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 […]
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 […]
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! […]
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 […]
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 […]
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 […]
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 […]
With Father’s Day just around the corner, you might well be looking for places to enjoy a leisurely day out in Lake District, so in this post I thought I would put together a few ideas especially for dads! I’ve thrown in a couple of events, as well as recommendations for local attractions. Fingers crossed […]
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 […]
Although I’m not a dog owner myself, I do rather like the idea of recruiting a four-legged gem-hunting companion – I think we’d make a good team, so maybe one day soon! In the meantime though, I know that many of you like to bring your own dogs on holiday with you to the Lake […]
Every now and again I’ll hear an interesting fact about the Lake District and think, ‘Another record belonging to the Lake District – I should collect them for a post!’ Well, having gathered a few facts now, the time has finally come, and although I’m sure I’ll have missed many more along the way, here […]
A few years ago I did a photography course over the winter, only to realise that it was the worst time of year I could have chosen. I was rapidly developing an interest in the photography of gardens (sorry about the pun – it was that or ‘growing an interest in garden photography!) and, except […]
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 […]
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 […]
It’s that time of year again when our TV screens fill with reviews of the past year – the political, the surprising, the sad and the amusing. It therefore seemed a rather nice idea to take a look back over the last year of gem hunting, and revisit some of the standout moments from the […]
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 […]
My fascination with Wray Castle started back in September this year when I visited the inside of this enormous mock-gothic Victorian house properly for the first time. It was whilst writing about Wray that I then came across its November ‘hard hat tours’ and thought what a great thing they too would be to share […]
Wray Castle is an unusual National Trust property in that you are told not to expect to find a well-furnished, pristine historic country house on a visit here. Children will love Wray however, and outside of the school holidays, I think there is plenty of intrigue to make it a destination for people of all […]
If you’re a regular reader of the blog, you’ll know that I’m not a fell walker, and that exploring the mountains isn’t something I aim to write about, even though they are an important and beautiful part of the Lake District (there are other great bloggers who do that, so I’ll leave it to the […]
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 […]
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
One of the great things about the Lake District calendar is that there are still a number of traditional events each year which have been taking place for generations, particularly amongst the farming communities. As well as the bigger agricultural shows, you can also look out for smaller gatherings such as the local sheep dog […]
Claife Viewing Station, on the western shore of Windermere, has been on my gem-hunting list for some time now. The remains of this historic viewing station were recently restored by the National Trust, and last weekend I finally got to see it for myself. According to the National Trust, Claife Viewing Station dates back to […]
I absolutely love wildlife – animals can be such good fun! The garden suddenly seems much quieter now that this year’s baby woodpeckers have grown up and moved out – an event that happened a couple of weeks ago now. Before that, I couldn’t step into the back garden without ‘daddy’ woodpecker scolding me for […]
