Lake District
Our next stop was Windermere lake, next to the towns of Windermere and Bowness. The Lake District, is a mountainous region in Northwest England. A popular holiday destination, it is famous not only for its lakes, forests and mountains (or fells), but also for its associations with the early 19th century poetry and writings of William Wordsworth and the other Lake Poets, as well as the art and writing of Beatrix Potter.
All the land in England more than three thousand feet above sea level lies within the National Park, including Scafell Pike, the highest mountain in England. It also contains the deepest and longest lakes in England, Wastwater and Windermere, respectively. Lake district has 19 lakes, but only Bassenthwaite Lake is actually called a lake, the rest of them are ‘mere’ or ‘water’. Mere refers to a lake that is broad in relation to its depth; this is not completely true of Windermere, due to its noticeable thermocline, but the name has obviously stayed. Windermere is a ribbon lake, about 11.23 miles long and 0.93 miles wide. The lakeshore reminded me of Kirkland water front, although, we don’t have the swans, or the beautiful victorian artictecture in the village square.
On our first morning here, we took the Windermere car ferry to Hawkshead. My association with car ferrys is the gigantic commuter ferries. Windermere ferry was comparatively tiny carrying 15 cars on a single deck. After a short 20 minute ride, we drove to the village. The village houses Hill Top, Beatrix Potter’s house. The house was closed but we were able to visit the gardens. Lake District seemed to be very similar to the Pacific Northwest, with the same mild winters and cool summers, although the average annual rainfall ( 80 inches) is higher than Seattle( 50 inches). The excess rain shows in the green blanket that covers everything; I recognized most of the plants, lilacs, mock oranges, cherry trees, laurels, hydrangeas, holly, yew, and even blackberry. There were relatively few rhodies and maples, but they were there. The most astounding thing was the wax Begonias. I have never seen such Begonias outside of the catalogs, and they were everywhere in every imaginable color!
We finished up our travels for the day with a visit to Wray Castle. The castle was built in the 1800's and is really a private house built in mock gothic style. The house was stripped of its furnishings when it came to the National trust who have turned it into a wonderful play ground for kids. There was a crafts room, dress up room(with outfits for princesses and knights), a room with microscopes for examining shells and fossils found around the island, and a room with big ol’ foam blocks to build your own castle.
We go in today to visit Wordsworths’ house and then continue our journery on to Shropshire…
