It is good to see the news (in the News & Star and the Cumberland News) that after this year’s wet weather cancellation, which cost the organisers tens of thousands of pounds, the show is to be moved to Carlisle racecourse where there is less risk of disruption by flooding.

May it go from strength to strength. Local people and those from further away who like to travel to it, including many who will incorporate it into a Lake District holiday, should mark 17th July 2010 in their diaries for the Cumberland Show. A special Festival of Farming and Food is to be staged along with the traditional elements of the show.

Another date for the diary is the 2010 Westmorland County Show, scheduled for 9th September, and to incoporate a  Sheep Show and the Cumbria Woodland and Forestry Festival.

Firstly, I suppose one has to challenge the idea that there is such a thing as a standard model of eleven year old.  Of course not.  There are girls and boys, energetic, sporting, artistic, studious, inquisitive, imaginative, gregarious, solitary, pessimistic, optimistic,  quiet, talkative, … ,  all the variety of characteristics that will carry through into variety of adults.

Some will want to make their own enjoyment in walking, clambering up hillsides, mountain biking, swimming, rowing, and other active pursuits.  There are organised activity centres for the energetic outdoors.

The enthusiastic young photographer or painter will find no shortage of subjects to challenge their artistic abilities. Some may be interested in historical things. How about a visit to “ancient” Rheged near Penrith or the Museum of Lakeland Life in Kendal?  Did you know that pencils came from the Lake District? There’s even a pencil museum in Keswick for both the historically and the artistically inclined.

Old railways?  The Lake District has two.  There’s the “full size” version with steam trains running on the old, and now restored, branch line from Haverthwaite to Lakeside near the foot of Windermere.  Then there’s the “little railway” that climbs up into the mountains from Ravenglass on the west coast, a great afternoon out for both children and adults.

Do you want to know how a nuclear power station works?  Just up the road from the Ravenglass and Eskdale Railway is Sellafield with its excellent visitor centre (although at the time of writing this it was undergoing maintenance work; check their web site for details).

Interested in wildlife and nature?  How about the osprey viewing point by Bassenthwaite?  Or the freshwater aquarium at Lakeside? And talking of animals, for the imaginative among us, whether children or not, there are three Beatrix Potter attractions in the central lakes area.

Then again, the young poet might be fascinated by a visit to William Wordsworth’s cottage at Grasmere, or the recreation of eighteenth century life at his birthplace in Cockermouth.

This is just a start.  On our Lakes web site we include several lists of things to do and places to go around the main centres.  Check out also the range of National Trust locations in the Lakes. And whatever you do, don’t miss the national park visitor centre at Brockhole.

As for adults, so also for children, in addition to simply appreciating the beauty of the place there is no lack of things to do in the Lake District.

Last year was its first, and was oversubscribed at 2,500 entries.  This year it will be spread over 2 days, September 12th and 13th, allowing 5,000 people to take part.  In addition to the big names of swimming it is expected that thousands of ordinary people will swim the mile-long open water course from a spot on the lake shore by the Low Wood Hotel.

If you’re a swimmer there’s time to train, but possibly very little time to enter as this event is likely to be extremely popular and places are limited.

A range of charities will benefit from this outstanding Lake District event, including Diabetes UK, Cancer Research UK and Lifeboats to mention only three.

As for stationary objects I’m not referring to Janice who refuses to be dragged out of her bed on time in the morning, nor Bill who won’t be budged from the telly on Saturday afternoon.  No, I’m talking about a real statue, one that when it’s erected should stay put for many a decade.

Although the Westmorland Gazette went a bit too far recently in referring to Alfred Wainwright as “one of Kendal’s most famous sons” when in fact he was born in Blackburn, Lancashire, it is nevertheless excellent news that Kendal is to raise the funds for permanent bronze memorial to the town’s most famous 20th century resident.  May it come quickly and last long.

My second snippet is certainly not about staying in the same place for long.  It’s a reference to the mountain bike endurance race scheduled for 29th March at the Whinlatter Forest Park.  The Altura Whinlatter Challenge has apparently already passed 200 entrants.  Let’s hope that this latest Lake District mountain bike event is successful.  30 miles over this terrain is more than I would ever have attempted in my youth (even if there’d been such a thing as a mountain bike in those days) and I admire those young people with the energy, enthusiasm and dedication to training that’s needed to pit themselves successfully against the challenging course.

Anyway, whatever the water’s called, it’s going to be a cold wet experience in which around a thousand people are expected to participate – including some of Britain’s finest swimmers.

Several charities will be benefiting, including The British Red Cross and Marie Curie Cancer Care.

For more on this see Swimming in Windermere.

That’s all for now,

- David Murray -
England’s Lakes

Well, things didn’t turn out quite as planned.  Several days and nights of frequent rain storms hampered the photography.  In spite of the damp, though, we had a great time and the limited number of good photos this time has the advantage of requiring another trip in the not too distant future.

Hill Top and Hawkshead – Beatrix Potter

On Friday we decided to have an indoor day and to visit the Beatrix Potter sites.  Why didn’t we take our National Trust handbook with us?  It would have told us that Hill Top is closed on Fridays.

I really don’t understand this.  Certainly the property has to be protected against too much visitor stress, and limitations on the number of visitors per day are fully justifiable, but closing the region’s leading attraction on a weekday during the height of the visitor season is beyond my comprehension.

Initially my frustration was personal, but of course as a member I ought to have checked my handbook.  However, a large proportion of visitors are not members and would never imagine that such an important site would be closed.  Sitting in the car eating an egg sandwich before driving back to Hawkshead I watched car after car arriving, unloading children.  They would walk cheerfully as far as the “Closed today” notice board only to return dejected, almost tearful, anticipation squashed.

“Never mind,” parents were probably saying, “there’s the Beatrix Potter gallery in Hawkshead.  We’ll go and see Peter Rabbit there.”  Hmm!  If I don’t fully understand the closure of the house, I certainly don’t understand at all the mentality of closing both of the Beatrix Potter locations on the same day of the week.  This is just incomprehensible.

We did eventually get to Hill Top the following day, and enjoyed it.  I am an admirer of the National Trust and its work, but do believe that it needs to give much more serious thought to its closure policy. at least during July and August, when so many children are being sent away disappointed from both places – not to mention the thousands of gallons of petrol being burned up each year on these fruitless trips along the country lanes; should this be added to the Trust’s carbon footprint?

The above photograph, taken last Saturday, shows the house as it is today, dressed in its summer greenery. This, however, is not as Beatrix Potter bought it. She added extensions to the original property. She was not a preservationist of the type that insists on keeping everything unchanged. She knew that one has to move with the needs of the times.

In this case, she wanted to install a farm manager so built the extension wing visible on the left of the photo to house him and his family (this part is not open to visitors). Internally, as well, she made changes. The sophisticated fire surround in the parlour was the first that I noticed; not at all typical of a small Lakeland farmhouse and apparently installed by Beatrix Potter after buying it at a local sale. She also added a room in which to hang some of her brother’s paintings. Preservation and progress were equal constituents of this phase of Hill Top’s development.

- David Murray -
England’s Lakes

Actually, at the time I didn’t know that Richard Taylor, whose name is inscribed on the cup, was my direct ancestor. Neither was my mother, who had inherited it from an elderly relative, certain who he was. She asked me if I could find out. A bit of detective work including visits to the Kendal Library and the County Record Office (this was back in the 1970s) quickly solved the case. The “Rd. Taylor of New House” who was considered by the Westmorland and Kendal District Agricultural Society that year to have “the best general stock of store cattle” was my grandmother’s grandfather.

I can’t claim great knowledge of the show in more recent years. In fact, living at quite a distance from Westmorland, my visits to it have been few and far between. I am, however, reliably informed that Thursday, 11th September 2008 promises to be a great day out. It has been running since 1799, is one of England’s oldest agricultural shows, and now attracts up to 25,000 people. I’m going to try to make it this year.

In 1999 Roger Bingham wrote a fascinating 192-page history of the show under the title, From Fell and Field. A History of the Westmorland County Show 1799-1999 (Published by Cicerone, Milnthorpe; ISBN 1-85284-290-3). I bought mine when it first came out, but copies now seem to be getting to be few and far between (and often quite pricey). I checked today on Amazon and found a few available, so thought it worth putting up the link here. Click on the book picture for more details.

As for the show itself, don’t forget – 11th September 2008, at Lane Farm, Crooklands, Kendal; 8:00am until 5:30pm.

- David Murray -
England’s Lakes

- David Murray -
England’s Lakes