Lake Windermere
Picturesque, calming, gorgeous ... think of all the cliched superlatives you possibly can and you have Lake Windermere. The couple of days we spent here was basically a photography excursion. You could walk down to the water from our hotel and despite the inclement weather, we spent an afternoon here with the shutter clicking away. I loved how the water was so calm it looked like silk. Note to self next time - bring a tripod and don't leave photos down to chance!
On another night we had gone to dinner during a downpour, but by the time we finished eating it had stopped and there was a pretty good opportunity to capture some of the greys and blues. I was quite pleased that I managed to sneak a photo of a man fishing off the pier as well.
Beatrix Potter
The other main attraction of the Lake District is of course Beatrix Potter. Its such a beautiful location that its really no wonder that Beatrix Potter owned numerous farms up there - I vaguely recall the figure being around 15, give or take - and I think honestly the world is better with her legacy, as she was someone who championed conservation and bequeathed all her property to the National Trust. There are three main Beatrix things to see and of course I made us go to all of them (these are nowhere near each other by the way; if you do take a trip to the Lake District a car and a GPS is highly recommended)!
1) Hilltop Farm is a National Trust property and still open to the public today. It still looks the same as it did 100 years ago, as you can see if you compare to the famous photo of Beatrix which appears in the dust jacket of some of her books (just ignore the bit where I look silly standing in front of the door; its the only photo I have with a comparable angle!) . The garden was lovely, the house was lovely and it was just wonderful to see one of the places where she drew her inspiration from (no photos allowed inside).
*Beatrix Potter image from www.lakedistrictwalks.net
2) Beatrix Potter World (the URL is hop-skip-jump.com - isn't that so cute?) This is a bit more of a commercial thing in the middle of Lake Windermere and definitely aimed at tourists, but I think it was still well worth going. The best part for me was the garden, which was designed to have the Victorian plant species that were discussed and drawn in Beatrix's books. I loved the Peter Rabbit patch and the overall masses of colour that was in the garden. There were also hidden ceramic animals and other objects to find in the garden which added to the quaintness of it all.
3) Beatrix Potter Gallery. Another National Trust property (no photos allowed), I think this was also well worth seeing. This houses a collection of Beatrix drawings and watercolours, many of which didn't make it into a final book.
And with that, I think its time for me to plan another trip to the Lake District. What places do you feel nostalgic about?
No comments:
Post a Comment