Day 1 - Lakes
The Lakes District is known for many things. Not surprisingly, lakes is one of them, so we'd better check them out.
First stop is Tarn Hows, a small mountain lake (tarn) nestled between Coniston and Hawkshead. Today is alternately sunny, cloudy and drizzly - perfect for an easy 4km walk. The pictures can do the talking.
The trees in the background are mixed conifer and broadleaf woodland.
Although it looks natural, Tarn Hows was enlarged and reshaped in the 19th century by damming the outlets of three smaller tarns to create a single lake. Later, Beatrix Potter bought the estate and donated it to the National Trust in 1930, ensuring its preservation. More on Beatrix and Mrs Tiggy-Winkle tomorrow.
I was intrigued by the coins bashed into the tree stumps. I was grateful for the extra traction when leaping onto a stump for a photo, but then saw them on fallen logs too.
What gives? A bit of Internet sleuthing:
It's a centuries‑old British “wish tree” tradition. People have been embedding coins into fallen trunks or stumps since at least the 1700s, and Tarn Hows has one of the Lake District’s best examples.
The practice comes from old wish‑tree and healing‑tree customs:
- Make a wish: A coin is left as a small offering, symbolising a hope or desire
- Leave behind an ailment: Folklore held that you could “transfer” a sickness (like a toothache) into the tree by embedding a coin
- Good luck: Coins were offerings for fortune or protection on a journey.
Sadly we didn't have any coins with us, so Pauline will have to carry her chesty cough with her a bit longer. And who believes in these unscientific folklore traditions anyway? Being the cheapskate I am, I cross my fingers instead.
I'm sure Pauline wasn't serious when she suggested Beef Wellington for dinner.
When we're travelling, dogs are a magnet for Pauline, just like motorcycles are a magnet for me. Some obliging walkers with a big black Lab called Daisy stop, give Pauline a sniff and tail wag, and offer to take a photo for us. Better than a distorted close-range selfie.
This time we packed our own lunch - sourdough bread from the supermarket sandwiching a fine Wensleydale cheese. Cheaper too - a couple of flat whites at £8 instead of a typical bought lunch and coffee at £20. Adds up after a while.
So that was looking at a lake from the shore. In the afternoon we get out onto one. We've booked the Steam Yacht Gondola cruise which takes us out onto Coniston Water for a couple of hours.
It's a fully restored Victorian steam yacht, originally launched in 1859. It deteriorated over time, sank in a storm in the 1960s and was restored with a new hull and steam engine in the 1970s.
This fine house on the lake's edge had four chimneys - a sign of high status. What's more, the chimneys are round. "That's so the devil can't hide in corners", our guide reliably explains.
I'd heard of John Ruskin, but only vaguely. He was a Victorian sage who tried to reshape society through moral and philosophical writing. He'd probably be regarded as a socialist now as he attacked laissez‑faire economics, and argued for ethical business, public welfare and education for all. Another addition to my retirement reading - once I've got through Bertrand Russell. We view where Ruskin spent his final decades at Brantwood on the edge of the lake where he wrote, painted, and lectured.
Another notable personality associated with Coniston Water is Donald Campbell. We pass by the markers used for his water-speed record attempt in Bluebird K7 in 1967. His intense determination and willingness to push his boat's performance beyond its design envelope led to a fatal crash at 300mph (480kph). I was just 10 at the time, and recall the outpouring of grief in Britain and around the world.
But as good as the scenic attractions were, the steam engine had an attraction all its own.
The oil can was well-used keeping all those bearings manually lubricated.
Being in an environmentally sensitive area, the boiler is fed with Welsh compressed biomass logs rather than coal.
The TSS Earnslaw on Lake Wakatipu could perhaps take some lessons from this. Despite its authenticity I've never been happy seeing clouds of coal smoke and soot released into such a pristine environment.
Pauline let slip she was planning on booking me into a day on the Gondola for my birthday present, where I'd be assisting the crew on the bridge, with customer service, and in the engine room. It would have been brilliant, but it was an upfront cost with no refunds for bad weather, just deferment. Wisely, she bought me a T-shirt instead.
On our way out some motorbikes magnetically catch my eye. A very nice Kawasaki GPZ1100 over 30 years old, and a Suzuki GSX1100 of a similar vintage. Their owners are sitting nearby, and needless to say, we start chatting. Half an hour later we're a bit anxious our paid parking is about to expire, so after picking up more tips on what to see in Cumbria and letting them know NZ is a great place for bikes we make an exit and head for home.
It's here that I'm forming an intelligence ranking for British birds, from smart to exceptionally dumb:
- Crows
- Ordinary birds
- Pheasants
- Partridges (look like large quail).
There's nothing more frustrating following a partridge down a road at 10mph while it weaves left and right but doesn't actually make an effort to fly or run into the undergrowth. Not surprisingly, they make up a large percentage of feathered roadkill.
Back at the BnB. Cheese and crackers will be served.
Day 2 - Mrs Tiggy-Winkle and friends
A "must see" for Pauline is Beatrix Potter's Hill Top cottage. She missed out on her previous trip, and wasn't going to let it happen again. It's only half an hour east from our BnB on the other side of Coniston Water, so an easy drive in typical Lakes District conditions - sun, cloud and showers in varying proportions. Autumn finally feels as though it's on its way.
The sign on the fork reads:
The flowers love the house,
they try to come in!
Houseleek grows on the window
sills and ledges; wisteria climbs the
wall, clematis chokes the spout's
casings... [and] the odd pink
cabbage rose, that peeps in at the
small paned windows.
Beatrix Potter, untried manuscript
It's a lovely a 17th‑century stone farmhouse, meticulously arranged exactly as she left it, and easy to see how it shaped her stories. It's surrounded by gardens and orchards, and it's not hard to imagine Mr McGregor chasing Peter Rabbit through the gate, or Jemima Puddle‑Duck waddling up the path.
Loved the clock. Why is that when I'm old I have a fascination for older things?
Shades of Bletchley Park.
And Woolsthorpe Manor!
The Tale of Mrs Tiggy-Winkle about a kindly hedgehog washerwoman is a lovely story.
And hedgehogs fit naturally into the English ecosystem where they are loved creatures. You can even buy hedgehog food pellets at supermarkets.
Sadly habitat loss has classified them as vulnerable to extinction, and they are now protected under UK law.
Conversely, we regard them as noxious introduced pests as they feed on our native insects, skinks and ground-nesting birds. As we don't have foxes and badgers they have no natural predators and are growing in numbers. Well, some of us think they're pests. Fed on a diet of Mrs Tiggy-Winkle and loving their cute appearance there are plenty of people who save them, feed them and release them into the wild. Just keep an eye on the Morrinsville FB pages, and watch the comments explode as someone asks how to care for a sick or baby hedgehog!
We have half a day left and decide to do a driving loop. First stop the car ferry across Lake Windermere. There's been a ferry operating here since the 13th century.
Up to Ullswater and round the corner to Howtown for lunch. Amazing how many people pick up on our accent and talk to us about how they've visited NZ, want to visit NZ, or have family living in NZ. After chatting for half an hour we give a particularly talkative lady the URL of our BnB and finally make a break.
We skirt Keswick on our way west and make our way down the Cumbrian coast. A huge industrial complex looms up in front of us - Sellafield. It started as a WW2 munitions factory, then housed Britain’s first nuclear weapons reactors. It was shut down in 1957 after a reactor caught fire, and is now the UK’s central hub for nuclear waste processing, storage, and decommissioning. We have a pressing engagement and the Visitor Centre shut down years ago, so we continue south.
The Lakes District isn't all lakes. I was particularly taken by this view from the car window. I hasten to add that Pauline was driving. Typically I'll do the morning shift and she'll do the afternoon.
We're booked for dinner at the Blacksmiths Arms, just a few minutes from our BnB. Check out that anvil.
Superb local fare - duck, pork and venison, washed down with French and Spanish reds. No complaints, and it's good to have dinner out if we're leaving the following day.
Day 3 - Croquet, but not on the Domain
Another relaxed start as we check out of Janet's Broughton Mills cottage. We're not due at the Crake Valley croquet lawns until 10.30am, which gives us time to fill the car up with £45 of petrol. Ouch, but it's a lot cheaper than the Forester.
Croquet? You go all the way to England just to play croquet? Yup - but let me explain. A few months ago Louise and Chris dropped by our Te Aroha Domain lawns on their tour around NZ. We struck up a conversation as you do, received an invite to drop by Crake Valley when we're in the Lakes District, swapped email addresses, and the rest is history. Their friend Michael from Vancouver Island in Canada also happened to be visiting, so let the Commonwealth Croquet Games begin!
It would be fair to say that the Brits had the edge on the colonials, but not by much, and if we'd been playing with our own mallets it would have been even closer. But just getting out there for the morning before the rain rolled in was hugely satisfying.
Pauline was behind the camera both times, so unfortunately we don't have a shot of her with Louise.
We're planning on getting away at lunchtime, but the Fish & Chip shop is just across the road. By 3pm Michael had a train to catch and we'd decided to trash our afternoon activity due to the rain, so headed for the supermarket (phones - check!) and on to our Home in Rusland BnB for our second three nights in the Lakes District.
Good news - this rain band will pass over tonight, assuring us of a brilliant weekend. Well - that's the theory - but as the locals say, the weather is always fickle in the Lakes District. Stay tuned!
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