Cumbria Historical Houses

As well as offering walks in the beautiful Muncaster gardens and looking at the magnificent birds of prey, Muncaster is well known as one of Cumbria’s historical houses.

Jason Braithwaite, a cognitive psychologist and neuroscientist from the University of Birmingham has been studying the phenomena at the castle for some 15 years, and has suggested one possible explanation as being "strange and anomalous magnetic fields" in the areas of the hauntings, which might affect certain people with a tendency towards "more erratic" brain function, such as those who suffer from migraine headaches or epilepsy, for example.

Muncaster Castle estate in the early 20th century was around 23,000 acres (93 km²) in size. Today, the castle is surrounded by 77 acres (310,000 m2) of woodland gardens in a park of some 1,800 acres (7.3 km²). The gardens contain many rhododendrons, camellias and azaleas, and the castle's Plant Centre offers the largest collection of rhododendrons in the north of England.

The castle is not only the residence of the current owners, Peter Frost Pennington & family, but in common with many such ancient estates in the British Isles it operates as a function centre and a site where civil weddings may be held, has bookable accommodation for 24 guests, and is also the location of the headquarters of the World Owl Trust, a registered UK charity dedicated to the preservation of owls and their habitats.

The estate is situated in sparsely populated and scenic countryside, between the Irish Sea and Hardknott Pass, near England's tallest mountain, Scafell Pike.