Watendlath

Watendlath.  Don't even ask me how to pronounce it.  I tried over and over again, and I managed to get it wrong every time.

So, Sean took a week off, it was the last week before school started.  So, after some deliberation, we headed to the Lake District and then on to Edinburgh, Scotland.

We left Monday morning and we drove north to the Lake District.  It started out sunny and then as we traveled north we found some rain.  As we wound into Cumbria the terrain, the tarns and the fells are beautiful.  We arrived in Keswick and our cottage was very close in Watendlath.  We were lucky because the rain tapered off and stopped when we arrived at our cottage.

Our cottage was named Fold Head Farm.  It was inhabitated by Sir Hugh Walpole used the home as the home for his fictional character Judith Paris in a series of books that he wrote.  The cottage has a slate sign with her name on it.  After a through look though the cottage, we also discovered that Prince Charles had visited Watendlath during the '90's.

Watendlath has been inhabited since at least the 14th century.  It was owned by an abby and the sheep were tended by the local farmer.  The abby dissolved and the farmers continued to tend their sheep.  During the 16th century the small valley reached it's peak residents when 16 families lived there.  The small hamlet was eventually owned by Queen Victoria's daughter Louise.  She gifted the land to the National Trust in memory if her brother King Edward VII.  It is currently rented out to the farmer by the National Trust.  Herdwick sheep are kept by the farmer and owned by the trust.  The Herdwick sheep are a rare breed of sheep.

Here you can see the tarn aka lake.  

Walking up the path.

We found Lodore Falls, a famous set of falls that has been visited since the Victorian era.  

Note that Chip now has wellies on as well.  His are made of MUD!

We were on a little crest.  We took a little rest and this is looking back the way that we came.

This was looking into the valley.  

This is a stone packhorse bridge.  You can see the tarn to the right.

The countryside in the Lake District is so beautiful!  We only visited a few days.  I can see the pull of wanting to go back again and again to see the beautiful terrain and to hike.  Hiking in the Lakes District is a true British past time.  There are books devoted to the picturesque walks.  There is also a monthly magazine that features a different hike in every issue along with pictures of things to see.