When travelling as a passenger in a car or on public transport, there are all sorts of unusual landmarks and intriguing features to be spotted around the Lakes. Here are the stories behind them.
Tag: Bowness-on-Windermere
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…
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…
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,…
The Windermere Jetty project: An update
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 a collection of historic boats…
What exactly is the Baddeley Clock in Windermere?
If you’ve ever taken the drive along New Road and Lake Road between the village of Windermere and neighbouring Bowness-on-Windermere, you may have noticed a small but intriguing clock tower halfway between the two. You may even have walked past, but not stopped to take a proper look at the inscription on the front. It’s…
25 views to convince you to visit the Lake District
They say a picture speaks a thousand words, so for this post I thought I’d let the photos do the talking and see if I can tempt you to visit the Lake District in the near future! For this post I set myself the challenge of including photographs containing views from throughout the year, which…
15 great places to stop for a brew in the Lake District
When I recently discovered that January is ‘Hot Tea Month’, I thought, now there’s a subject for a blog post! Although I’m not entirely sure how or where Hot Tea Month first came about – online sources seem to suggest it may have been the USA – here are some of my favourite stopping off…
A house for all seasons: Blackwell, The Arts and Crafts House
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, and was built in 1900…
Windermere Jetty: a new Lake District gem due to open in 2017
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 vague memory of wandering round…
A Bathymetric Atlas of the Lake District
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
The lambs have arrived! The new Go Herdwick Hide and Seek trails
Back in March, I wrote a blog post about Go Herdwick, a public art trail made up of 60 life-size, colourfully decorated ewes, which have been sponsored by businesses and organisations around the Lake District to raise money for the Lake District Calvert Trust. The trail has really captured people’s imaginations, and has proved very…
Spotted ‘ewe’! The Go Herdwick Lake District sheep trail
Anyone spending time in the Lake District over the past few days may have noticed some peculiar goings on, with some very brightly coloured sheep appearing in the most unexpected places, from driveways to B&B gardens. The reason? It’s the start of the Go Herdwick public art trail to raise money for the Lake District…
Small effort, big views: Queen Adelaide’s Hill, Windermere
When driving or walking along the A592 between Bowness-on-Windermere and the roundabout at Cook’s House Corner, it would be easy to think that there’s little to see of the lake (Windermere) that runs alongside it. Stop at the Rayrigg Meadow car park, and there’s just a big green hill in front of you – Queen…
Laura Ashley style in the Lakes
The newly rebranded Laura Ashley The Belsfield Hotel, was first built as a private house for the Baroness von Sternberg in the 19th century. The Belsfield is now operated by Corus Hotels, and is only the second Laura Ashley-branded hotel, the other being The Manor in Elstree. I’ve been meaning to visit for some time…