A pilgrimage and most of the lakes in two days (12 &13 May), starting with a late Sunday morning pick-up in Carlisle and a leisurely afternoon visit to Dalemain House near Ullswater, in search of history, heritage and blue poppies. As part of their online language-learning study circle’s visit to the UK, the second day of Hidden Lakeland’s two-day Lake District itinerary centred on the group’s wish to see where Beatrix Potter lived, worked and wrote. This included her famous home at Hill Top and a walk up to Moss Eccles Tarn, the small mountain lake where Beatrix and her husband William Heelis kept their rowing boat (now on exhibit at Windermere Jetty) and fished for trout among lilies planted by Beatrix.
The walk up to the tarn from Near Sawrey winds out of the village past locations from Beatrix’s “little picture books” and an honesty box for (quite honestly superb!) homemade cakes and honey. After 25-30 minutes (or longer in our case, to fully enjoy the spring-born lambs and calves whose fields cradle the path on the other side of drystone walls adorned in May with pink campion, forget-me-nots and early foxgloves), the tranquil setting of the tarn waits at the top of a short grassy slope. We walked along a board walk through birch and pine and past Beatrix’ lilies – the only sounds the breeze in the trees, the bleating of lambs and birdsong. Oh, and our sounds: chorusing “Kakko! Cuckoo!!” in answer to the call of a solitary cuckoo, before falling into fits of laughter.
Transport was by Stagecoach Cumbria, on their stunning #508 service alongside Ullswater and over Kirkstone Pass, and the #599 open top service, past views across Windermere to the Coniston range and Langdale Pikes, en route to Rydal and Grasmere. Herdwick Travel took us off the beaten track along narrow winding lanes to Red Bank, Loughrigg Tarn, Elterwater, Wray Castle, Sawrey and the wide vistas at Tarn Hows.
Then it was down to the lakeshore at Coniston Water, where the steam yacht Gondola had docked in front of the Bluebird Café – the latter named after the iconic boat in which Douglas Campbell set a world water-speed record in 1955. There was time for everyone to sample the famous (and also deservedly iconic) Bluebird Bitter at the 400-year-old Black Bull Inn in the village before heading back to Ro Hotel in Bowness, where the friends were based for their two nights in the Lake District.
