I’ve been writing a lot recently about the under appreciated north of England and it’s stunning landscapes. And, once again, I came upon another National Park that simply blew me away.
Lake District National Park is England’s largest, occupying over 800 square miles. So it’s not like a accidentally discovered it while wandering down a back road. But still, I hadn’t heard much about it until I went there. It’s located in Cumbria County, in Northwest England. Not only does it have the eponymous lakes one would expect, but it has some serious mountain climbing, which I did not expect. Of course, none are huge by world standards, but as far as fairly amateur adventures like me are concerned, there are some intense peaks. Not only are there legitimate mountains, but there are rolling hills and all of it gets kind of lumped together in the general term “fells.” The mountain range is called the Lakeland Fells, but using the word “fell” (which I did, probably to the point of annoyance to anyone around me) seems appropriate to describe any land where the elevation rises.
The Lakes are beautiful and relaxing around them while saving the Fells for more intense action seems to be the way to do it. Like the whole North of England, cumbrian cottages
are just about everywhere. I headed to Grasmere, which is a town on a lake of the same name. It’s a small lake, but it’s gorgeous and the home of William Wordsworth, who, like me, also sought out Grasmere cottages
for relaxation. To get a little closer to whatever hustle and bustle there is in the lake region, head to Ambleside, a major tourist centre on the banks of the largest of the 16 lakes, Windermere. There is also a 70 foot waterfall worth seeing nearby, called Stock Ghyll Force, which is such a cool name I’m not even sure how to handle it. Ambleside cottages
can be had as well.