Sizergh Castle is close enough to Kendal to work as an easy half-day outing, but it feels like a different world once you reach the limestone edge south of town. The house is a fortified medieval core wrapped in later domestic comfort, long associated with the Strickland family and now run by the National Trust.
The interiors are good, especially the carved woodwork, but the gardens and estate walks are at least half the reason to come. In spring and early summer the rock garden, lake, and orchards make Sizergh a softer alternative to the busier central Lake District houses.