seemed to us to &kr the ideal use for the place. Other would-be purchasers have come forward, but we have so far declined, because we have felt that the more ordinary uses as a hostel or holiday centre were again not realising the full possibilities of what the place has to offer.
The opportunity is, therefore, still open to rent on long lease at a nominal consideration, with an option to buy, or to acquire by immediate purchase on very favourable terms, provided we are satisfied, that the purposes for which the Hall will be used are really snob as to make the fullest use of it. It may be that we are over-estimating the peculiar contribution which we think Patterdale Hall has to make to the healing of mind and body to those sensitive to the beauty of the surroundings, or in some fuller growth of the spirit encouraged by the silence and appeal of the hills. Believing, as we do, that its present state of disuse is a waste to be remedied as soon as possible, we have felt that .there might be sufficient justification for making the opportunity known to a wider public, whose experience might suggest just that real service which
Patterdale Hall might offer.—Yours truly, F. C. Scorr. Sand Aire House, Kendal.
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