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Windermere from Bowness
The plan was to spend a couple of days in the Lake District, stay in a decent hotel and visit a couple of favourite places (e.g. Blackwell).
The weather was a bit mixed; after all, it’s April and the
Lake District is pretty well-known for ‘mixed’ weather. (‘Mixed’, when applied
to weather means ‘definitely not mixed but unalloyed dark skies and pouring
rain.) In fact it wasn’t like that; it was mixed between warm sunshine,
occasional heavy showers and thundering hail!
As we arrived in Bowness, we did the usual thing of picking
up a few brochures for places to visit and were instantly taken back 30
years...
In June 1980, we took our 2 sons, aged 6 and 4 to the Lakes for a week and, while there, we went down to Coniston Water.
Ben, age 6 and Toby, age 4 by Coniston Water
In June 1980, we took our 2 sons, aged 6 and 4 to the Lakes for a week and, while there, we went down to Coniston Water.
Coniston Water
The boys were
really taken with the restored steam yacht ‘Gondola’ which was sitting by the
jetty looking wonderful. They were keen to take a trip down the lake on board
Gondola, but we were too early. She was due to be inaugurated 2 weeks later by
the Duke of Devonshire so was unavailable for trips. We promised the boys we
would come back one day.
Ben with 'Gondola', 1980
Watercolour, 1980
Watercolour, 1980
This was our first visit to the Lakes and we all loved
the area. The weather was (occasionally) sunny so I was able to paint a few
watercolours as well as taking photos (in those days, I was using film so
couldn’t afford to take many).
Thirty-two years later, Marea and I found ourselves again
driving down Lake Road to the North end of Coniston Water to take a trip on
Gondola. We were early, so there was plenty of room in the car park and we sat
and waited in the sunshine for her to come
round the corner at the North end.
'Gondola' arriving
The Front Saloon
Looking back Northward
Great Skies
'Gondola's' figurehead
We boarded and sat out of the wind for the trip down to
Brantwood, a National Trust property, home of John Ruskin the leading Victorian
art critic.
Brantwood
In this photo, the little gazebo is there for the inauguration of
the new public toilets later in the day. We didn’t have a lot of time before
the boat came round again so we avoided the introductory video and had a quick
look around the house. Ruskin is to be admired for his support of the
pre-Raphaelites but had some other strange ideas. http://www.visitcumbria.com/john-ruskin.htm
Brantwood interior
Forgetting that the National Trust doesn’t allow photography
in its properties, I took a couple of interiors before a house steward
discreetly asked me to stop. No-one has satisfactorily explained to me why one
can’t take photos except that they want to sell their postcards (the steward
said as much). They quote ‘conservation reasons’ (I know of none), copyright
(I’d like to know who owns the copyright to the interior of a building) or
security but they provide extensive plans to their buildings!
The
next day we went to Blackwell, Britain's finest surviving Arts and Crafts house,
designed by M.H. Baillie Scott. http://www.blackwell.org.uk/
Stained glass from the porch
...and from the Dining Room
Looking through from Hall to Dining Room
The Hall
White Bedroom
What I like most about Blackwell is the scale
of the rooms and the consistency of the design. The main hall is almost like a
mediaeval hall but its elegance is enhanced by the stained glass, the friezes
and the Minstrel’s Gallery (seems like there was only 1 minstrel). This would
have been such a beautiful house to live in that I would never have wanted to
go out. My own love of stained glass is well catered for and the craftsmanship
throughout is exquisite. I can’t provide lots of photos but here are a couple
from Blackwell’s own publicity (©
Lakeland Arts Trust).
If you’re in UK, love the Arts and
Crafts movement and can get there, I’ts a great place to visit. Just take
plenty of money; the shop’s full of exquisite things!
Arnside 1980
When we came up with the boys, we stayed in a small flat attached to a pub in Arnside. The pub is still there but the small flat has been incorporated and is now the restaurant part of the pub.
2012
Across the sands, 1980
Tide coming in, 2012
