There are several places around Windermere to enjoy short walks with great views of the lake. As I’ve formed something of an addiction to short walks recently, for my latest post on the blog I thought I’d share another of my favourites, the walk to Orrest Head. You can either make this a short walk to…
25 photographs to tempt you to the Lake District this spring
Spring has finally arrived in the Lake District, and it’s one of my favourite times of year. There are so many sights to look forward to, and even as the daffodils say farewell for another year, there’s much else to anticipate. Each layer of spring takes its turn – from tulips to bluebells, and the…
8 of my favourite books about the Lake District
I absolutely love books, and have collected quite a few about the Lake District over the years – especially while I’ve been writing the Lake District Gems blog! There are a few titles that I return to time and time again for information, whether I’m looking for ideas, places to go, or just to seek out a curious fact….
A Victorian waterfall walk in Ambleside
There are many beautiful waterfalls across the Lake District, but few are as easy to reach as Stockghyll Force, which is just a short walk from the heart of Ambleside. Whilst some would regard the walk to Stockghyll Force as too well-known to be regarded a ‘hidden gem’, it would be so easy to miss…
Travelling on the M6 north? Lunch at Barton Grange
The subject of today’s blog post is a true gem, but also an unusual one in that it isn’t actually in the Lake District at all! When I last visited this place for myself, I thought what a wonderful stopping point it would make for those of you travelling north on the M6 motorway to…
Just for fun: Another Lake District picture quiz
Just over a year ago, I designed a little bit of a quiz based on places I’d visited around the Lake District (if you didn’t see it at the time, you can take a look here). I know that some of you really enjoyed it, so I said I’d do another one – and here…
The best of 2017 on the blog
It’s hard to believe that we’ve reached the end of 2017, but here we are! And as I’ve done in the past two years, I thought I’d take a brief look back at some of the best of the past year’s gem hunting on the blog… Most unusual gem This year, the most unusual Lake…
Kendal’s sparkling Christmas Lights
The market town of Kendal is situated just south of the Lake District, and is the nearest main shopping town I tend to head to, living in the South Lakes. This year, when I’ve been out working in Kendal and Christmas shopping, it’s been really lovely to see all the Christmas lights in the afternoon…
A low-level walk from Elterwater to Skelwith Bridge
If you’re looking for a pretty Lake District stroll, at low level and mostly on the flat, the walk from Elterwater to Skelwith Bridge is ideal. In fact, it has all the ingredients you could possibly want… a lovely view over Elterwater towards the middle of the walk, a waterfall en route, and places to…
A Christmas celebration in Windermere
The weeks leading up to Christmas are crammed with festive celebrations across the Lake District, including markets, fairs, Santa boat and train rides, charity events, and Christmas light switch ons in several towns and villages. But so far in 2017, I’ve been so busy with work that I haven’t made it to any of them!…
A farming gem in Windermere: High Lickbarrow
High Lickbarrow Farm is a traditional Lakeland farmhouse set in a peaceful location just outside the village of Windermere. A relatively new addition to the National Trust’s collection of Lake District properties, it’s also a very unusual one. Although it isn’t open to the general public in the same way as most NT properties, you…
What happened next? The ‘Grand Designs’ Dome House in Bowness-on-Windermere
If you’re a regular viewer of Kevin McCloud’s Grand Designs on Channel 4, you may remember that a few years ago the show visited the Lake District to follow an unusual build in Bowness-on-Windermere. The end result was the Dome House, an intriguing home situated on Brantfell Road above the village, and overlooking Windermere with…
Gummer’s How: A ‘mini mountain’ in the South Lakes
If you’re a regular visitor to the blog, you’ll already know that whilst I love the Lake District’s fells, I usually like to appreciate their beauty from a safe distance, rather than admire them by venturing to the tops! But earlier in the year, I got the taste for photographing scenery from a slightly higher…
Coniston Power Boat Records Week
Autumn is well and truly upon us here in the Lake District, and one of my favourite places to photograph the colours is Coniston Water. Last year I took an autumnal tour of Coniston on board Steam Yacht Gondola to find some lovely photographic subjects, and a couple of weeks later returned to capture some…
10 reasons to visit Sizergh Castle near Kendal
I’ve visited Sizergh Castle many, many times over the years, but have stepped inside the castle itself just twice. That’s because there are a whole host of reasons to spend time at Sizergh that not everyone may be aware of (although visiting the castle itself is a good start!). Here are 10: 1. A tour…
10 easy-to-reach Lake District viewpoints
One thing I’ve learnt about the Lake District over the years is that however familiar you think you are with a particular area, there’s always something just around the corner that you’ve not seen before – and then you get home and read about it in a guidebook somewhere and have to go back! Some…
A gem-hunter’s guide to Shap Abbey
If you enjoy seeing the remains of once grand historic buildings and imagining what might once have been, you’ll definitely want to stop off at Shap Abbey by the side of the River Lowther near Shap, approximately 10 miles south of Penrith. Where else would you go on a gorgeous sunny day apart from the…
Heritage Open Days 2017 in the Lake District
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 and Sunday 10 September (although…
27 things to do on a rainy day in the Lake District
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! Since writing that post however,…
10 reasons to visit Mirehouse alongside Bassenthwaite Lake
I’ve wanted to visit Mirehouse for a long time, and one beautiful sunny Saturday in July, my gem-hunting companion and I decided we’d risk the busy weekend traffic (which curiously turned out to be almost non-existent that day) and head north to Bassenthwaite. We thoroughly enjoyed our look around Mirehouse, but the house itself forms…