Autumn In the Lake District
My first visit to the Lake District (just 'The Lakes' for those in the know) fulfilled all my expectations, and more. What had I envisaged? Expansive lakes, of course, and wilderness, but I hadn’t foreseen it would be as replete with endearing villages and a sense of society as I found it to be.
Having made the long drive up from Bristol (I don’t mind a long drive, even on motorway), I was thankful for the chance to enter some country roads, where the scenery nonchalantly transformed before my eyes into the unmistakable sense of place you get when you visit a location so different from home.
It was Friday afternoon and we dropped in at the Blackwell Arts & Crafts House, starting with deserved cups of coffee and a light lunch before delving into something I knew precious little about. Designed by architect Mackay Hugh Baillie Scott, the house (which has also served as a school and office over the years) is considered a prime example of the Arts & Crafts movement. Familiar as a country house at first glance, with an unusual presence of light and space, its open-plan nature lends it a practical and unified air. We learned that when it was acquired by Lakeland Arts Trust at the end of the 20th Century, the house no longer contained any original Arts & Crafts furnishings, something that has since been rectified with a series of loans and items added from the trust’s own collection.
We next turned our attention to Gummer’s How. Standing on the eastern shore of Windermere, the how (‘how’ comes from an old Norse word for ‘mound’) can be reached from a nearby car park after an initially gentle but later steeper ascent. With the autumn setting sun painting a pink hue on the surface of Lake Windermere, it was an ideal end to our first day in ‘The Lakes’.
Waking up on Saturday, a short drive led us to the National Trust's Hill Top, one of Beatrix Potter’s childhood homes. The author led a privileged early life, but appeared to take full advantage of her free time, enveloping herself in her creativity. Hill Top is a superb visit, where not only do you see much of the inspiration for her writing (some of the characters were based on her childhood around the house), but the furnishings are almost exactly as they were when it was bequeathed to the National Trust upon her death. We enjoyed viewing some of the rooms and seeing how comparable they are to some of the illustrations in her books. There was even a garden that looked like the inspiration for Peter Rabbit.
Heading on to Grasmere, we first stopped for delicious soft and chewy gingerbread in The Grasmere Gingerbread Shop (first baked by a Victorian cook, Sarah Nelson, in 1854). As much as we enjoyed that, we needed lunch though, so Thirteen Valleys Kitchen provided us with a suitable soup and a sausage bap. We then had a circular walk around the lake, venturing over the stepping stones into Rydal Cave at the half-way point. The day finished with a stroll around the town of Ambleside, its distinctive Bridge House enjoyable to see up close (the house sits above the river).
The highlight of Sunday was taking a cruise on the Steam Yacht Gondola on Coniston Water. Like Beatrix Potter’s house, it is operated by the National Trust and has been in operation since 1860. We were lucky that it was still running, as it was the last day before sailing stopped for the winter period. We took the ‘North Lake Cruise’, and it is a wonderful experience to see the scenery around you in peace and quiet, unperturbed by the sound of an engine. I would recommend the Steam Yacht Gondola then, and you might even fancy the ‘Full Lake Cruise’, which takes in the whole of the lake.
Coniston is also where world speed record holder Donald Campbell (who broke records on both land and water) perished in his ‘Bluebird’ boat in 1967. The craft was not found on the bottom until 2001 and is now restored and housed in the Ruskin Museum, where you can learn about his story.
Our final visit was to Tarn Hows, so atmospheric in the misty afternoon, with its autumnal tones. A really good circular lakeside walk was the way we rounded off our first Lake District experience. We really just saw a small pocket of the Lake District and I know that ‘The Lakes’ hold even more secluded, remote and dramatic sights. Based on this experience, we can't wait to return to sample those.
Our thanks go to Mark for his very personal view of a visit to the Lake District.
16 Jan 2025, 10:28