Hawkshead

When people ask where we are going on holiday the answer is, as usual, Cumbria.  I realise that this does sound a bit unimaginative.  But the whole thing takes on a different perspective when walking is the main activity.  Between five and ten miles is our limit for the day, so there are many areas of Cumbria yet to be explored at this rate.

Hawkshead is a small town in what used to be Westmorland - at least it was regarded as "Town" as opposed to "Country" by Beatrix Potter, whose territory this is.  It was a short hike across the fields from our holiday cottage, The Cragg.  Now, it is a bit of a tourist trap, but still has some its historic buildings, and, just as important, its teashops.

This is the school attended by William Wordsworth in the late eighteenth century.

And this is The Cragg, a traditional Westmorland farmhouse with stone flagged floors, an Aga and extensive woodland gardens full of rhododendrons, azaleas and birdsong.  It always amazes me that properties like this can be rented for relatively modest sums.  Or you could stay in a Holiday Inn.

We spent many hours enjoying the sunshine in the garden, watching the relentless labours of a group of long-tailed tits who had a nest in a dense bush.  We saw three individuals sharing the task of feeding the young.

All through the property were original features:

This is Westmorland panelling, used for interior walls.  The thin planks are simply slotted into the ceiling beams and there is your wall.

Built in cupboards... Of course you need exterior walls two foot thick to accommodate these.

Spice cupboards, this one dated 1695.

Early walks took us out across the fields surrounding Hawkshead.  Another distinctive local feature is the use of slabs of slate to construct walls, rather than the drystone typical of elsewhere in Cumbria.

This is rolling lowland farm country, heavily wooded.

 

And it was bluebell time, of which more - much more - later.