My wife and I have just returned from another expedition to the English Lake District, this time to the southern lakes. We camped near the foot of Coniston Water with the intention of building up a better collection of photos of the Crake valley as well of the Coniston and Hawkshead area.

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

The last two days have seen considerable progress with the “England’s Lakes” site. Initial pages on Tarn Hows and Windermere added today bring us to within two or three major lakes of completing this first phase of the development. Next we’ll be moving on to topics associated with the lakes rather than just the lakes themselves. Of course, from time to time we’ll be adding additional content to the individual lake pages to make them far more comprehensive than is the case at this early stage in the life of the site.

It was a pleasure to be able to add to the page on Tarn Hows some information about a new footpath opened up by the National Trust from the head of Coniston Water to Tarn Hows, passing the Monk Coniston gardens. I look forward to walking this next time I’m in that area and hope that readers will enjoy it as much as I expect to.

I’ve been looking for some audio-books on Lake District themes and hope to add more later, but here is a first entry in that category: an audio-book of Wordsworth poetry to supplement the Lake District printed books page..

I’d also like to add a variety of Lakeland artists’ work to the site, but copyright is a challenge. I think I’ve stuck to the rules so far, and if anyone feels that I haven’t then I’d be very pleased to learn about it. There is no intention to infringe anyone’s genuine rights.

That’s it for now.

- David Murray -
England’s Lakes

You’ve found the first post on my new blog. I already have several other blogs but was not happy with mixing very different content, so here’s one especially for items about England.

Initially the principal focus of the blog will be on things connected with my “England’s Lakes“ site at lakes.around-england.co.uk, which launched recently. This is chiefly about the English “Lake District” (in Cumbria, up at the northwest corner of the country, and very close to where I was born) but it will also carry information on other major lakes in different parts of the country. As of today, there are just four lakes to go, and then I’ll have introductory pages on each of the major lakes in Cumbria plus items on the country’s two biggest artificial reservoirs (Kielder Water and Rutland Water), both of which have important nature reserves associated with them.

Once I have an introductory page on each major lake I’ll be starting to add special topic pages on subjects such as boating, fishing, camping, walking, etc. The plan is rapidly to build up a comprehensive information source on our country’s lakes and how to enjoy them. There will also be a wide variety of related photography and artwork.

Finally (for now) there will be a great deal of material on books about England’s Lakes, and especially about the Lake District, its places and its people. Take a look now at our first Lake District Books page.

Watch for more,

- David Murray -
England’s Lakes