Muncaster Castle and other Lake District National Park, United Kingdom Off The Beaten Path Tips

Muncaster Castle is a .....castle : )
The grounds are free to walk around and are quite large. To enter the castle there is a fee to pay at the main entrance to the area. The best thing is to buy a group ticket that will give you access to the castle, the world owl center and also a maze ( if you have children )
When entering the castle there are information leaflets that are handed to you as you walk in, aslo you can use what I would describe as large mobile phones that will give you information as you walk around. All the areas inside the castle are numbered.....key in the number on the large mobile phone and you get the appropriate information. The castle is worth a look around and has some nice items on display.........it did seem a little small to me but I guess I have been spoiled living so close to Chatsworth Hall ( huge place )

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Ok on first impressions I felt this was a total rip off......you enter a door and go up a couple of ramps and all you see are a few drawings and some stuffed owls. Then you head outside and that is where the action begins. There are lots of owls to see ranging from the very small to the huge ones. Outside the cages are information relating to the type of breed and where they come from in the world. At a rough guess I would say there are maybe 30 -40 cages....so plenty to look at.
Just about everybody enjoys looking at owls and this is worth paying for at the main entrance to Muncaster.
Also in the center is an owl shop where you can buy the usual tourist stuff.......not so impressed with that, but hey I am a bloke ; )

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This is an excellant feature but I would say it is aimed at children under ten years of age. We had a good excuse with my freinds three year old daughter..........I enjoyed it just as much as her ; )
The maze is quite small and man made as opposed to the usual natural ones. There is a theme to based around a field mouse trying to get back home. The children will love it and for the parents it wont take all day, maybe 30 mins maximum.
As you make you way through the maze you have a scratch card that you you use to answer five questions ( my job ) if you answer them correctly you recieve a prize at the end. Dont get your hopes up the prize is not fantastic, but does the trick to make the children happy.
Well worth a visit if you have kids.
You pay for this at main entrance with rest of attractions for Muncaster.

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Well worth a visit...it wont blow you mind, but is a nice place. Good combination to entertain kids and adults. Will cost you £7:80 in total per adult to go to the three attractions. You can buy family tickets also.
There is an area to rest eat and drink with a handfull of shop selling gifts, food and drink etc etc.
Views around the grounds are very good.
Plenty of parking space.
Not a lot else around this area though.....maybe a good idea to combine with a trip to a seaside town ? we ran out of time so was unable to do this.
Muncaster is popular in all the information offices....leaflets are quite easy to get hold of

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Maryport is a small seaside town. Apologies to anyone that lives there but it seams like a ghost town. Some one is obviously investing huge amounts of money into the town with the development of coastal apartments. I think it will take many years before this place is worth a decent visit. The only good thing I can really say is that the roads are quiet because no one seams to be there.
We didnt see anywhere to eat or visit.....if anyone can correct me I will be happy and will make another visit next time.
Best thing there was the view from the harbour.

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In all fairness we arived here at the wrong time 430pm the main attraction here is the Beacon ( in the photo ) when we tried to get it it was closing. It looks quite nice but inside I have no idea. Go before 4pm if you want to see this. Whitehaven is once again quite small and consists of a small high street with usuall fish and chip shops etc etc and a 24 hour tesco........good place to replenish supplies.
You can get some food and go sit in the harbour area to eat.....the seagulls wont bother you unless you feed them ; )

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Nice place to sit and eat your food, as mentioned above.
Tables and chairs are in this area and anyone can use them.

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Cockermouth Sheep Center is well worth a visit. It is easy to find and there is plenty of parking spaces.
Entrance is free and inside there are various small shops with a sheep theme to them, a cafe and various information displays.
When you go there your time will be quite short in the areas I described above and also you may be a little dissapointed. The main attraction is a sheep display. You have to pay for this and it costs just under five pounds each. The display is a sheep show that is quite entertaining for children and adults.
You enter a small theatre like building with a stage at the front. On the stage there is a platform with spaces for around twenty sheep to walk on. A woman stands at the front giving a breif description of the various breeds of sheep that are about to be displayed, out they come and off they go to there correct place on the stage. The places are named and the sheep go unaided to there correct place. Afterwards there are various demonstrations and at the end you get to have a hands on go at feeding the lambs. This is more interesting than I have made it sound....worth a visit, children or no children.

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Seascale is a small town on the west coast on the B5344 just south of Sellafield. To be honest I didnt find a lot here and didnt spend too much time here either. There is a beautiful beach that stretches for miles and it seams pretty clean too.....but anyone from England will know what Sellafield is and ignorance is the greatest disease......i`m ignorant and wasnt too keen to go into the water. It is worth having a wander on the beach but apart from that I didnt see anything of interest I didnt see any shops as such or any attractions......maybe I missed this part of Seascale.

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Found two of these on the beach in Seascale...had now idea what it was until I was told....a jellyfish this thing was over a foot long if it had moved I would have screamed :O(

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