History of the Macdonald Leeming House

Early Lakeland immigrants

During the 19th Century, the Lake District was a very fashionable area and attractive to people from Lancashire and the Midlands who wished to escape from the city and industrial life. Wealthy industrial barons bought up prime pieces of land to build holiday homes, often on a grand scale. Today, planning permission would not be granted but, in the early 1800s you could do what you wished if you had the money.

The Keswick, Windermere and Bowness areas of the Lake District were very accessible by train and country residences mushroomed in these areas. The area surrounding Ullswater was relatviely inaccessibile and, to a great extent, escaped this exploitation. The comparatively few developments that did appear were very tastefully done and the houses blend in with their natural surrounding. Conversely, in other areas of the Lakes the more extravagant and opulent buildings are not so harmonious and contrast, in some cases very harshly, with the rugged pastral landscape for which the Lake District is so famous.

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