Halloween at Lotherton Hall.

I had wanted to visit the lovely ‘Lotherton Hall’ for quite a while, and what better time to go than on Halloween!

Surprisingly, considering this house is located in my home town of Leeds, I had never visited the house before, and didn’t really know too much about it.

The house itself was a lot smaller than I had expected. It was beautifully quant, and kind of felt like a cosy version of a grand mansion. Something like ‘Harewood House’, but more dainty. Very grand but with a homely feel.

As a lover of Halloween, and a lover of old houses – it seemed like the perfect idea to visit Lotheron Hall on October 31st…but then I forgot about how busy it might be…especially considering Halloween was right in the middle of the school holidays this year!

I wouldn’t say it ruined my experience though. It was nice to see so many families there enjoying the house and its many spooky exhibits. But I think next time I go, I’ll go on day that’s not so busy. My own mistake really! But as I said, it definitely didn’t completely ruin the experience at all. The house was too pretty to not enjoy!

However, I wasn’t too impressed with the café area. Whenever we go on a trip anywhere, we always like to go for a hot drink first. But we had no chance on the day we went. There was huge queue outside the café, and it wasn’t worth the wait just to get a drink. I completely understand it was a busy day, but the catering really wasn’t a big enough space for the amount of people there. I do know they host events during holidays etc. so I would have thought considering they have busy periods often, that it would be a little more accommodating than it was.

Aside from that, I had a lovely experience and can’t wait to go back! I can imagine the house and its grounds will be beautiful near Christmas…but when we go back, I’ll be a little bit more sensible about which day I chose to go next time.

Just outside of the house stands a beautiful Norman chapel. It was a lovely, unexpected treat. From both the outside and the inside, it reminded me a little bit of a barn. Perhaps before it was a chapel, it was? Or maybe it was used as a barn at some point? Maybe I’ve just got a weird imagination? 😀 There’s nothing to say that the foundations of the building don’t go further back. It was very obviously an extremely old building, and the preservation of it is very impressive.

I don’t know whether it was because it was a chapel, or whether it was because it was the only part of the grounds that was silent & didn’t have any other people but us in there, but the building definitely had a serene yet haunting feel.

Unfortunately, my photos didn’t turn out as great as I’d like. Being that it was such an old building, as you can imagine, the lighting wasn’t great (even with the overhead lights in there!). Not that it mattered, the experience was lovely enough! But it meant I only managed to capture a few decent shots (and they’re not really the best either).

If you would like any more information about Lotherton Hall, please check the links below:

https://www.leeds.gov.uk/museumsandgalleries/visit/lotherton-hall

http://www.yorkshireguides.com/lotherton_hall.html

Thank you so much for reading! I hope you’re having a lovely Autumn!

~ April ♥