Hawkshead Village, Cumbria (its rich literary heritage)
Hawkshead is a pretty ‘chocolate box village’ sitting in the southern Lake District, not far from the town of Ambleside (England’s busiest mountain rescue team). It’s only a few miles from the village of Coniston and its ‘Old Man of Coniston’ mountain.
It’s mostly pedestrian, though it does get busy with tourists in summer. What many visitors are unaware of, is its rich literary heritage.
Always follow the Countryside Code to keep all creatures safe. Keep dogs away from steep banks, mushrooms (and toxic plants/trees) and on leads near birds, barnyard friends and wild ponies.
How to upright an overturned sheep
With more sheep than people, it’s likely that in the Lake District, you’ll come across more than one!
Pregnant sheep (and sometimes due to wool waterlogged from rain) can sometimes roll over onto their backs, and can’t get back upright, due to having four stomach chambers (so will die if not turned back upright).
If you see a sheep on its back, just firmly right it back, then stay with it, until rain has drained off, so it won’t happen again. Then inform your local farmer.
Where Beatrix Potter met her husband
Children’s writer Beatrix Potter met her husband in Hawkshead, and soon afterwards, they moved to the hamlet of Near Sawrey, a few miles away.
Today, it’s a National Trust property (home to one of four plant-based eateries – Joey’s Café (founded by a climber who decided to switch professions, after recovering from a serious accident).
Beatrix (despite the cute bunny image) gave over the property, on the condition that fox-hunting would always be allowed. Of course, the law has thankfully changed since then, so fox-hunting is now illegal nationwide.
Hopefully her views would have now changed. She did leave an important legacy as her extensive land was given over to the National Trust, otherwise we would likely all be living in car parks by now. And she is credited with likely saving the local Herdwick Sheep from extinction, by giving them land to roam and graze.
