Stamford and Burghley

A couple of weeks ago I was driving north on the A1 when I decided to take a break and divert into Stamford. First stop, though, was Burghley.

I blogged briefly about Burghley House on the main Around-England site in January but didn't have a very good photograph to show, so here's another.

Having driven back towards Stamford town centre I parked the car a little distance out and walked to the bridge over the River Welland.

Stamford is a lovely old town full of ancient stone-built houses, shops and churches - especially churches; for a small town centre there seems to be an enormous concentration of church buildings dating back many centuries. Unsurprisingly, maybe, there is also quite a concentration of antique and antiquarian book shops.

Stamford is a very nice place to spend an afternoon, but on this occasion after half and hour or so I had to get back in the car and continue the grind up the A1.

Grasmere - in the heart of the Lake District

Grasmere is a very special place. It was the home of William Wordsworth during his best years as a poet in the early 19th century. It has stimulated artists of many kinds ever since. Today it is a popular destination for millions of tourists coming to enjoy this most beautiful corner of England. They come not only to Dove Cottage and the Wordsworth Museum but also to the village churchyard to see where the great poet and his family are buried.

The village itself is a pleasant place at all times of year, whether in Winter snow, with daffodils in the Spring, or at the height of Summer. In this post all three photographs were taken in winter (February 2011). On a new page I have just added to the main Around-England site the Grasmere photographs are from summer months.

Grasmere is a good starting point for many Lake District walks, and for the less-energetic there are things to do in the village. Sarah Nelson's Grasmere Gingerbread Shop is a perennial favourite. The Heaton Cooper Studio has an extensive display of work by several generations of the Heaton Cooper family. In the photograph below what was (at the far end of the row of cottages) a Storytelling Centre is now the Grasmere National Trust shop and information centre.

Grasmere and Lake District Accommodation

Grasmere village, not to mention the beautiful lake, attracts me back time after time. Living within driving distance is a great privilege but for many people such day trips will not be practicable. There is no shortage of accommodation. Cumbrian cottages are available in great variety for those who like to look after themselves, and there are hotels in the Lake District at many different price levels to suit every taste.

If you have never been to Grasmere you should start to plan your trip now.

Appleby Castle in the Eden Valley

In past years it was possible to visit Appleby Castle, and thousands did so every year as they spent holiday time in the beautiful Eden Valley.

For some time now it has been closed to visitors and it is not easy to get a good viewpoint in Appleby town. Outside the town centre, however, at Bongate there is a small picnic area by the footbrige over the Eden and the old Bongate Mill (on the right by the tree). From there one can look up to the castle, high on its cliff looking more or less as Lady Anne Clifford, Countess of Pembroke, had it rebuilt in the seventeenth century. This was one of her four castles in the Eden Valley: Pendragon, Brough, Brougham and Appleby.

Appleby-in-Westmorland, as it is now correctly called, was the county town of Westmorland prior to the formation of Cumbria in the 1970s. It was here that justice was meted out to the county's criminals - although maybe by today's standards it might not all be seen as totally "just". While Kendal became the main administrative centre Appleby had the ceremony. Today its castle still stands proudly over the river.

Pendragon Castle, Mallerstang

When I first mentioned Pendragon to my wife she thought we were going to Cornwall. But no, in spite of the Cornish-sounding name it is in Cumbria, in the upper reaches of the Eden Valley as it climbs up beyond Kirkby Stephen to the Pennine watershed (and beyond there is Wensleydale).

My last visit to Pendragon was on a rather dull day but Saturday was a beautiful clear sky and even warmish sun. Here then are the ruins of Lady Anne Clifford's Pendragon Castle on a nice clear day.

Cockermouth's Famous Five

The River Cocker running into the Derwent at Cockermouth seems quiet enough on the day of this photo last month, but the talk in the town this week is of the flood defences being proposed following the 2009 floods. Heavy rain in the Lake District mountains makes a rapid and massive difference to these two rivers.

That, however, is not the main subject of my post today. Rather it is something I've noticed about Cockermouth in the late 18th century. Some time ago I blogged on Around-England that there were three famous born in the town within about a decade - William Wordsworth, John Dalton and Fletcher Christian. Now, however, I've discovered something that seems strange to me.

When you ask people interested in the history of Cockermouth about famous people born there they quickly come up with those three names, then if they're particularly knowledgeable they add another two: Fearon Fallows, the Astronomer and William Woodville, the pioneer of smallpox vaccination.

So what is strange about this? Well check their dates of birth: 1752, 1764, 1766, 1770 and 1789.  Four of the five were born within an eighteen year period, and the fifth less than twenty years later.  What did they put in the water at Cockermouth in those days to generate the town's outstanding men so close together?

Longsleddale - The Beautiful Valley

On Thursday I drove up Longsleddale and then walked a little from Sadgill. This really is a very special place. I'd have liked to photograph the quarry area further up the Gatescarth track but didn't have time.  Here is one of my photos from the afternoon: Longsleddale above Sadgill, looking up to Gatescarth Pass.

There's more on Longsleddale on the Around-England blog.

A Derwentwater Evening

There's nowhere quite like the Lake District in August. It rains sufficiently to keep everything green but then has beautiful days in which the sun lights up the lakes and mountains differently every time as the patterns of cloud play on the landscape. I love it.

Here is a picture of the boating jetties taken during my walk along the northerly shore of Derwentwater ealier this week. There's more at "Derwentwater at the End of a Day" on the Around-England blog.