After leaving Cambridge, we drove north and then west to the Lake District of
England--into Beatrix Potter, William Wordsworth, and Samuel Coleridge country. A sense
of magic pervades this part of England; it’s the feel of the place--unstable
weather, hilly landscapes and mountains, pristine lakes, shifting clouds, the
greenery, the sunlight and the way it infuses the colors of the hills and the
sky with a certain vibrancy and crispness. The drive into the Lake District is
a pastoral scene unto itself; gray stone farmhouses dot the landscape here and
there, and sheep abound.
About
sixteen million tourists visit the Lake District each year; July and August are
presumably the busiest months since most people have summer vacation then. We
visited the Lake District the week before summer vacation officially started
for most of Britain, which enhanced the experience for me because we did not
have to deal with masses of people at all junctures. On our eight-mile walk
around Derwentwater Lake, we met perhaps a total of twenty other walkers
during the four hours it took us to complete the walk, which suited me just
fine. I liked the feeling of having the lake almost to ourselves. There is a
wildness here that feels untamable; it emanates from the geographic nature of
the land. I liked the feeling of undisturbed nature about me, of wandering down
to the water’s edge and looking out over the vast expanse of lake, of stopping
to listen to the wind blowing through the trees, of just being a small part of
it.
It’s hard
not to love a place that has small towns with names like Bowness-on-Windermere,
Ambleside, Grasmere, or lakes with names like Buttermere, Ullswater, Derwentwater, Windermere, or mountains called Helvellyn, Scafell and Skiddaw. We
stayed three nights at the Lairbeck Hotel (run by Malcolm and Jennifer
Hutchinson) located on Vicarage Hill road in the town of Keswick (the ‘w’ is
not pronounced), a short walk from the town center. The Lairbeck is a lovely
Victorian country house hotel that enchanted me from the moment I walked
through its front doors and into the vestibule (http://www.lairbeckhotel-keswick.co.uk/homepage.html). Jennifer greeted us and showed us
to our room, the School Room, which had a window seat with a view that overlooked the
beautifully-kept garden. A window seat! Anyone who knows me knows that I always wanted my own room with a window seat when I was a child. Our stay here was pleasant and relaxing, with
friendly hosts and a great breakfast in the dining room with a garden view to
look forward to each morning.
 |
| scenic view from the front of the Lairbeck Hotel |
The Cumbrian market town of Keswick is a find in all ways, with lovely scenic views and a variety of interesting boutiques, pubs, cafes and architecturally-interesting houses. And of course the meals at several different pubs; the food was consistently
excellent (in our opinion). The first night we ate at The Inn at Keswick (
http://theinnkeswick.co.uk/) in the town center; I had the Cumberland sausage and mash, and my
husband had the lamb hot pot.The following nights we ate at the Pheasant Inn at
Keswick (
http://www.pheasantinnkeswick.co.uk/), right down the road from our
hotel. I tried the Lakeland beef and Cumberland ale pie, and my husband ate the
Fish Pie—both were excellent, in addition to the variety of beers available. The
homemade tomato soup was also excellent.
We were not in Keswick long enough to do all the walking tours I would have liked to do (only two days), but we did
manage the Derwentwater Lake walk as I mentioned above, which took us about
four hours (I'll post photos from this walk in my next post). Besides this walk, we drove down to Bowness-on-Windermere on one
rainy afternoon and through the towns of Ambleside and Grasmere (home to
William Wordsworth). We did not manage a visit to Dove Cottage where Wordsworth,
his wife, and his sister lived, although we did visit The World of Beatrix
Potter attraction in Bowness-on-Windermere. This was not her actual home
though; she lived at Hill Top farm in Near Sawrey, Hawkshead, Ambleside; on a
future trip to the Lake District, Hill Top farm and Dove Cottage will be two of
the first stops. Beatrix Potter was an impressive woman; world-famous author of
children’s books and a wonderful artist, but also an astute businesswoman, who
owned fourteen farms and four thousand acres of land in the Lake District,
which she willed to the National Trust when she died. It’s not hard to
understand why this area enchanted so many writers, poets and artists. I
definitely want to return here and explore it some more.
On our way
to Newcastle-on-Tyne, where we took the ferry to Amsterdam for our return trip
home, we drove through the outer edges of the Westernhope and Middlehope Moors,
in the area near Stanhope, a small town located on the north east side of
Weardale. This was a rather unexpected detour, as our GPS somehow pushed us in
this direction in its quest to get us to Newcastle via the fastest route.
Driving over the moors was breathtaking but also a bit spooky. You could see
for miles--desolate and rough land that stretches out forever in all
directions. Not another car to be seen for miles. If you broke down out there,
you could probably wait for hours for help. Again, there were many sheep out
grazing on the moors, and some of them had come right up to the edge of the
road, which made driving rather hazardous at times; my husband found it stressful. Driving this stretch of road in the
dark would not be something I would
like to do. We made it in one piece (and
without a car breakdown) to Newcastle and reached our ferry on time. Now at
home a few days later, the magic of the entire trip remains with me, happily so.
