Lake District
Serenity in the Lakes
Visiting the Lake District is the opposite of a City Break – exploring the myriad of snaky lakes by car or foot with villages few and far between. Activities are focused on fell walking, Beatrix Potter and soaking up the serenity in the Lake District.
We were based by Windermere for three full days which enabled us to cover part of the Lakes comfortably but not to explore the whole of Lake District. So that depends on what you want to see. We opted for touring the Lakes. The Lakes are a magnet for cyclists and fell walkers. There are also oddities like a motor museum. For some, the attraction of basing oneself in Windermere is that it is the centre of Beatrix Potter and Wordsworth country.
We spent a whole day on a ten Lakes tour with Mountain Goat Tours. This was a fully packed tour with towns, villages. After Part Three we moved on to Derwentwater, which was featured in the movie “Swallows and Amazons,” is known as the “Queen of the Lakes,” with fells as a back drop. A part of its attraction are the islands including St Herbert’s Island inspired Beatrix Potter’s *The Tale of Squirrel Nutkin.”
The Lakes seem to be filled with sheep. But then you have Buttermere, named after dairy herding. Like the other lakes the valley was sculpted by glaciers during the Ice Age.
Keswick is one of the most attractive towns in the Lake District in terms of its distinctive feel. We only stopped for lunch but it is a suitable base for the area. Dotted with cafes and a cheese shop it has a charming feel to it.
Thirlmere is different to the others in being man-made as a reservoir to serve Manchester in the 19th century. Protests against this led to creation of the national trust.
Grasmere has that feel of a village on the tourist trail. It has two main attractions – the grave of William Wordsworth, at St. Oswald’s Church and his home, Dove Cottage. He wrote many of his poems here including “Daffodils.” The other attraction is the shop for ginger bread Sarah Nelson, there since 19th century.
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