Townend is a stone and slate farmhouse in Troutbeck, near Windermere, home to twelve generations of the Browne family across 400 years before the National Trust opened it in 1948. The Brownes were ordinary Lakeland farmers, yet George Browne's intricately carved furniture fills the rooms, and the library, viewed from the doorway, holds 45 books that are the only surviving copies in the world. A real fire burns in the kitchen most afternoons among a quirky collection of domestic tools, and from the informal cottage garden you can see one of Cumbria's earliest bank barns. Dogs are welcome on leads in the car park and garden but not indoors. Reviewers praise the knowledgeable volunteers and the small-group afternoon guided tour, which must be booked online. Tips from visitors: the lanes in are narrow, the car park 300 yards along the road is small, there are steps and a slope down to the house, and there is no cafe or shop.
