Cumbria

We traveled on 22 April by train to Cumbria, going through the Fens, passing Ely Cathedral.  

 The rape is in bloom now, a brilliant yellow. Some object to its brilliance, saying it takes away from the traditional English landscape. It is harvested for cooking oil. Helen and I once tasted it and it tastes like mustard greens. I tried unsuccessfully to buy seeds at a garden shop as I'm sure it would grow in my garden and it is so beautiful and may be a quite tasty vegie.

This photo shows that striking contrast with other crops!

I love going through the beautiful old train stations--it is more difficult to go East/West than North/South so we had to make several changes.

 We could see Morecambe Bay from Grange-over-Sands station but passed too quickly to find Mark and Jane's home, Plumpton Hall. We did see sheep grazing on the marshlands!

Mark met us in Ulverston, a lovely old market town from where Stan Laurel comes, thus this statue honoring Laural and Hardy.

We passed the Hoad Monument, a replica of the Eddyston Lighthouse about which I found a nice song.

       The Eddystone light

My father was the keeper of the Eddystone Light
And he slept with a mermaid one fine night.
From this union there came three,
A porpoise and a porgy and the other was me.

Chorus: Yo, ho, ho, the wind blows free: oh, for a life on the rolling sea.

One night while I was a-trimmin' of the glim
A-singin' a verse from the evening hymn,
A voice from the starboard shouted, "Ahoy!"
And there was my mother a-sittin' on a buoy.

"Oh, what has become of my children three?"
My mother then she asked of me
"One was exhibited as a talking fish
And the other was served in a chafing dish."

Then the phosphorus flashed in her seaweed hair;
I looked again, and my mother wasn't there.
A voice come a-echoing out through the night:
"To Hell with the keeper of the Eddystone Light!"

To hear Burl Ives singing it, go to http://artists.letssingit.com/burl-ives-lyrics-the-eddystone-light-9j35p15

We drove along a narrow country road with sheep on either side --maybe we even saw a Jacob sheep which is piebald and known for having more than 2 horns! We soon arrived at Plumpton Hall which has a fascinating history which I hope someone is writing.

We stayed in a lovely bedroom with a View overlooking the garden and Morecambe Bay

 We enjoyed delicious meals in this dining room also with a View. The painting of Morecambe Bay and birds  to the window's right was given to Mark by talented artist Fiona Clucas, I believe, to honor his an exquisite 'concrete' poem "Sky-writing"  about the birds on Morecambe Bay as they dip and fly upwards.

 Mark also treated Kevin and me to a convivial meeting of local poets, reading and critiquing poems. Both Mark and Kevin read poems.  It was suggested that Mark, a musician, arrange music to Kevin's poem, "Lowdown Lovesick Blues."

We visited Blackwell, an arts and crafts house built by Mackay Hugh Baillie Scott in 1900 for a wealthy family's holiday home on Lake Windermere. It was used as a school for girls during and after WWII and  eventually restored to Scott's idealistic vision (when the family stayed there, they used their own personal furniture; the house today holds authentic arts and crafts furniture). It also is a showplace for artists.

 I took this one photo of beautiful peacocks along a paneled ceiling before learning that photography is not allowed in the house

The view over Windermere lake is magnificent--the photos don't do justice to this gorgeous landscape and stunning light.The trees just beginning to green up resemble soft velvet in various greens and mauves.

The lakeside of the Blackwell House had an Sculptural Installation by Laura Ellen Bacon. She used red willow to make the two beautiful thatchings--one over the wall and one hanging from a window. You can tell how carefully they are wrought as these two pieces gracefully merge as you move away from house.

From this next view, we watched the little white specks, or the many sheep grazing within the ancient stone fences. And we saw boats, including a big one ferrying sightseers down the length of the lake.

We went for a glorious walk through sheepland! I had so much fun snapping photos and picking up wool to send to the boys! Kevin liked seeing snow on Coniston that had fallen while we drove around Windermere.

A Tup or male sheep

Footpath to Ambleside

We climbed the stile to get to the very top of the tallest hill to reach the cairn and spectacular view. 

We walked through a national reserve on another day where we saw beautiful wild flowers--Jane knew them all: cowslips, wild orchids, ferns....

We enjoyed  lunch in a local pub.

Later that afternoon, we had tea at the studio of Fiona Clucas. Her paintings of Morecambe Bay are serene and sumptious in their tactility. Her studio is in an lovely old house with a beautiful garden where we browsed before returning to Plumpton Hall,

Through A Glass Folly

Peony

A miniature stone house

Rhododendrum

Loropetalum?

Where we watched the sunset over Morecambe Bay.