Britain 09 - Day 17

Introduction

Today the weather dawned fine and cool with a scattering of clouds. I took the opportunity to take the walk from Bowness up to the top of Brentfell, the high point behind the town. On my return we had breakfast then queued for the car ferry across to Near Sawrey and Beatrix Potter country. We had lunch at Hawkshead then drove on to Grasmere and Dove Cottage.

Walking up to Brentfell

The hill immediately behind Bowness has a steep walking track that climbs first to Knott Top then on to Brentfell. In the early morning there were a few walkers, mostly with dogs, but these all stopped at Knott Top and none went on to the real top at Brentfell as I did. The whole walk took me 47 minutes and I climbed a total of 127m vertical distance. From the top there are extensive views across Bowness and to the head of each arm of Lake Windermere.

The steep street behind Bowness

The start of the track

Crossing the first field

Looking back towards Bowness

Mist amongst the trees

The first gate, the track goes right

Bowness from Knott Top with the car ferry on its first trip of the day

The track goes on towards Brentfell.....

and crosses the style over the wall.

Looking towards Ambleside

Bowness and Ambleside

The other arm, towards Lakeside

Bowness

The track coming back down

The lake through the trees

Across Windermere on the Car Ferry

After breakfast, we headed for the car ferry to go across the lake to Sawrey and Hill Top Farm. I had long been longing forward to this crossing, firsly because I like car ferries and have sailed on them in many parts of the world. Secondly, this one has a webcam, and I had been watching it over the past year or so, I was interested to see the ferry in real life. The webcam can be found here. This ferry is also unusual as it uses a pair of cables run across the lake as its means of propulsion.

Lake Windermere by the ferry in the early morning

Windermere

The car ferry

Looking across to the other side

The car deck

Across the lake to Sawrey

Waiting in the queue for the ferry

Here it comes

On the ferry

Nearing the other side

Ready to dock

The building and the webcam

View from the webcam looking across to Bowness

Standing under the webcam to get the same view

The webcam picture in early January 2010

Hill Top Farm, Sawrey

From the car ferry it was a short drive to Near Sawrey and Hill Top Farm. There is a small car park at the entrance to the famr, but this was full, so we were directed to a public car park about 300m further along, and this still had several spaces. We walked back, paied our money for tickets to the farm and then wandered through Near Sawrey to the farm. The tickets are timed - you have a 10 minute window during which you can enter. There were knowledgeable guides throughout the property, and as you exit there is a well-stocked souvenir shop. From the farm, we drove on to Hawkshead for the Potter Gallery, in theold Heelis law offices. We found lunch at the Kings Arms Hotel, and recommend their smoked salmon salad and the Ploughman's lunch.

From Hawkshead we drove on to Coniston for a quick look at Coniston Water of Donald Campbell and "Bluebird" fame, before continuing on to Dove Cottage at Grasmere.

Driving into Near Sawrey

National Trust sign

Waiting for our time to enter Hill Top

Outside the farmhouse - its our turn to enter

The house with the addition designed by HB Potter

The Hill Top gift shop - Margaret is in there somewhere gathering goodies

Colma checking the books

Mr McGregor's garden

The fields across the road from Hill Top

A successful visit and purchases

The Potter Gallery in Hawkshead

The yard beside the building

Lunch at the Kings Arms

Coniston Water

Another view of Coniston Water

Dove Cottage and the Lake Poets

We followed the A591 past Rydal Water and Lake Grasmere. It was late afternoon, and the weather had cleared up nicely with a fine sunny afternoon. We took the guided tour through the Cottage and then went through the museum with its wonderful collection of materials.

Approaching Dove Cottage