The Muncaster Podcast

This episode is a crossover between a Muncaster Talks episode and a team profile, as we chat with Muncaster’s very own Michael Redmond. Visitors to Muncaster may recognise Michael from the ticket offices or the castle, but they may not know that he is currently undertaking a PhD at the University of Birmingham. Michael sat down with us to delve into the talk he gave here at Muncaster about a topic...

Today’s episode is a team profile of one of Team Muncaster’s longest serving members - castle guide, Paula Clark. Paula has been working at Muncaster for nearly 20 years and has gotten to know 3 generations of Penningtons, Ewan, his parents Peter and Iona, and his grandparents Patrick and Phyllida, who many visitors will remember well. Paula shares some of her favourite memories of Muncaster as we...

In this episode we sit down with another speaker from our Muncaster Talks series, geologist Ian Jackson, for a fascinating conversation about how the landscape shaped, and continues to shape, the lives of those living in Northern England. We discuss Ian’s book Defined by Stones as he tells us about some extraordinary rocky places which tell the story of how the area we live in was formed and what...

In this episode we had the immense privilege of sitting down for a conversation with astronaut Dr Michael Barratt, who was here at Muncaster leading World Extreme Medicine’s Space Medicine Course. Mike has spent 447 days in space spanning 3 different missions, and completing 3 space walks. Most recently in 2024 when he piloted the SpaceX Crew-8 mission and spent 8 months aboard the International S...

In this episode we sit down to talk to adventurer, explorer, and founding CEO of World Extreme Medicine (WEM), Mark Hannaford. We discuss Mark’s fascinating life of adventure, prior to founding WEM, including spending his 21st birthday rowing along the coast of Chilean Patagonia, working as a mountain guide in North Africa, riding the Mauritania Iron Ore train through the Sahara Desert, and spendi...

This episode is another from our Muncaster Talks series. We sit down in the library of Muncaster Castle for a conversation with freelance heritage practioner, Becks Skinner, surrounding her talk on the ‘New Mrs Davidson’. Inspired by a Wedding Dress from 1911, within The Beacon Museum Collection, Becks Skinner set herself the challenge of making a ‘going away’ outfit from the period, using her 190...

This week’s episode is an exciting one, as it is our first Muncaster Team Profile. In this series we sit down with different members of the Muncaster Team to get to know them, their role here at Muncaster, and what makes Muncaster so special to them. If you want to know more about what goes on behind the scenes and more about the team the that makes it all happen then look no further! In this epis...

This episode is from our monthly Muncaster Talks series, but is a little different from usual. Recorded on April Fool’s Day, at the home of Tomfoolery itself, Muncaster Castle, we chat with storyteller and performer Ian Douglas.  Ian is a storyteller with decades of experience. We discuss his fascinating life and path into storytelling as a profession, and how storytelling continues to endure desp...

This episode of the Muncaster Podcast comes from our Talks series. We sat down in the castle’s library with our speaker from January, Nigel Entwistle, to discuss the life, work, and legacy of George Moore. It was fascinating to hear from Nigel about how Moore came from humble beginnings and went on to achieve huge success, all while maintaining a strong moral compass and a commitment to helping ot...

In this episode we kick off the podcast proper with a conversation with Peter Frost-Pennington, member of the family and current resident of the castle. He takes us on a whistlestop tour through the many twists and turns of the history of Muncaster and the Pennington family, from its prehistoric origins, Roman roots, royal connections and surprising role in WWII, right up to the present day. It's...

In this pilot episode of The Muncaster Podcast we chat to local historian Alan Cleaver, who came to deliver a fascinating talk in the castle on the 16th of December 2025. Alan is the author of A Lake District Christmas: Tales and Traditions of Cumbrian Yuletides Past and he shares with us some of his favourite, local traditions and tales. We also delve deeper into the process of researching and co...