Category: Lake District
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Rydal Water
Today would have been the 250th birthday of William Wordsworth, arguably one of the greatest poets of the English language. Born in Cockermouth in 1770, both his own parents had died by the time he was 13. He was educated at the grammar school in Hawkshead and went to St. John’s College, Cambridge University in…
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Brotherswater
Originally called Broad Water (and before that Broader Water) it is generally accepted that Brotherswater was renamed after two brothers were unfortunately drowned in there on New Yearās Day around 1812 whilst skating on the frozen lake. Apparently underground springs flowing up from the lake bed caused patches of thin ice. I found this information…
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The Isle of Grasmoor
Lockdown day 1, my daily exercise ration done and dusted. All very quiet today. And afterwards a look through my photo archive. Flashback to New Year’s Eve 2008. This must have been one of my most favourite days out on the Lakeland Fells. We were staying at Helvellyn Youth Hostel. Good friends, good times. I’d…
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Tarn Hows
If you were to look at a calendar of the Lake District, one of the months is sure to feature Tarn Hows. It is one of its most picturesque views. Yet it is entirely manmade. Until James Garth Marshall, whose father, John Marshall, had made the family fortune from his flax mills in Leeds, began…
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Rose Castle
Our home for the weekend. First documented in 1789-91 when William Bowe “slate getter of Rose Castle” registered the birth of his son, William, and daughter Ann in the parish register of Hawkshead. A getter was a quarryman and William would have worked in the nearby small slate quarry producing flagstones for flooring. The late…
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Loughrigg Tarn
Thus gladdened from our own dear Vale we pass And soon approach Diana’s Looking-glass! To Loughrigg-tarn, round, clear and bright as heaven, Such name Italian fancy would have given … The encircling region vividly exprest Within the mirror’s depth, a world at rest – Sky streaked with purple, grove and craggy bield, And the smooth…
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Grasmere from Grey Crag
In 1799 William and Dorothy Wordsworth moved to Dove Cottage, Grasmere. While both siblings composed poetry Dorothy also kept a journal documenting their life in the vale. In one entry in her journal, she writes: “… our dear Grasmere, making a little round lake of nature’s own, with never a house, never a green field,…
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On the climb up Grisedale Pike
A smattering of snow, and just about to climb into the cloud. Looking back towards Barrow and Derwentwater. Open Space Web-Map builder Code
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Newlands Valley
It seems appropriate that, on what would have been Alfred Wainwright’s 113th birthday, to post a photo of a Wainwright, one of those 214 Lakeland fells listed in the seven volumes of his Pictorial Guide to the Lakeland Fells. Well, here we have a pair of them, Catbells and Maiden Moor. Grumpy, stubborn, reclusive and…
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St. Nicholas’s āgold ballsā
After the season’s festivities, the big cleanup begins. Roseberry is no different. A morning spent litter picking with the National Trust. The usual: cans, plastic bottles, little doggie presents. And plenty of orange peel scattered around, accompanied by the inevitable wet-wipe. What’s the big thing about oranges at Christmas? St. Nicholas’s āgold ballsā. Of course,…