Welcome to Lowfield House

On retirement from owning and running The Three Shires Inn in Little Langdale, Arthur and Alison Scriven (grandparents to current owner James) purchased the plot of land upon which Lowfield House is now situated from local farmer Joe Pepper. The year was 1957.

The ¾ acre plot had the footings of an old barn still on it – all be it long since demolished at that point. However, this enabled planning permission for Lowfield House to be granted, and it was built upon the footprint of the old barn. Lowfield House was built by local builder Donald Bowness, and the garden was landscaped by Hayes Of Ambleside (now Hayes Garden Centre). The house and gardens were completed over the years of 1966/67. Unfortunately, Arthur passed away in 1964, but Alison moved into Lowfield House in 1967, and it was considered to have state of the art technology for the time.

Alison lived at Lowfield until her death in the early 1990’s. During this time a lifelong friendship was formed with Mrs Gaskell (affectionately known as ‘Mrs G’). Mrs G had worked for Alison and Arthur at The Three Shires Inn, and became Alison’s home help when she moved into Lowfield, and remained so until Alison’s death. Mrs G continued to be Housekeeper for Lowfield House – which had now become a holiday home for the families of Alison’s children, Christine and Martin. Upon Mrs G’s retirement, her daughter Janet took over the housekeeping duties, and then in 2016 this was taken over by her daughter-in-law – wife to hugely respected local builder Craig Gaskell. Craig was in charge of all the recent renovations at Lowfield, alongside Fallowfield Projects of Stavely, Ambleside Plumbers, Steve Price Electricians, and Feeney & Ives – all local trades.

Following Alison’s death, Lowfield was retained as a family home and used regularly by the Family and friends of both Christine and Martin. Christine sadly passed away in 2008, but her husband Michael retained Christine’s interest in Lowfield and ran it in conjunction with Martin. When Michael passed away in 2016, 75% of the of the title passed to sons James, Richard and Duncan, with Martin still retaining 25% equity. In 2017, brothers James and Richard agreed to buy out Duncan & Martin to avoid Lowfield being sold and guaranteeing that it would remain within the family for a 3rd generation and beyond.

At this point, Lowfield House had not had any modernisation since it was originally built, and as a result James and Richard – along with substantial help from respective wives Jan and Coot (Caroline) – undertook and project managed a full modernisation, renovation and landscaping of the property. 

As previously mentioned, this was predominantly done by Craig Gaskell – who as a young lad had helped to mow the lawns and undertook odd jobs, so it seemed perfect that he was now an integral part of pulling the property into the 21st Century.

As with the Lloyd/Scriven Families, the Gaskell’s have been associated with Lowfield for generations. Indeed, young Jack Gaskell (nephew of Craig) was responsible for watering the new garden and landscaping in the Summer of 2019, and is now responsible for mowing the lawns. Jack lives across the Valley at Stang End, and cycles to Lowfield after school.

In 2022 James and Jan bought out Richard and Caroline, and now own Lowfield solely, and it still remains a much loved holiday home for the family – hopefully for – many generations to come. Their three daughters (Abbey, Tara and Jenna) are all regular visitors and see Lowfield as their ‘home from home’.

In 2024, The Three Shires Inn was placed on the market. This was the opportunity for the story to come ‘full circle’ as it was the place where everything had started. In 2024, James and Jan completed on the purchase of the pub – along with Wetherlam View (the property adjoining it). Alison and Arthur will certainly be smiling knowing that both Lowfield and The Three Shires Inn are back in the ownership of the family! The pub is leased and run by the Lanty Slee Liquor Company. Lanty Slee – the famous ‘bootlegger’ – used to live in Greenbank Cottage in the Valley, and ran his illegal drinks over the Fells from his stills in the Valley .

Other points to note about our beloved Lowfield House;

1. There used to be an Norway Spruce to the left of the drive as you enter the property. It was the family Christmas Tree, and was bought into the house every year in the 60’s and early 70’s until it became too large. It eventually grew to over 100ft. Sadly the tree was blown down in the gales of early 2022, but the remaining stump is now used as a plinth for the magnificent red squirrel sculpture. The sculpture was commissioned to Claire Bigger (more details on the Lowfield website) and has become famous within his own right!
2. Both James and Richard proposed to their respective wives at Lowfield.
3.  Both Arthur and Alison are buried at Chapel Stile in Great Langdale.
4. Richard was christened in Little Langdale Chapel.
5. Christine’s ashes were scattered on Lingmoor so that she can look down on her beloved Lowfield House. The family have constructed a cairn, and whenever they walk up there they take a stone to place upon it. It is now a fair size and visible from the living room window at Lowfield.
6. There are 2 settles in The Three Shires Inn, that were purchased by Arthur and Alison when they were proprietors.
7. James and Jan’s youngest daughter - Jenna – held her 21st birthday celebrations at Lowfield.
   

The decision was made to make Lowfield available for others to appreciate what a very special place it is. 

James & Jan Lloyd