Photos and the City

Tag: Lake Disctrict

Hutton-in-the-forest

Before crossing the border to Scotland I made one final stop: the historic house Hutton-in-the-forest near Penrith, the home of Lord & Lady Inglewood set in an extensive garden and forest.

Originally a medieval stronghold with a pele tower, succeeding generations have altered and added to the house, and the outside and inside show a wide variety of architectural and decorative styles from the 17th century to the present day. (Visitcumbria)

Besides the medieval tower, today used as the main entrance, there was a gallery added in the 1630 – a very rare feature in the North of England. The hall with the cupid staircase was built in 1680, mid-18th-century rooms and even a private suite, drawing room from 1830 and a library from 1870.

If was kind of funny to hear about how important it was to have a safe space (the tower) whenever the Scots attacked as I heard the same story the other way around on the other side of the border, with the English attacking.

The walled garden was built in 1730 and contains many different flowers, herbs and plants and was busy with bees – the perfect place to sit down and just relax.

View in direction of the private apartments, more about the Fletchers is on their website.

The house is open from End of March to October and definitely worth a visit and I also recommend taking a tea-break in the cloister café and a little walk around the woods.

04/10/2018
Ullwater Steamers

I continued along the Ullswater until I reached the charming Glenridding and the pier of the Ullswater steamers. Founded in 1855 the oldest one of their five steamboats was launched in 1877. “The Lady of the Lake” is probably the oldest working passenger ferry in the world and I was on it!

From Glenridding, I took the boat back to Pooley Bridge, this time I could enjoy the boat trip without rain and the view just was amazing! The company wasn´t that bad either!

The company originally transported workers, mail and grocery between the Greenside Mine at Glenridding and the village of Pooley Bridge and changed to pleasure rides later on.

From the new pier in Pooley Bridge, it´s just a short walk into the village. Pooley Bridge (like many other cities in Cumbria) was severely damaged by the floods in December 2015 caused by Storm Desmond. The historic stone bridge, which gave the village its name, collapsed on December 6th 2015 and Pooley Bridge was cut off for several months until a replacement bridge was installed in March 2016. A new bridge is still to be built.

Right next to the (temporary) bridge are some cafés, pubs and restaurants and they were definitely busy! I also enjoyed the view (and tea) from Granny Dowbekins Tearooms, they have such a nice garden & terrace looking over the river and bridge

27/09/2018
Ullswater

Another pass – another day of low clouds – the view is supposed to be nice on Kirkstone Pass on the way to Glenridding. I left my lovely cottage in Little Langdale and was on my way to my next stop and base up north – Ullswater.

Ullswater is the second largest lake in the Lake District. My first stop was Glenridding on the south side of the lake to board one of the steam boats.

I took a short route from Glenridding to Howtown Pier and back – I had planned to do a little walk around Howtown but as soon as we were on the boat rain started to pour down. Cats and dogs! So I just took shelter at the pier. The trip was still very lovely – the clouds added some extra drama!

The landscape is quite different from the rest of the Lake District, higher mountains and somehow rougher.

Ullswater itself is of course the main attraction. Surrounded by gently rolling countryside at the northern end around Pooley Bridge, a trip south down the lakeshore gives way to sheer fellsides that drop away into the water below, culminating in the majesty of England’s third highest mountain, Helvellyn. (ullswater.com)

Back in Glenridding, the rain had stopped (at least for the moment – it was quite a wet day) and I made my way around the lake to my hotel in Pooley Bridge to enjoy a little walk along the shore.

And to do a little photo shoot with Emer who didn´t mind the rain at all!

20/09/2018