When visiting the Lake district at this time of year four words spring to mind and they are water, wood, walls and wool. Here are four collages of photos, one for each word:
There’s nothing more beautiful than the sun’s rays glinting off water and the azure blue of the lake in full spring sunshine. By the way, that’s not Superman flying over Windermere it’s only a large water bird.
Bare trees in the Spring allow you to see further and admire a wider view. I love the skeletal structures of the branches.
We found that in Grizedale Forest you can wind up some of the trees so that they play a tune.
Dancing is allowed but don’t sing too loudly. The wildlife might not like it.
Given time the dry stone walls of the Lake District turn into a special type of ecosystem and many of them become extremely decorative. Moss abounds and flowers like Vinca love to cascade from them. The loose slates also provide homes and sheltering places for wild life. More local slate is used to make buildings for humans, as seen at Fells Foot Cafe but what are those lintels fashioned from? I’ve not seen anything like that before.
The native Herdwick sheep are some of the hardiest in the world staying out on the fells all year round and lambing out there in April. They can be seen following each other in single file up narrow sheep trails to reach higher ground. Their knowledge of the best places to graze is passed down through the generations.
They are brought down in the summer for maintenance and health checks in a spectacular event known as The Gathering. This is when farmers in one region work together with their dogs to bring their flocks down to the farms. For just one day the Herdwicks can be seen swarming down from the fells in their hundreds to be gathered into folds in the valleys.
The felt toy is very sweet and sports the traditional colours of the Herdwick breed until they are sprayed of course with vibrant dyes to identify their owners. They are known as the friendly sheep because they seem to have smiles on their faces and some are being used in therapy for unhappy humans.
