Thursday July 06, 2006

Lake district diary ( Part three )

Our final three days in the Lake district had us staying at the Queens Head at Troutbeck. On our way there we did an excellent circular walk from Rydal to Grasmere and back. These two lakes are joined by a narrow strip of water. At Rydal we crossed a packhorse bridge and followed a track that first met and then climbed away from . Eventually we reached the lake of Grasmere itself.

From the shore as you get closer to Grasmere village you get excellent views of it. After leaving the shore we followed a narrow lane that led into the village itself. Here Wordsworth is buried with many of his family the graves can be seen in the churchyard. We had lunch in the touristy village and then left it passing a house in which he lived. This is called Dove Cottage and is now owned by the Wordsworth Trust who also own a nearby stable block now a museum. Our path then led up uphil and we could see the lake and the surrounding countryside. This path is known as a coffin track as coffins had to be carried along it away from here to be buried where there was concecrated ground. Along the path were huge boulders where the coffin bearers would rest the coffin so to give them a rest.

As we dropped into Rydal we had even better views of its lake.

As we reached the village we saw Wordsworth's second home a much larger property called Rydal Mount. He moved here in 1813 and lived here until he died in 1850 aged 80. The pretty church of Rydal was a little further down the road and beside it a field bought by Wordsworth for his favourite daughter Dora and named after her. In spring it is a riot of daffodills.

Our last pub had a very odd addition to its bar. Over it was the top wooden section of a four poster bed - very odd. As the weather was warming up we had two last lazy days. We drove to Cartmel a village to the south of the main National Park with the coast nearby. The town has an impressive 14th century gatehouse. The church is an old priory and has an unusual tower. When it was extended in the 15th century the new addition was built diagonally to the existing one.

We then drove to the coastline where Grange Over Sands can be found. Here is a large salt marsh on which sheep graze and a long path followed the coastline that made a nice walk. On the way back we went through the town and saw a very odd addition to someones front garden. Several full sized statues of people including the Queen and her mother and Laural and Hardy!

On the outskirts of Troutbeck is an 17th old farm house called Townend. This was home to a single family for four hundred years and twelve generations. The Browne family lived here and when the last one died the house was closed up. Eventually it was given to the National Trust and when it was opened up it was if time has stood still. The last male member of the family retired at forty and took up woodwork. A lot of his work was to be seen in the house. The chimmneys are very odd in that they are round not square.

On the last day we drove over Kirstone pass to do a shortish walk to visit three waterfalls. So this was a great holiday the area is very special in that it has together a lot of features from other parts of the British Isles all together in one place. Well worth a visit.