ABOUT & HISTORY
About Ain House
Ain House and it's associated cottages and outbuildings sit on the south facing slopes of Irton Fell overlooked by the neighbouring Irton Pike in the Western Lake District with immediate access to the iconic valleys of Eskdale and Wasdale and some of the country's best loved mountains including of course Scafell Pike.
The properties are easily found on navigation devices at postcode CA19 1XA. They are less than 10 minutes drive from the A595 the main road running up the western side of the lakeland peninsular. Head for Gosforth and from there make for Santon Bridge and from there on towards Eskdale Green. The properties are accessed via a signed private lane from Bowerhouse Bank midway between the Santon Bridge Inn and the Bowerhouse Inn.
Ain House is made up of a collection of buildings around an open courtyard, each building with history and character. The buildings are set against a back drop of a small deciduous woodland offering a haven for wildlife including red deer. It's a wonderful area for supervised exploration for youngsters.
There are 4 letting cottages each very different in style and position all have wood burning stoves and private terraces / gardens. The Cartshed and Stables each have a hot tub. They provide comfortable accommodation and facilities including satellite (not Sky) television and fast, satellite based internet access. It is worth noting that mobile phone coverage is poor / intermittent and dependent on network provider.
The water supply is from the fells and subject to a comprehensive filtration system put in place in 2017.
There is ample parking and secure cycle storage. There is a laundry building but be aware drying facilities are limited.
The owners are often on site to provide advice and assistance where required. Any queries prior to booking and or while on site (if owners not available) will be answered normally by return email (bookings@ainhouse.co.uk)
History
Ain House is probably a later building than Ain House Cottage which appears to date back to the 18th Century. The traditional stone bank barn buildings also appear to date from the early 19th Century and were converted between 2016 and 2018 to provide holiday letting accommodation.
Ain House has an interesting history. The presence of a number of unusual non indigenous shrubs and trees point to a period when occupiers of the property pursued, possibly in a commercial basis, an interest in landscaping.
Elements of modern day industrial archaeology were uncovered during the refurbishment. The property was formerly part of a larger landholding including Ain House Plantation, which supplied raw materials for a timber business and seems to have been a latter use of the large bank barn.
A steam engine is understood to have powered a drive which in turn ran various machines including a saw bench, mortice machine and a dynamo which provide electricity around the property. Ain House is thought to have been one of the earliest properties to have been electrified in the surrounding area.
During the refurbishment, press cuttings were uncovered from the late 19th century advertising timber buildings produced at Ain House. Historical aerial photographs show areas of ground in the flat area east of the main house where there are large rectangular patterns understood to have been the location of buildings possibly used as greenhouses associated with the other commercial activities at the site.
Many of the remnants of the former use of the site were in such bad condition they could not be retained however some elements have been preserved and can be seen at the property including;
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The Mortice Machine
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Trucks from the saw bench
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The concrete base which was probably used to mount a diesel engine to replace the original steam engine used to power the logging equipment, mortice machine and dynamo