english lake district

After breakfast at the Melrose, Uncle Yan, Auntie Val, and I headed out for an adventure in the southeastern portion of the Lake District.  We began with a visit to Wray castle, which I had spotted across Windermere the day before, not realizing it was one of our planned destinations.

map showing our route

three of us in front of the entrance to wray castle

The castle was built in 1840 with "new money" made from industry, and built to mimic a Gothic style castle.  There were interesting details such as the use of pine interior trim - imported from America and therefore a sign of great wealth.  The history of the castle included use as a place families could rent and stay for a season.  It served as Beatrix Potter's introduction to the Lake District at age 16 when her family's usual trip to Scotland was cancelled and they stayed at Wray Castle instead.  The weather changed from heavily overcast to pouring rain as we toured the inside, so we didn't spend any more time outside when we finished.

Our next stop, after an unintentional circumnavigation of Esthwaite water, was Hill Top, Beatrix Potter's house.  She never actually lived there as it was considered unacceptable for a single woman to live on her own, so lived with her brother but stayed there sometimes, using it as her place of work for writing and keeping herds of Herdwick sheep, but never fully moved in.  When she did marry, she chose to move into her husband's house, not wanting a man to change the way she had her house set up.

hill top

From there we went to the village of Hawkshead, where we visited the Beatrix Potter Museum, housed in the former law offices of her husband and his father.  A revolving selection of her artwork is displayed there, as well as some of her collections of fossils and insects, old letters, and writings.  Despite the rain, we walked around the village with our umbrellas.  It was a quaint little place with narrow streets and beautiful views from the church atop a small hill.

beatrix potter museum, hawkshead

Our next stop was the village of Coniston, situated on Coniston Water.  Auntie Val had memories of arriving there as a teenager with several friends and hiking out to a hostel to stay for a few days.  We made our way down to the lakeside and enjoyed the view.

you can see the bottom of  "the old man of coniston" fell behind us

After we returned to Ambleside and had a little nap, we had dinner in an old mill building.

The next morning we packed everything into the car and headed from southeast to northwest across the Lake District.  First stop was Rydal Mount, the family home of William Wordsworth.  We opted out of the tour and instead walked the grounds of neighboring Rydal Hall - a large estate now used as a "holiday, retreat, and conference center." It boasts an early 20th century formal garden including a croquet court, a waterfall with a little hut built so one could sit under shelter and enjoy the view, and is currently home to "rare, ancient, and specimen trees,""diverse flora and wildlife," and "art and sculptures in the landscape."

route from ambleside to cockermouth

formal garden at rydal hall

Our path led next past Rydal Water to Grasmere, both the lake and the village of that name.  We toured Dove Cottage, another of Wordsworth's homes.  He lived there with his sister, then his wife after he married.  They only moved when the family became too large for the cottage.  Included with the cottage tour was the Wordsworth Museum, full of the life of not only Wordsworth but several other notable authors and poets of the period.  Dove Cottage sits somewhat outside of the village itself, so we strolled over to the village for a cup of tea before continuing our journey.

reflections on grasmere

dove cottage

We stopped next in Keswick, on Derwentwater.  After stretching our legs and finding some lunch, we headed uphill and found the Castlerigg Stone Circle.  Erected 4500 years ago by prehistoric farming communities, it is believed it was used for many purposes, including religious ceremonies, negotiations, trade, and gatherings.  The sun came out while we were at the circle.

castlerigg stone circle

Our final destination for the day was Graysonside, a bed and breakfast outside the ancient market town of Cockermouth.  We took a very scenic, albeit direct, route over Whinlatter Pass, with sweeping views over Bassenthwaite and its surrounding valley.  Graysonside was a pleasant former farmhouse, where my room was more than adequate with a huge bathroom, and Auntie Val and Uncle Yan had a two bedroom suite with a sitting room.  We walked about a half mile to Hundith Hill Hotel across the road where we had a pub style dinner.

graysonside - the top three windows facing are all uncle yan and auntie val's suite!

Our third all-Lake-District-day involved a loop that brought us by four different lakes, so we ended up seeing ten of the nineteen major lakes in the park.  Our first stop was to admire the beautiful reflections on Crummock Water.  We stopped at a high point above the lake, then stopped again to walk down to the water's edge at the south end.  We drove past Buttermere, then headed up to Honister Pass.  The valley leading up to the pass was breathtaking, so we stopped a couple times to enjoy the view and stretch our legs.  At the top of the pass, we stopped at Honister Slate Mine, the source of Honister green slate.  We learned that Honister green slate is 450 million years old - older than dinosaurs and that the location was the wettest place in England with 12 FEET of rain per year!

loop route from cockermouth

honister slate mine

On the other side of the pass, we stopped in the village of Rothswaite to have tea at the Yew Tree Inn.  The proprietress of Graysonside had mentioned it as a place patronized regularly by Prince Charles when he visits the Lake District as a protector of the Lakeland Herdwick sheep.  Our route next took us along the eastern shore of Derwentwater to Keswick again.  This time we went to the north end of Derwentwater and rested on a pier on the lake.  The next stop was Bassenthwaite Lake (the only body of water in the Lake District to have the word "Lake" in its name).  We stopped at two different places along the shore, and then went over Ouse Bridge en route to the Wildlife Park we saw on signs.  When we got there, we realized it was an ordinary zoo and turned around to head back to the town of Cockermouth.

panoramas of crummock water from above and from the south shore,
valley leading to honister pass, bassenthwaite, and ouse bridge

We wandered a bit around Cockermouth, skirting the road construction that has been nearly continuous since a disastrous flood in 2009.  We walked by the Wordsworth House and Garden, but didn't visit as they are closed on Fridays.  I spotted a "free library" that was a gift of Andrew Carnegie (CARnuhgy to Americans, carNEEgy to the English!) in 1903 - that led to an interesting discussion of whether he was American or British - turns out he was a Scottish American, emigrated when he was a tween, and when he'd made his fortune, part of his philanthropy included building free libraries all over the United States and United Kingdom.

the floodwaters got pretty high in the middle of the town

carnegie free library

We walked under a bridge and along the river Cocker for a little distance, and talked to a resident who said the floodwaters were near ten feet along the river.  The following photo shows how high the river had to rise to even get above its banks - as far as I can figure that bridge was nearly submerged in the flood!

bridge over river cocker

We finished off our day with Indian food in Cockermouth, and when we went back to Graysonside, we prepared to head to York the next morning.