Places to visit, attractions, heritage and things of interest in Cumbria, England.
It’s hard to beat soaking up the atmosphere of an elegant historic house, or imagining life being restored to the grim ruins of a once-mighty castle. But there’s also a special kind of magic getting off the well-beaten tourist track to explore some less obvious aspect of our past, an attraction that isn’t widely advertised,
Touching the lost past of Ninekirks Read More »
North West England
Imagine a simpler, hate-free, monochrome world, where you know your doctor, civil servants are both civil and servile, politicians benign and dogs only ever bark happily. You are secure in the womb of grim, factory-stained, buildings. There’s a footbridge over a railway and a train is coming. You gaily dash to cross just as the
The chuffing romance of Haverthwaite Read More »
North West England
The walk to Aira Force, a small but beautifully formed waterfall alongside Ullswater in England’s Lake District, is a favourite. It’s great if you’re not feeling like struggling up a serious fell, or walking too far; so you certainly don’t need to be Sherpa Tenzing to get to it. You do need decent footwear, working
The bleak ruins of medieval Brough Castle perch on the western edge of Church Brough, a peaceful collection of attractive, solid, old dwellings huddled round a small square with St Michael’s church in the background. The village of Brough is divided by the busy A66. The larger portion, Market Brough to the north of the
Brough Castle, Cumbria Read More »
North West England
It is hard to wrap your brain round, but the small Cumbrian village of Eamont Bridge was once an international frontier crossing. Well – kind of. At first glance, it seems a nondescript sort of place, stretching along the A6 in typically linear northern fashion, so that both ends of the village could be blocked
The importance of Eamont Bridge Read More »
North West England
I’ll never forget my first experience of Great Gable. It was during a geography field trip to the English Lakes, I was callow youth of 17 and, up to that point, the landscape opening up all around had belonged on biscuit tin lids and boxes of fudge. Walking up Great Gable was one of the
Missing Great Gable Read More »
North West England
There are several reasons why you may want to visit Kirkby Lonsdale. Not least, because it’s a fine old Cumbrian market town, with a lovely church, St Mary’s, and, beyond that, Ruskin’s View – a panorama allegedly described by the Victorian polymath, without a trace of hyperbole, as “One of the loveliest views in England,
Kirkby Lonsdale’s Devil’s Bridge – and the bikers who live there Read More »
North West England
Holker Hall (say ‘Hoaker’ or ‘Hooker’) is one of those places you could easily miss if you didn’t already know about it – which now you do. To those in the know, Holker is a renowned grand estate, house and home; but it is stuck on the fringe of south Cumbria in north-west England, well away from
The key to Keld Chapel is hanging by the front door of the house opposite. It’s that kind of place, if you know what I mean. Keld is a tiny Cumbrian hamlet, just outside the straggling village of Shap and a little south east of long abandoned Shap Abbey. Travellers on the M6 will be
English literature resonates with killer opening lines. Some have become embedded in our culture to the extent that they help define the people we are: “It is a truth universally acknowledged that a single man in possession of a good fortune, must be in want of a wife.” “Last night I dreamt I went to
From garden to plate – a helping of Peter Rabbit Read More »
North West England
The first thing that struck me about Furness Abbey was how red it is. The second thing was the girl in the visitor centre and the third was drainage; but we’ll come onto all that later. For the moment, all you need to know is that the great red sandstone abbey of Furness was once
The great abbey of Furness Read More »
North West England
The men of the 4th Cohort of Dalmatians were a long way from home. They were undoubtedly cold and Hardknott Fort, which the Romans probably knew as Mediobogdum, must have seemed like the end of the world. Certainly, situated in the mountainous northern region of the most northerly province of Imperial Rome, it was one
The road to Mediobogdum Read More »
North West England