Darling Fell

Well as you can tell this wasn't today, earlier in the week we took the kids to The Lakes. Our plan was to climb Darling Fell which looked easy enough for them, or at least did on paper.
They enjoyed being out in sunshine and Summer clothes for a change.

This is Darling Fell, it's very close to Loweswater a tranquil little place which gets missed for the bigger Lakes. As tourists skim this area there's not as much parking, mostly National Trust ones dotted round.
We found one on the side of the road which led up to the fell next to Darling and the fields below.

Has you can see it turned out to be a wonderful, bright day.  Costs can stack up for days out during the holidays so walks around the local countryside are great as they're free.  We took a picnic which I think is always fun, the kids love eating out as it gives them the freedom to run around in between courses.
We always express the importance of taking everything back with that we came with, and not litter the Fells.

I think walks in the countryside lead to valuable learning opportunities, animals eating litter, farming, how to climb a sty, names of Fells and Lakes, sheep's wool, types of trees and probably a hundred other topics were touched on.
In the end we didn't make it to the top of Darling fell as the path was unmarked that way and the route to the top of the a joining fell was to steep and wild with thistle and bracken for the children(and me). We still had a great trek out.

This is Lucas climbing his first sty all on his own.

Have you been on any great country walks this year. Feel free to post your blog links in the comments below for everyone to see.
Love Amanda.x.

Wonderful Soggy Walk

On Wednesday Stu and I had the joy of a child free few hours together, and headed of to Keswick for the day.  Stu picked a scenic route from Keswick Lakeside to Castlerigg stone circle. We set out after enjoying a scrummy breakfast at Pumkin bistro, the rain had eased and the sky had bits of blue in it. 

However it soon clouded again, and out scenic route took a soggy meander through a steep woodland track, across a field, a road, another field, another wood, farm(where a bloke stuck his head out of a caravan to say we were going the wrong way) 

  another steep woodland path, over a bridge, through several fields full of lambs over another road, down a tiny road over a wall and finally....we found the stone circle. However by this point the rain was torrential, we were aching and cold and couldn't rise taking out the fancy camera for photographs.  

 We headed back to Keswick a much less scenic but more direct route, to warm us up we stopped by the lovely Temporary Measure. It's a shop that needs sought out, I've long seen followed Emma through craft fairs, then on twitter, then her blog and was so inspired in her shop...oh one day, one day.

 She's a lover of liberty, rabbits, yarn, buttons, bears and tea this girl can do no wrong. She was gracious even when a hasty bag turn resulted in taking half her canvases from the wall, thankful Stu has a stealth catching style, probably from being married to such a clutz as me.

 Every available wall space, nook crany and shelf was filled with beautifully designed bags, books and canvases. I couldn't resist buying Maisie a copy of Once Upon A Time When I Was A Rabbit. 

 The drawings are vintage beauty, something you don't see these days in modern children's books.  I already have my eye on Once Upon A Time When I Was A Bear for Lucas' birthday. 

 Bunting and bunnies everywhere, it certainly cheered me up on such a grim day. 

I love these old suitcases for stock, the yarn arranged so perfectly and baby booties to make your heart melt.  I'm surprised Stu got me out the shop without bags full. 

All in all, although soggy, and with muscles aching I had a wonderful day out with Stu just having time to chat about nothing, hold hands and be still for awhile in a hectic world.  I can't wait for out next adventure.

Love Amanda.x.

Watchtree - Winter

Watchtree is a local nature reserve, but one of those places that although I knew were it was I'd never actually been there.

It's always the way that you forget the beauty that's just on your doorstep.

During the Foot and Mouth crisis in 2001 Watchtree became the final resting place of many infected cattle, the site was chosen due to it's proximity to many infected farms, but also for its bedrock geology that would prevent further contamination from the buried cattle.

It's story could have just ended there, leaving the site a barren wasteland, however the ecological consultants assigned to the restoration of lands after the outbreak choose to turn the space into a community asset and a positive feature to local wildlife.

In 2003 Watchtree became a nature reserve, water areas were created with wildlife in mind, huge areas reseeded, 80,000 trees planted to enhance local woodland and create extra habitats.

They have educational programs for  school visits and run Watchtree Wheelers and cycle group for people with learning or physical disabilities. 
This amazing site is free to visit but has a donations box.

When we visited the site it was a cold frosty but clear Winters day, most of the ponds still had ice skimming the top of them. 

Maisie and Lucas enjoyed running around the wide open pathways of the site, trying to spot any wildlife which was unfortunately in hiding for us most the time. Maisie took to hiding in the wooded area while Lucas and I looked out for the Guffalo, of which we didn't see any.

We did however find this awesome wooden spider in the wooded area.

These insect holes are all over the site providing homes for little beasties, quite a lot had spiders in them when we were looking, and I think we may make some of these for our next garden project.

Maisie was map holder while we were there, she has her no one is listening to my command face on here, and took around the site to find the hides which look out onto various wetlands and feeding areas for birds. We saw a few sparrows, a finch and some ducks. The hides are very comfortable, with carpeted seating and one has a telescope too much to the children's delight. They all had posters inside to say which animals and birds were in that location.

The area is also the site for several wind turbines, I know that they get a lot of stick for being ugly and a blot on the landscape but I'll admit I find them hauntingly beautiful. Stood underneath one listening to it slow thrum thrum sound was a simple kind of peace and meditation.

I think will be regular visitors to this wonderful site, and hope to do another Spring time update. You can find out more about Watchtree Nature Reserve here.

Amanda.x.

Photographs courtesy of Stuart Ryan. 

I'm a little obsessed with...

..Fungi.

I see growth everywhere, spring into light tucked away in corners, growing on logs, in tree, popping up from the dewy grass.

Life, nature, growth. 

Circles, rhythms, patterns.

Amanda.x.

Blowing Off The Cobwebs

 Stuart and I had the chance to go for a long walk to Wreay Woods, without the children, we had a lovely morning meandering along the river bank and seeing all the signs that Spring is not far away.

 Stu got a great camera for Christmas, a Canon EOS 550D which means we got some beautiful shots of the new growth.  I especially loved the Fungi pictures the one below being my favourite.

He managed to sneak a couple of me too, but this one is not too bad.

Take some time out this week to look around, the world around you is waking up from it's Winter snooze a little early, let's hope the mild weather stays.
Amanda.x.

The Blue Pool - Dorset

There are some places we visited in Dorset that need a special mention, so I'll do some separate posts on them, one of those is The Blue Pool and Tearooms in Wareham.

The tearooms have been open since 1935, the pool varies in colour sometimes green, sometimes blue, it's actually a huge clay bowl which has filled with rainwater.

The site has 25 acres of woodland surrounding the Pool full of various wildlife and flora. 

It was an amazing tranquil place, even with our 4 children and 2 dogs added to it.

They have trails for different abilities through the woodland, and a wildlife trail for he children. Hidden in the trees near markers were ceramic owls, red/grey squirrels and woodpeckers for them to spot, they were very hard to spot as we had some difficulty and only Ben(aged 6) completed the task, with the rest giving up to run through the woodland, Lucas was very excited just to find the markers.

I was amazed at every turn, finding smaller ponds teaming of frogs, fish, and dragonfly's, the latter were huge and a beautiful array of colours.

 Oh look can you see an Owl?

Entry to the site costs £5.30 per adult, £3.20 per child between 5-14 or £13.80 per family of 4, making it a very reasonable day trip out.

The park also boasts 3 play parks hidden in the woodlands, which even with my kamikaze son flinging himself from the roundabout, were a great addition to this old but glorious beauty spot.

Happy Holidays,

Amanda.x.

Ten Years Past.

During the year of 2001 the foot-and-mouth crisis gripped British agriculture, over 10million sheep and cows were killed trying to stop the spread of it. Cumbria had 843 cases being classed as the worse effected, and had a huge impact of The Lakes being a tourist destination.

Photograph from Toadfish on Flickr

At the time of the outbreak my family lived on a farm in Cumwhinton a small farming community just outside of  Carlisle, time were never easy living on a farm but they managed, my little Sister was studying GCSEs at the time, and although I no longer lived at home I was still connected to it. It was difficult during the outbreaks, at times I couldn't visit home, and my sister had to move into a friends house for the worry she'd end up trapped in the farm when she needed to be concentration on her exams.


We did not get Foot-and-Mouth but it was the end of our farm, there was a complete halt on moving and selling  livestock, but we still had to feed and look after them, and there was no compensation for that. A lot of other farmers were in the same situation, we heard of farmers trying to get the disease just to start again.
I can not imagine the grief the farmers who saw their whole livestock shot and burned went through, your emotional ties to your stock is more than just a stock number and price, you have to really respect the cattle to successfully owe a farm. Living in Cumbria a change of wind and you could smell the death in the air, I think a lot of farmers felt they'd failed their stock, and just never went back to farming.


For us the financial strain was too much to bare, the farm(which we rented but had lived in for 50+years) was given up and then sold to a building company, they turned the farm into a housing estate of which we, nor anyone I know, could afford any of the homes. The other farms in the village have went the same way, or changed business.
The village is no longer a farming community and seems cut off from country life, so many villages have went this way after Foot-and-Mouth, I think it's one of the highest prices of the outbreak.


However one of the things I love about being Cumbrian is that we'll take a bad experience on the chin and turn it around.  
Great Orton Airfield is the resting place for 466,312 carcasses, comprising 448,508 sheep, 12,085 cattle and 5,719 pigs buried between March and the 7th of May 2001 in 26 trenches, the site is now a nature reserve called Watchtree.  
Watchtree provides a range of habitats for many birds,bats, Red Squirrels, toads, newts and small mammals.  As well as providing an education centre of future generations to come and hopefully building back some of the bridges from Town to Country.




Amanda.