Acorn Bank Garden & Watermill is a

National Trust The National Trust () is a heritage and nature conservation charity and membership organisation in England, Wales and Northern Ireland. The Trust was founded in 1895 by Octavia Hill, Sir Robert Hunter and Hardwicke Rawnsley to "promote the ...

property situated just north of

Temple Sowerby Temple Sowerby is a village and civil parish in Cumbria, northern England. It is close to the main east–west A66 road about east of Penrith, Cumbria, Penrith in the River Eden, Cumbria, Eden Valley. At the United Kingdom Census 2011, 2011 ce ...

, near Penrith,

Cumbria Cumbria ( ) is a ceremonial county in North West England. It borders the Scottish council areas of Dumfries and Galloway and Scottish Borders to the north, Northumberland and County Durham to the east, North Yorkshire to the south-east, Lancash ...

England England is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is located on the island of Great Britain, of which it covers about 62%, and List of islands of England, more than 100 smaller adjacent islands. It ...

. The

garden A garden is a planned space, usually outdoors, set aside for the cultivation, display, and enjoyment of plants and other forms of nature. The single feature identifying even the wildest wild garden is ''control''. The garden can incorporate bot ...

features over 250 medicinal and culinary

herbs Herbs are a widely distributed and widespread group of plants, excluding vegetables, with savory or aromatic properties that are used for flavoring and garnish (food), garnishing food, for medicinal purposes, or for fragrances. Culinary use typi ...

and is protected by ancient

oak An oak is a hardwood tree or shrub in the genus ''Quercus'' of the beech family. They have spirally arranged leaves, often with lobed edges, and a nut called an acorn, borne within a cup. The genus is widely distributed in the Northern Hemisp ...

s and high walls. There are

orchard An orchard is an intentional plantation of trees or shrubs that is maintained for food production. Orchards comprise fruit tree, fruit- or nut (fruit), nut-producing trees that are generally grown for commercial production. Orchards are also so ...

s with old varieties of English fruit. The estate includes a partially restored functioning

watermill A watermill or water mill is a mill that uses hydropower. It is a structure that uses a water wheel or water turbine to drive a mechanical process such as mill (grinding), milling (grinding), rolling, or hammering. Such processes are needed in ...

, powered from the Crowdundle Beck. It was left to the trust in 1950 by

Dorothy Una Ratcliffe Dorothy Una Ratcliffe (20 April 1887 – 20 November 1967), often known as D.U.R., was a socialite, heiress and author. She wrote in the Yorkshire dialect, despite being born in Sussex and brought up in Surrey. She published 49 books, edited a ma ...

, a popular author in the Yorkshire dialect, who bought and restored the house and garden. The house was known for some time as Temple Sowerby Manor before the National Trust reverted to its original name of Acorn Bank in 1969.

References

External links

Acorn Bank Garden & Watermill information at the National Trust
* Gardens in Cumbria Grade II listed buildings in Cumbria National Trust properties in Cumbria Tourist attractions in Cumbria Watermills in Cumbria {{UK-garden-stub