A magnificent Lake District mansion designed by the man who built the National Portrait Gallery
Casterton Grange was built for a vicar by a church architect who would one day go on to design the National Portrait Gallery – and it's now looking for a new owner.


It’s hard to imagine a Cumbrian vicar being able to commission an eminent architect to build a house. Yet in 1848 that’s precisely what happened when Rev David Barclay-Bevan asked Ewan Christian to create a family home for him – the result was Casterton Grange, a wonderful place that's currently for sale via Davis & Bowring.
The clue to the good reverend’s ability to fund the erection of a house on such a grand scale – seven bedrooms and three storeys spanning over 10,000sq ft, set with 52 acres of land near Kirby Lonsdale, and now looking for a new owner – lies in his name: the ‘Barclay’ in David Barclay Bevan hints at the occupation of his father, David Bevan, a partner at Barclays Bank (then known as Barclay, Bevan & Co) and a titan of the British financial world.
Christian was at the start of a career which would one day see him design the National Portrait Gallery, but at the time most of his work was in building and restoring churches, among them Carlisle Cathedral.
Pugin is said to have been a major influence on Christian, but it's also not hard to see the ecclesiastical influences in the design of Casterton Grange, in everything from the brickwork and the graceful windows to the main tower.
Inside, however, this 170-year-old home is every inch the comfortable family home with some wonderful features. The tower, for example, is a guest suite accessed via a spiral staircase with a separate shower room, sitting room and views every bit as wonderful as you’d expect.
There is also a separate master suite which boasts a dressing room, as well as five further bedrooms and four bathrooms.
The living spaces downstairs have been beautifully decorated, retaining original features wherever possible but giving them a modern twist – the stone fireplace in the snooker room, for example, no longer has a fire but instead serves as a grand cocktail cabinet.
Sign up for the Country Life Newsletter
Exquisite houses, the beauty of Nature, and how to get the most from your life, straight to your inbox.
Those 21st century touches go beyond the smartly-finished decord: there is high-speed fibre internet (installed under the B4RN scheme) and cabling to take the internet, music and television connections throughout the house.
Perhaps most interestingly of all, one of the original features is actually among the most modern: the property’s distinctive tower was dismantled many years ago, but the present owners had it rebuilt according to the original design.
Away from the main house there is a two-bedroom lodge and stables which have been converted into another living space, the latter having an upstairs living space with beautiful views across grounds that include gardens, fields, outbuildings, woodland, paddocks and a tennis court.
There are also plans to turn one of the old farm buildings into a swimming pool and leisure suite, and also to convert the vaulted cellar into an atmospheric cinema room.
Credit: Strutt and Parker
Best country houses for sale this week
An irresistible West Country cottage and a magnificent Cumbrian country house make our pick of the finest country houses for
Spectacular Scottish castles and estates for sale
A look at the finest castles, country houses and estates for sale in Scotland today.
Credit: Fine & Country
Six gorgeous houses with majestic views of rivers, mountains and lakes
Enjoying a breathtaking view on a daily basis from the comfort of your own home is a real luxury – and
The grand Cornwall house once condemned as 'past saving', now set to be great again
Haryln House's wonderful views and 36 beautifully-proportioned rooms were almost lost – but a plucky owner has saved the building, and
Country Life is unlike any other magazine: the only glossy weekly on the newsstand and the only magazine that has been guest-edited by HRH The King not once, but twice. It is a celebration of modern rural life and all its diverse joys and pleasures — that was first published in Queen Victoria's Diamond Jubilee year. Our eclectic mixture of witty and informative content — from the most up-to-date property news and commentary and a coveted glimpse inside some of the UK's best houses and gardens, to gardening, the arts and interior design, written by experts in their field — still cannot be found in print or online, anywhere else.
-
The National Gallery rehang: 'It is a remarkable feat to hang more with the feeling of less', but the male gaze is still dominant
Almost everything on display at the National Gallery has been moved — and paintings never previously seen brought out — in one of the the biggest curatorial changes in the Gallery's history.
By James Elwes Published
-
Lutyens's last masterpiece comes up for sale in Oxfordshire, with 27 bedrooms and a cricket pitch
Middleton Park in Middleton Stoney is a vast country home that must surely be among the nation's best
By James Fisher Published
-
Lutyens's last masterpiece comes up for sale in Oxfordshire, with 27 bedrooms and a cricket pitch
Middleton Park in Middleton Stoney is a vast country home that must surely be among the nation's best
By James Fisher Published
-
A 10-bedroom manor house in the heart of the Cotswolds with all the trimmings
Waterton House sits on the edge of Ampney Crucis, and is as elegant as can be.
By Penny Churchill Published
-
A seven bedroom Buckinghamshire rectory that might be a little haunted
Grade II-listed the Old Rectory is a home of astounding charm and beauty, and comes with a friendly visitor.
By James Fisher Published
-
Over the Hills and Far Away: Robert Plant's Welsh hideaway is up for sale
Other notable residents of The Argoed in the Wye Valley include George Bernard Shaw and Beatrice Webb.
By James Fisher Published
-
Period charm and contemporary tastes collide in an eight-bedroom listed home in Durham
Morton House is a rare example of a home where you can have the best of both worlds.
By James Fisher Published
-
A charmingly unspoilt 17th century farmhouse for sale in the Cotswolds' 'Golden Triangle'
Finstock Manor was once part of the Cornbury Park Estate and is now an elegant family home.
By Penny Churchill Published
-
Tasburgh Hall: From a Buddhist centre to a seven-bedroom family home in 23 acres
The property, in Norfolk, was once four separate apartments, but has been lovingly re-stitched back together.
By Penny Churchill Published
-
Old homes in new lights: A look at contemporary property photography
Attention is at a premium. Having the right image that will draw the maximum number of buyers has never been more important.
By Arabella Youens Published