ilam park

Click on the Map to make it bigger so you can get a closer look.

Ilam Park is such a beautiful place to visit. It's part of the National Trust to preserve land in England. Here is just a little history of it: found on wikipedia

The estate was owned from the 16th century, for over 250 years, by the Port family. It was sold to David Pike Watts in 1809. On his death in 1816, the old hall was inherited by his daughter who had married Jesse Russell. Russell (as Jesse Watts-Russell, High Sheriff of Staffordshire in 1819) commissioned James Trubshaw to build a new Hall to designs byJohn Shaw; the Hall, now a Grade II* listed building, was built between 1821 and 1826.^[1]

By the early 1930s it had been sold for demolition. The demolition was well advanced when Sir Robert McDougal bought it for the Trust, on the understanding that the remaining parts (viz:- the entrance porch and hall, the Great Hall and the service wing) be used as an International Youth Hostel. Today Ilam Hall is leased to the Youth Hostels Association (England & Wales) (YHA).

Even though it had a visitor center it was hard to find some information about the hall. I did manage to find this paper that is a fun guide for kids(shown above) and it had a map and a little paragraph about the Park. Here is what it says on the paper:

Ilam Hall was rebuilt in 1820, it was the home of Watts-Russell family, the Park was their garden. In 1937 more than half the hall was demolished. The hall has been a hotel, a restaurant, and now it's a youth hostel.

The Watts-Russell family thought the old village spoilt the view so they dismantled it and rebuilt it further away in the style of an alpine village. 

It was a great day to be out with the family. The kids had so much fun walking all over the park and gardens. We would have gone inside but the kids where worn out and we just wanted to get to the car to have lunch. Always a good idea to take a picnic where ever you go. The food can be a little pricy at the tea houses.

The dove cote

Ilam Church.

ILAM HALL

Front of Hall.

Back of the Hall.

There were neat paths all over the place we went on the one down from the Tea house called Paradise walk. We followed that to the open Meadow near the bridge. Look on the map for reference.

This place was a nice quiet path. We walked down a hill to get to the river. Picture above is the kids looking down from the hill. 

Cool well on the Paradise walk.

Kids playing on a tree stump.

I am really glad I have these harness for the kids! Helps when there is a river near by. 

Beautiful red tree. Well at right.

The Bridge

Old iron on the bridge.

Empty old House

This was such a beautiful place. So busy too.  I am glad we came here if you become a pass holder of the National Trust the parking is free. We had to pay 2 pounds about $3. Which I didn't think was that bad now that I think about it some places in the USA for parking at say Mesa Falls it's $5 bucks!

Here I think you can go inside the church and the hall. I saw people going all over the place it was awesome to see. Ilam Park is part of the Peak District.