VISIT BROAD LEYS
About Broad Leys
home of
Windermere Motor Boat Racing Club
Broad Leys is one of the best and most important examples of Arts and Crafts architecture. Commissioned by the wealthy Yorkshire colliery owner Arthur Currer-Briggs and his wife Helen in 1898, it was designed by the renowned Arts and Crafts architect C.F.A.Voysey and is considered to be one of his masterpieces.
Since 1950 Broad Leys has been the home and clubhouse of Windermere Motor Boat Racing Club. In addition to regular powerboat race meetings held on Windermere and enjoyed by spectators on the foreshore, the club hosts regular off-the-water events at Broad Leys. The club is also responsible for maintaining the heritage and fabric of the property, and substantially in keeping with the aesthetic created by Voysey for the Currer-Briggs.
In the brief history of Broad Leys - from family retreat - to warime hospital - to Powerboat Racing club - the house has seen many famous faces... In its early days Broad Leys was rented from the Currer-Briggs as a summer retreat by Beatrix Potter and her family - while writing some well loved books. In later years it saw the speed record breaking efforts of Donald Campbell - to the more recent visit of Hercule Poirot to solve a mystery for his eponymous ITV period detective drama, where Broad Leys starred, somewhat unoriginally, as an Art Deco era motorboat club.
You can explore more about Broad Leys in these pages, and see the links for how to book visitor tours. Broad Leys is also the only Voysey building with accommodation open to the public, who can book to stay in the heritage bedrooms, or hire the house and gardens for anything from a business event to a weddings - and occasionally as a big screen filming location.