Lake District
One of the few signs of human habitation that you will
see at Bassenthwaite is the stunningly situated Mirehouse, built by the Earl of Derby in 1666, and now open to the public. For the last 300 years the house has been in the hands of the Spedding family, who once played host to the poet Alfred Lord Tennyson. Tennyson is thought to have composed much of his rousing poem Morte D’Arthur, based on Sir Thomas Malory’s medieval epic, on the shores of Bassenthwaite. A small open-air theatre donated by the Tennyson society stands testimony to this fact. Smaller but no less
appealing, Buttermere is bordered by dairy pastures on one side and mountains on the other, including the summit of Haystacks. The virtues of this spectacular mountain were famously extolled by the fell walker and guide-book writer Alfred Wainwright, whose ashes were scattered there, according to his wishes, after his death in 1991. Finally, appropriately enough, the wild
and sparsely populated Northern Lakes are also home to Scale Force, which, at 170 feet, is the highest waterfall in the Lake
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District. Force, incidentally, comes from the Old Norse word fors; an appropriately wild etymology for this torrent of water, which tumbles thunderously down a tree-lined gorge with no shortage of glamour and drama. After his visit, the Lake poet Samuel Tayor Coleridge, friend of William Wordsworth, wrote that the “white downfall” of Scale Force “glimmered through the trees that hang before it like the bushy hair over a madman’s eyes”. As you travel south from Bassenthwaite and Keswick
towards Ambleside the landscape becomes progressively gentler, and signs of the Lake District’s bustling present- day population become increasingly apparent. The Southern Lakes are more easily accessible than
those further north, and much of the activity of the area is centred around vibrant and lively Lake Windermere, and nearby attractions. Windermere is the largest of all the lakes, and one of the most visited, thanks in part to the proximity of Ambleside and Hawkshead, and their associations with the poet William Wordsworth; and in part to the range of watersports on offer there today. Despite this relative popularity, there are still some secret
delights to be discovered around here. Grizedale Forest, for example, lies to the west of Ambleside, and offers gorgeous woodland walks to still tarns in forgotten, tree-encircled glades, as well as sweeping panoramas across Windermere
www.britain-magazine.com
PHOTO: ANDY STOTHERT/VISIT BRITAIN IMAGES/VISIT CUMBRIA/WIKIPEDIA
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