Brettargh Holt, Levens
I must have passed Brettargh Holt, now known as The Villa, at Levens near Kendal a thousand times and never really knew what went on there.
The 140-year-old Victorian house at Brettargh Holt was built as a family home for the Brettargh-Yates family and designed by Joseph Bintley, a local architect, in 1871.
It was later owned by Sir Charles Walker whose passion for orchids led him to build greenhouses against the large garden wall that still remains to this day.
When he died in 1920, the estate was auctioned off and soon became the Levens Hotel, which was altered to the designs by Malcolm G Shaw of Kendal in 1928.
The 140-year-old house has previously been a maternity home and residence of the religious order of Salesian Sisters.
The country house is set on 14 acres of land.
During its time as a maternity home, the Salesian Sisters provided care and confinement of unmarried mothers who entered 6 weeks before confinement and stayed until 6 weeks after.
If the mother was unable to keep her child, the child was taken into the Nursery maintained by the nuns at Lancaster or an adoption would have been arranged.
The society arranged between 30 and 40 adoptions a year.
Due to ever-rising costs, Brettargh Holt closed in July 2012 when the 11 Sisters moved out.
Plans were drawn up to redevelop the house into a 40-bedroomed ‘country house hotel’ with a chapel and pavilion for weddings and other functions.
Most recently, businessman Simon Rigby bought the estate in 2014 and transformed it into “The Villa Levens.”
Mr Rigby died in August 2020 and Victoria Rigby became CEO of The Rigby Organisation which owns the hotel.
If you are looking for a Grange-over-Sands holiday cottage close to Brettargh Holt and The Villa at Levens look no further.
If you are looking for a Lake District Holiday Cottage near the Villa Levens,
