A blog exploring the Lake District's hidden gems and best-kept secrets
If you’re a National Trust member, there are a number of places in and around the Lake District you might consider visiting during your stay in the area. Most are included in the cost of annual membership, which could make membership worthwhile if you don’t have it already, and all […]
Heritage Open Days is an annual festival of history and culture held across England for four days every September. The event brings together over 2,500 organisations who open their doors to the public for FREE – some well-known, and some less so. In 2017, it’s taking place between Thursday 7 […]
One of the very first posts I wrote for the blog was a list of 10 things to do in the Lake District on a rainy day. We do get quite a few wet days here, but, as they say, the Lake District wouldn’t be the Lake District without them! […]
Last September on the blog, regular readers may remember that I visited the Windermere Jetty construction site on a guided tour for the Heritage Open Days weekend. Windermere Jetty is currently being built by Lakeland Arts on the site of the original Windermere Steamboat Museum, and when finished, will house […]
Wow. Today was full of anticipation in the Lakes, as we waited for the result of the latest World Heritage bid. After keeping an eye on the UNESCO Twitter feed on and off all day, this afternoon I headed to the compost heap, and when I returned the Lake District […]
For some time now, organisations from around the Lake District have been working together on a bid to make the Lake District a UNESCO World Heritage Site. There have been previous bids to achieve World Heritage status over the years, but suddenly the decision on the latest attempt is just […]
Have you ever wondered why the recently opened Arts Bar and Grill in Bowness-on-Windermere was previously a restaurant with the name The Spinnery? It turns out there’s an interesting piece of local history behind the name. Blackwell, The Arts and Crafts House, just outside Bowness-on-Windermere, is currently running an exhibition […]
At the end of the season, a number of the Lake District’s historic houses shut for the winter, however, Blackwell, just outside Bowness-on-Windermere, is an exception that is well worth visiting at any time of year. Blackwell is a famous example of a house from the Arts and Crafts movement, […]
There’s no doubt that the costs of holidaying anywhere in the UK can easily mount up if you take into account admission prices, food and drink, public transport and parking. If you know where to look though, there are a few things you can be doing to save those pennies […]
If you’ve been visiting the Lake District for some years, you may remember the Windermere Steamboat Museum, which was situated on the eastern shore of Windermere, just outside the centre of Bowness-on-Windermere, on Rayrigg Road. I must have been really young when I last visited, but I do have a […]
The Bathymetric Atlas of the English Lake District is a fascinating book representing the contours beneath the surface of the area’s many stretches of water
Recently I wrote about my rediscovery of the Coniston area after not having visited for some years. I enjoyed the scenery from on board the National Trust’s Steam Yacht Gondola so much that I returned just two days later to visit another of Coniston’s local gems, Brantwood. Brantwood is a […]