Woke up early and looked out my window to find clear skies and a bit of sun starting to peek out. I could actually see Lake Windermere very clearly by now. Lake Windermereis the largest natural lake in England. It is a ribbon lake
formed in a glacial trough after the retreat of ice at the start of the current
interglacial. It has been one of the country’s most popular places for holidays
and summer homes since the arrival of the Kendal and Windermere Railway's
branch line in 1847. It is in the county of Cumbria and entirely within the
Lake District National Park. Windermere has also been the venue for the Great
North Swim since 2008 (Billed as "the UK's biggest mass participation open
water swimming series")
After another delectable breakfast we departed our hotel on today's excursion getting to the quiant town of Coniston about 45 minutes later. The modern town owes much of its size to copper mining in
the 19th Century which brought over 500 jobs. Coniston is often omitted from
the agendas of visitors to the county in favour of areas such as Grasmere and
Windermere. By doing so they miss out on some fantastic scenery, great walks,
world records and industrial heritage. The Old Man of Coniston Mountain at 803m
dominates the landscape above the town, which is built out of the native grey
and green slate. A railway built in 1859 to take the copper and slate towards
the deep water port at Barrow soon made Coniston a tourist destination. John
Ruskin, the Victoria philosopher and artist, made his home near to the town at
Brantwood and is buried in the parish church. Donald Campbell, who along with
his father set a number of water speed world records on Coniston Water, is
buried in the new parish cemetery. He broke eight world speed records in the
1950s and 1960s. He remains the only person to set both world land and water
speed records in the same year (1964). In an attempt to break his existing
water record in January 1967 he set out in his famous craft Bluebird but sadly perished
that day in an accident on the water and he and his craft sank immediately. It wasn’t
until 2001 that the craft as well as his body was recovered. They have a
memorial to him by the lake and Bluebird is in a museum here in England.
We left Coniston and about 20 minutes later, going past a
wonderfully windy mountain road we reached the small town of Hawkshead set in
the magnificent vale of Estwaite, In the heart of the English Lake District,
Hawkshead is a truly historic and wonderfully picturesque village characterized
by its cluster of whitewashed houses, archways and alleways, courtyards and
squares. A prosperous mediaeval wool town, its rich history includes important
connections with the poet William Wordsworth and children's story author
Beatrix Potter. Hawkshead has flourished since its beginnings as a medieval
market town. Today, with its car-free village centre, it's the perfect place
for the visitor to experience the 'real' Lake District. The cobbled streets,
squares and courtyards and the beautiful whitewashed cottages, topped with
local Lakeland slate, give this little place a magical feel. The village is
steeped in history and heritage, from the ruins of Hawkshead Hall (built by
medieval monks) and the 15th-century St Michael's parish church and court house,
to later buildings such as the grammar school (1855) which the poet William
Wordsworth attended. There is also a Beatrix Potter gallery – Hawkshead is only
3.2 km from Hill Top at Near Sawrey where the author wrote many of her books.
Keen shoppers will find a range of goods for sale, from souvenirs to climbing
and walking paraphernalia.
I stopped in at the Mistral Gallery Tea Room which has been there around 60 years now and had a fruit scone with raspberry jam, butter and clotted cream and some camomile tea. It had already gotten a little chilly and after my walk down to the Coniston lake I needed a little warming up and this was perfect. The charming building had low ceilings with black wood panels around the sides of the walls and the cutest bathroom at the top of that stairs with a ceiling so low I could just barely stand up.
We took another scenic drive back through Coniston and to Bowness which is a lakeside village just below Windermere. I took an hour and 15 minute boat ride with a couple from our tour Marjore and her husband Cliff. They have lived in England for over 50 years but are originally from Jamaica although Cliff is of Asian decent originally. They are both retired now and had been in the Lake District 47 years ago and are reliving that experience.
The boat took us around part of Lake Windermere and to the village of Ambleside where you could get out for 10 minutes and walk around the shops. The sun had pretty much gone by now and it was just overcast and at times raining but that didn't mare our experience of this beautiful area. The Lake District reminds me so much of New England particularly the northern parts of Massachusetts, Maine, New Hampshire and Vermont. It truly is a NEW England, it's almost as if they just took their beautiful country and transported it to the New World. Lake Windermere reminds me of Lake Wentworth in Wolfboro, NH and others around that area.
Our driver, John took us from Bowness back to the hotel around 4pm but he made a wrong turn and ended up first giving us a 20 minute unexpected, yet certainly welcome, tour of more of this gorgeous landscape. It was a well paved road with stone walls along both sides but because it was narrow the bus would have to pullover to let other cars go by in each direction. John, be an expert driver and an instructor for his tour company was able to find three-way cross roads where he backed us up and turned us around, we were all very impressed. It also afforded everyone a little entertainment when he pulled over as far next to the left side stone wall as he could to let a very posh Mercedes go by us on the right. Well the Mercedes owner must have gotten nervous so he just stopped part way between the front of the bus and the back and wouldn't go further for fear of scratching his car I imagine and expecting us to move on and as John put it blaming the bus company if he got scratched or broke his side mirror. John yelled out to him pull your mirror in and move on. The driver stayed put so John opened the window and yelled out and then a chorus of all the passengers but me started repeating, very loudly and gesturing to the man to "pull in your mirror and move on." The man actually got out of his car and couldn't figure out to do and just as John was about to go help him he pulled the mirror in manually and moved on. As John pointed out a lot of people who buy fancy cars don't always know you can operate every movement of the mirrors just by pushing a button on the dash or side. We were back on our way moments later and the group was just totally amused by the whole thing.
We arrived back at the hotel by 4:30ish and I set out to walk into the town right outside the hotel to go to 5:15pm mass at the Catholic church, St. Martin's. The church building dates from the fifteenth century with
substantial but sympathetic restoration in 1870. It is a Grade I listed building with its East window being a particularly important feature. The glass in the window came to us from Cartmel Priory and is older than the present church building. Some of the glass dates from the 1260s, and one panel includes arms which may be those of the Washington family.
substantial but sympathetic restoration in 1870. It is a Grade I listed building with its East window being a particularly important feature. The glass in the window came to us from Cartmel Priory and is older than the present church building. Some of the glass dates from the 1260s, and one panel includes arms which may be those of the Washington family.
And so that was our day and now it's time for a yummy dinner and just to relax a bit. Last night they had a singer come in from a nearby town and entertain us. This whole tour has been a pleasure and they really make it a very special experience from beginning to end.
After dinner I sat again with the couple from Eppings, Teresa and Martin and talked for a few hours about life, travel, theater and the fact that England is losing their National identity and how difficult it is. A couple earlier in the day was telling me the same thing while we waited in Hawkshead for the bus go leave. When I told them I'd always wanted to know what it was like to live in the English countryside they said that where I am is old England and that if I wanted to understand the "new" England I had to go up near them outside London and I would see that there really is no "England" anymore. They sounded sad about losing their identity and basically melting into a cultural mishmash so I'm really glad the opportunity to live in the south east came up because I wanted to know English life not modern city life and that is certainly what I'm getting in Tunstall.
And Teresa also told me that what she does and many near where they live who were brought up in that area do to retain some of their uniqueness which is to embrace the Cockney dialect and make sure that her children keep it as well and so on. I had noticed she spoke like Aliza Doolittle from "My Fair Lady" and I did wonder these last few days being that she's a professional women in a medical office how know one every encouraged her to speak without the accent but now I know it's part of her identity as an English women and she really loves that about herself and I think it's great now that I know why she does it. It was odd at first because it's so alarming to the ears to here things continually like "We was going to the store" or "they was happy to see you."
After dinner I sat again with the couple from Eppings, Teresa and Martin and talked for a few hours about life, travel, theater and the fact that England is losing their National identity and how difficult it is. A couple earlier in the day was telling me the same thing while we waited in Hawkshead for the bus go leave. When I told them I'd always wanted to know what it was like to live in the English countryside they said that where I am is old England and that if I wanted to understand the "new" England I had to go up near them outside London and I would see that there really is no "England" anymore. They sounded sad about losing their identity and basically melting into a cultural mishmash so I'm really glad the opportunity to live in the south east came up because I wanted to know English life not modern city life and that is certainly what I'm getting in Tunstall.
And Teresa also told me that what she does and many near where they live who were brought up in that area do to retain some of their uniqueness which is to embrace the Cockney dialect and make sure that her children keep it as well and so on. I had noticed she spoke like Aliza Doolittle from "My Fair Lady" and I did wonder these last few days being that she's a professional women in a medical office how know one every encouraged her to speak without the accent but now I know it's part of her identity as an English women and she really loves that about herself and I think it's great now that I know why she does it. It was odd at first because it's so alarming to the ears to here things continually like "We was going to the store" or "they was happy to see you."
