Monday 20 April 2015

The sun continues to shine!



Well, the good weather continues and we have lots of visitors who are making the most of it. If you are planning to come for your first visit, there is no better place to start than here around the Borrowdale and Derwentwater area.  Regular visitors will be noticing that the Trust is introducing some new features that we hope will be enhancing your experience. A good place to start for family walks is by the Trust shop on the shore of Derwentwater.  Outside the shop there are some boards showing suggested walks that take in lake shore and woodland. 



You can also find similar boards at many of the car parks.


Another new venture can be found at Ashness Bridge. You might remember that I mentioned a small building called Bark House that was wrapped in sheep fleeces as part of C-Art last year. It was returned to the National Trust recently and we are currently working on the best ideas for its use. For the time being, we are opening it with some of our volunteers who will chat about the surrounding area. On cold, wet days you can also pop in and enjoy a nice log fire.




What we would really like is to hear ideas from you about how you think we could use Bark House to improve your visit. You can either tell the volunteers while you are there or email northlakes@nationaltrust.org.uk 





We would also like to hear from anyone who can tell us anything about the history of the building. We do know that it was used as a Scout base in recent years but we can find very little information about its earliest uses. Its name suggests that it might have been something to do with the tanning process but we have not yet been able to find any evidence of that. If you can add anything to our knowledge, we would love to hear from you – again at northlakes@nationaltrust.org.uk 

But, of course, there is nothing better than having you come and introduce yourself to us when you see us. That is one of the best ways for us to find out if you enjoy what we are doing.


Sunday 12 April 2015

The arrival of Spring.


As in most of the UK, we have been having a run of beautiful Spring days here in the Lakes and the daffodils are in full flower. The combination of the weather and schools' Easter break has meant that we've had lots of families with children visiting. So, we have been busy organising a day of activities for families.



On days like these we have to make an early start setting out things and this year we had a misty start. Once the sun was up, the mist burned off and it was a bright sunny day that was also very warm in sheltered places.



Those who joined in had the opportunity to do a trail starting at the National Trust shop by Derwentwater. This took them through Cockshot Wood which had some unexpected things to discover. If you haven't walked through the wood before, it really is worth doing especially with children.  There are lots of surprises for them to enjoy.

We have some big spiders!

New build ground nests!

On completing the trail, there were the traditional chocolate eggs of course.

It turned out to be too busy a day to take lots of photographs but I'll add more if anyone else managed to take some.

Daisy here:



I wasn't at the Easter event. I don't know why. I know chocolate eggs are bad for dogs and I don't think I would have eaten any.

Friday 3 April 2015

Sky watching.

There are days in Borrowdale when if I took photographs of the same view at hourly intervals it would almost be possible to believe they were taken over the four seasons. The following pictures were not taken like that but they do show the constantly changing skies and light which can be overlooked if we focus all our attention on lakes and mountains. All it takes is for one cloud to shift and the light changes to create a completely different experience of the landscape.