Hawkshead, Hilltop and Hiking

The sign on the front of our Inn reads:

The Red Lion Inn

Hawkshead's oldest hotel

being a C15 coaching house for the

Morecombe Bay, Cartmel, Coniston Stage Coach

Below the eaves are two figurines,

one shows a farmer taking his pig to market

and the other a man with a whistle.

The whistle was blown to start the market sales

in the village.

King James granted permission for Hawkshead farmers

to hold regular markets after Henry VII sacked

Furness Abbey

where previous markets had been held.

The only routine we had the whole time we were in Cumbria revolved around meals. We had breakfast at our inn, lunch (tea and scones) in one of the many cute tea houses like the one below and then dinner back in the village where we were staying.

The next picture is Anne Tyson's Cottage, now a B&B, which was William Wordsworth boarding house while he was in grammar school here in the 1780's.

Nearly every entrance door had this type of frame. Seems it would be handy with all the wet weather they experience. The 6 days we were in Cumbria it never rained once. The locals told us the exact opposite was true "a fortnight ago" and only 6 days of sun the entire month of July and August. I This next picture is the Red Lion bar and restaurant which is directly off the main entrance. This is where John and many locals watched England defeat Croatia 5 -1 and qualifying their team for the World Cup next year. I was too tired from hiking to stand to watch soccer but John had a lot of fun.

I like this picture showing the narrow streets and creative building design.

This next picture is of Hawkshead Methodist Church.

While we were there I pinned a prayer request for my mom's recovery to their prayer board.

Some info from the pamphlet the lady cleaning the church gave us: Hawkshead Methodist Church - the oldest building presently used for Methodist worship anywhere in the world. It was built as a cottage in the 15th century, and until 1862 it was used for residential purposes. It was then lent to a small group of Christians who had been meeting in the upper room of Anne Tyson's cottage.

The is the entrance to Beatrix Potter's home on her Hill Top Farm. This is her first home she bought in 1905 with the proceeds from her books. She had published 6 "little books" by then. Both of these accomplishments are quite impressive for a single woman in the Victorian era.

Shortly after she bought this property she realized she had paid too much. She became a shrewd investor for her next 13 land purchases in Cumbria.

Pictures were not allowed inside. She based many of her drawings for her books on the interior of this home. One was the Tale of Tom Kitten which I purchased along with the tourist guide book to this home.

Both John and I were amused how similar these shades at Hill Top are to the swags we had made for our dining room just prior to this trip. John thinks we should try to replicate these bean pole supports in our garden next spring.

Below is a typical bridle path on one of the many hikes we took.

I don't have a very sophisticated camera nor photography talent but as Ellie B. would say "I rather like this photo."

Hike around Esthwaite Lake. The little dots of white are sheep. Cumbria's sheep population is considerable.

Me showing a complete lack of acting ability.

Sometimes we could see our destination, Hawkshead village, but getting there without hiking on the narrow (and somewhat treacherous) country roads was a bit of a challenge.

One time when we were lost we stopped to have a drink in this bar / horse stall. Fortunately we had packed a flashlight.

Sign in front of Wordsworth's grammar school.

The guide in this school was quite interesting. The school was founded in 1585. The original letter from Queen Elizabeth I granting license for this school is housed upstairs. The first floor has the originals desks. It was the habit of the boys to carve their names into the surface of the schools wooden desks. They were neither encouraged or discouraged to do this but since they were given knives (to sharpen their pencils, there are carvings everywhere. Including William Wordsworth, although no way to know for sure if it was the poet's own carving. The guide told us this school was known to be particularly good in mathematics. That the boys studied here 11 hours each day, 46 weeks a year and often progressed on to Cambridge or Oxford. The students were allowed to smoke (helped to mask the smell) and they drank watered down beer as the water was not safe.

Janice and Dennis recommended dinner at the Kings Arms Inn which was about 50 feet from our inn's front door. Pictured below is their casual bar dining area (lifted from their website). I also downloaded the picture I took of the painting over our table. I particularly liked the look the tired foxhounds are giving this little kitten.