Emm in London: Cumbria

Saturday, May 31, 2025

Postcards from Windermere: A Quiet Escape to the Lake District

We spent four days in Windermere in March and it was a lovely, relaxed visit. We pottered about a lot, ate more than I would have ever thought possible, and explored the surrounding countryside. It was our second visit to the Lake District

Featured Photo: A Cruise to Ambleside

The other day my friend Jen commiserated with me regarding the lack of sunshine during my trip to Windermere. I don’t mind the lack of sunshine. It was an opportunity for me to embrace and fall in love with clouds, as opposed to my previous practice of overexposing my photos or avoiding clouds altogether.

This photo was taken on a cruise from Bowness-on-Windermere to Ambleside. The glacier head is situated just behind the dip to the right of the photo above, in the valley. This is where the glacier began its long journey through the valley before carving out Windermere.

Featured Photo: Boats on Windermere

I’m at that awkward point in life where I am exactly as far away from my last holiday as I am from my next. Five weeks ago, I was in the beautiful Lake District in Cumbria, spending lazy afternoons on cruises or catching ferries between the small towns and villages.

In five weeks time, I leave for Santa Susana in the Costa Brava in Spain and I cannot wait for some sunshine!

I was waiting outside by the edge of the water one afternoon during our visit to Windermere and I looked down and saw these boats. Somehow it captured that moment in my holiday perfectly. A lazy, relaxed time floating at the water’s edge without a care in the world. What a fantastic week.

One Hundred Words for Green

It amazes me that there aren’t a hundred words for “green” in the English language as there are for “snow” in Icelandic. I wonder whether our ancestors actually opened their eyes as they settled across the British Isles, whether they could see what I see. But I’m getting ahead of myself.

I mentioned in my last post that I had begun to consider whether Hawkshead had much more to offer when I climbed a set of stairs to the Hawkshead Parish Church.

And then I got to the top of the stairs, turned around and saw this.

How many shades of green can you count there? I can count at least twenty. This country can be absolutely breathtaking and as much as we complain about the rain, it wouldn’t be that pretty if this were a dry season.

You may notice the Beatrix Potter store. There were stores all over Cumbria as this was where she lived as an adult.

Not only were the views impressive, but I found the churchyard to be quite inspiring too. The inscription on the war memorial above reads:

Let those who
come after
see to it that
their names be
not forgotten
1939-1945
John R. Clifton
John R. Crossley
Ernest M. Hodgson

I imagine that the inhabitants of this tiny village really felt the loss of those three men.

The churchyard even inspired my father who specifically requested that I take the photo above. Something about the gate intrigued him so.

I’d noticed in the past that my photos are often overexposed as I try to adjust for the effects of clouds and bad lighting. On this day I tried to embrace the clouds and to capture them in all of their dramatic, moody glory. It certainly helped because I can count another dozen shades of green in the photo above..

There has been a chapel on this site since the 12th century and following increments to its length and width in the 13th and 15th centuries, there were final adjustments to the roof and windows in 1585. What you see today is essentially how the church has appeared since the 16th century and that is pretty impressive.

Almost as impressive as this dizzying view of the hills surrounding Hawkshead.

Of course, much as I would have liked to, I could not stay in the churchyard all afternoon. For just a moment, I put my camera aside and just stood taking in the view below. It is hardly surprising that a language that fails to provide one hundred words for green would prove inadequate in describing such beauty. Surely I’m not the only one who feels rejuvenated after seeing such scenes?

Realising that I was all alone on top of the hill, I slowly made my way back down to the village. I made sure to appreciate the path down though, doesn’t it look promising?

Featured Photo: Windermere

I wish that I could paint a picture for you of what I expected before we went to Windermere. I expected a sad little overcrowded man-made lake, stuffed full of boats and surrounded by greasy spoons. In short, I had no idea that I was about to visit one of the most beautiful places on earth.

Windermere is the largest natural lake in England and it is over a mile across at its widest point. It is a ribbon lake formed by glaciers so visitors to the region are treated to hills, mountains, valleys and secondary lakes as well as forests and meadows.

This photo was taken at Bowness-on-Windermere which is where we walked to nearly every day of our stay.

Isn’t it great to be proven wrong?

Exploring the Cumbrian Town of Hawkshead

Whenever I’ve spoken to people about my trip to Windermere in Cumbria, I’ve generally noted that there are two types of people: those who haven’t been to Cumbria and want to know where it is, how we got there, where we stayed and what we did and so on, and those who have been who usually just smile, knowingly. Cumbria has it all and it is one of the most exciting regions that I have visited in Britain.

There is breathtaking scenery, with the exquisite meres stretching out between hills and valleys and views that literally brought tears to my eyes on the first day that we were there. There are a variety of ways to travel across and around the meres, whether by bus, ferry, car or hiking and there is an array of little towns and villages to discover, each with its own history, culture, food and charm.

Hawkshead was the first of these magical little villages that we visited during our recent trip to Cumbria. By the way, Cumbria is situated on the north-western tip of England and is north of Lancashire and Yorkshire and just south of Scotland. On the day that we visited, I was feeling quite uninspired as it was pretty cold and cloudy on that occasion (in June) so we began our visit with a delicious lunch of soup and homemade bread at the Naturally Hawkshead Cafe inside the Hawkshead store. Feeling full and slightly more cheerful, we took a stroll around the old town.

The most impressive aspect of Hawkshead is how well-presented the town is despite being really old. The Hawkshead Grammar School where poet William Wordsworth attended was built in 1585 and the Minstrels Gallery is a traditional tea-room that dates back to the 15th century. Hawkshead is older than that though! I discovered on the Hawkshead website that the town was originally named after a Norse settler Haukr and was first recorded as Houksete in around 1200.

Jubilee fever had swept through the whole of Cumbria and we could see the Union Flag everywhere we looked. This is such a welcome change to the situation just three years ago when I came back from New York and questioned why we never saw the flag here as often as it is displayed in countries like the USA and South Africa.

I was very amused by the scene below, with the multitude of flags on Flag Street.

The Honeypot is one of the most famous shops in Hawkshead and it was easy to see why. They have a section of the most delicious foods and delicacies with fast, friendly and efficient service. I mention this because the Honeypot is very popular and they are nearly always busy!

One word of warning: don’t go to The Honeypot with anything but an empty stomach. To this day I regret not buying more food from them but we did buy a delicious round of cured meat with some olives and local cheese.

Don’t you just love the giant blue teacup in the photo above? I could really use one of those on Monday mornings!

We pottered around a little bit more but I have to admit, I was starting to wonder how much more Hawkshead had to offer. Quite a lot it turns out.

We turned a corner and found that we were behind the Parish church that you could see in the first photo above. Just at the top of those stairs, we discovered the most incredible views of the village and surrounding areas. We also got a chance to visit the old Grammar School and to see the desk where William Wordsworth etched his name.