Last minute self catering holiday in Ambleside - Sleeps 6.

1 The Knoll3 bedrooms, Sleeps 6.

A fabulous 3 bedroom Grade II listed building steeped in history, furnished with quality pieces and rich colours; the location benefits from beautiful views towards Loughrigg feeling in the heart of the lakeland countryside, but is just 5 minutes stroll from the centre of Ambleside with shops, restaurants and bars.

Accommodation details

Ground Floor:
Living/dining room: With Smart TV, catch up TV and DVD player (guests can link in their own Netflix account).
Conservatory: With TV.
Kitchen: With gas hob, second combi/microwave/oven/grill, fridge/freezer, dishwasher and washer/dryer.
Separate toilet.

First Floor:
Bedroom 1: With kingsize bed, Smart TV/DVD and en-suite with shower cubicle, toilet and heated towel rail.
Bedroom 2: With double bed, TV and DVD player.
Bedroom 3: With twin beds, TV and DVD player.
Bathroom: With bath, shower cubicle and toilet. Gas central heating (underfloor in conservatory), gas, electricity, bed linen, towels and Wi-Fi included. Cot and highchair for hire.

Large gardens, wooded area, patios with seating and BBQ. Private parking for 3 cars (2 in car bays to front of property, 1 in garage). Visit England 4 Star. Please note: This property has a security deposit of £200. No children under 6 years old (unless supervised), except babes in arms.

The Knoll was commissioned by Harriet Martineau in 1847, a formidable Victorian political economist, feminist and campaigner, whom came to Ambleside to convalesce. In Ambleside she found a different world. "The mountains, by their conservative influence," she says, "have here hedged in a piece of old English life, such as is to be found nowhere else within the island’’. Martineau wrote the most influential of the guides to the Lake District. In her typical and thorough fashion she had, in a few months, driven everywhere and checked everything in order to supply the busy tourist with all the information they needed. But it is this journal of her first year in her new-found home that offers her finest descriptive writing. The scenery is new to her. Her daily walks and excursions reveal new delights and she writes about what she sees with the enthusiasm of someone who has found their paradise. But there was much to attract her. The scenery drew forth ecstatic descriptions from her: " the stream, the Stock, goes leaping, gurgling and gushing down, overhung by trees and tormented by rocks in its channel, till it passes under the road. "
When she decided to make her home here, she advisedly chose a site on a knoll, a small hillock near the river with commanding views across the valley.

Harriet designed The Knoll, employing local tradesmen to create what her friend Wordsworth described as being ’the wisest step of her life, for the value of the property will be doubled in ten years’. In Ambleside she found a different world. "The mountains, by their conservative influence," she says, "have here hedged in a piece of old English life, such as is to be found nowhere else within the island’’. Harriet began the most productive writing years of her life in Ambleside, inspired by the beautiful views from The Knoll and by the visitors that attended, established writers themselves. It is said that Harriet often entertained her companions by holding annual tea and dinner parties, whereby each guest would plant two trees in the grounds, the gardens now lush with firs and other species planted by the likes of Wordsworth and Coleridge and the Bronte sisters. The gardens are now formed by a wood to the side of the property and a beautiful woodland garden to the front with many colourful ericaceous trees and plants. There is a patio outside the conservatory plus four further patios/seating areas in the gardens below, one being equipped with a large barbecue and a corner seat plus further garden seating/sofas to the other areas.

The interior of The Knoll is very grand and demonstrates such a keen eye for detail and design. The current owner has taken great care to furnish the building with quality pieces and rich colours and fabrics to inspire her 21st century guests, although never far from mind, is the greatly admired Harriet, without whom this wonderful holiday home would never exist. Now a Grade II listed building, the interior of the knoll with its grand sweeping staircase, bold colourful design and sumptuous furnishings reflect the property’s history and tradition. It’s a wonderful, comfortable home from home with a large ornate fireplace, a grand entrance hallway, a well-equipped kitchen, and beautiful bay windows overlooking Loughrigg. Two of the bedrooms also enjoy views over Loughrigg.
There is a garage plus 2 further parking spaces to the front of the knoll, but many guests decide to leave their car for the duration of their stay and enjoy the many walks that are accessible from the propert