Lake District

As I mentioned in my last entry, we arrived in the Lake District last night. This trip has been a walk through history. Today was no exception. The bed and breakfast we stayed in, Lowthwaite, was constructed in the mid 1600’s and added onto in the mid 1700’s. It was a farmhouse. It also served as a barn and hay loft. It has been a working farm through the centuries. We enjoyed listening to our host as he told us the history and identified the different artifacts on display. Imagine, just sleeping in a 400 year old building.

The Lake District was placed on our itinerary for the express purpose of visiting the home of Beatrix Potter. Beatrix was born in London in 1866 into an upper class family, a family that took 3 month vacations to Scotland every summer. This also included homes in the Lake District. Beatrix fell in love with this area. She started writing children’s books in the early 1900’s. She had been watching rabbits play in the gardens and made illustrations of them when she wrote her 3rd book, The Tale of Peter Rabbit in 1902. This book sold over 5,000 copies. She used the proceeds from the sale of this book to buy a small farm, the Hill Top. The Lake District remained her home until her death in 1943. She left 14 farms and 4,000 acres to the England National Trust. (along with her sheep). She was celebrated then and now. We visited the Hill Top today. As we were walking out we noticed a small table on the street with an array of pastries for sale on the honor system. We bought 4 and continued on our adventure.

We drove to Mayport, located on the Irish Sea. It was also the home of the Hadrian’s Wall Museum for the West coast of England. They have a “Hadrian’s Wall Trail” that goes all the way to the East coast of England. We did not go that far. We stopped just outside of Carlisle, England to see a Roman fort. Keep in mind when you are looking at the pictures, the wall was built 2,000 years ago and at one time was 30′ tall. This was a defensive wall that was used by the Romans to keep the Caledonians out of Britannia. It is apparent the wall did not work, since Scotland and England have joined together to become Great Britain. The wall has fallen into disuse.

We finished the day at 6:30 and returned to Keswick for dinner. Tomorrow we are returning to Scotland. Next…the Scottish Highlands…