Friday, February 12, 2021

Hawkshead (Lake District Part 6)

 In my last (admittedly some time ago!) post, we were walking back from Wray Castle and I was describing some of my gear and means of navigation. So I think it's time for Hawkshead, and I am excited about this one as it's a delightful little village.

cottages with tea room

Because of its location (if I recall correctly originally it was more of a transit center than it is today), Hawkshead has several old coaching inns and loads of historic buildings, but it is very intact historically. There are no incongruous buildings in the village center to throw off the sense that you're in a historic place. I don't typically get a chance to stay in places like this for multiple nights, but its proximity to loads of walks meant I had the opportunity to do so here, and I loved it.

I'm just going to share loads of photos with a wee bit of commentary, because that's really how you can see how delightful it is. And keep your eye peeled for the video walking tour!

coaching inn with ornate Red Lion sign and lantern

close up of sign


coach entrances

coaching inn with coachway


cottages with cobbled lane

One of the attractions in the village is the Beatrix Potter Museum. Given how small Hill Top is, I liked that this was a separate attraction, and nicely enough it's in an old building, so I enjoyed it doubly.

exterior of yellow and green building with coachway

historic room with table and chairs and fireplace

room with half-timber wall, drawings on wall, fireplace

The village also has a lovely old church.

church interior with wood ceiling

Lych gate

church interior detail: how amiable are thy tabernacles, oh Lord of hosts!

church interior

view of village from churchyard

There is also an old grammar school, which you can (and I did) tour. Its most famous attendee was Wordsworth. The tour was very interesting, and I hadn't realized that there were so many more schools for boys of the upper middle / upper class during the Georgian era, like this one. Eton is the one you hear about but I think I might be making use of this one in book 5. I wasn't able to tour Eton the last time I was in that area and I always like to write from places I've been if possible.

grammar school exterior with mullioned windows

grammar school exterior detail

grammar school historic interior with desks

Apparently carving of things was not only allowed but encouraged. I guess it kept the boys out of worse trouble!

heavily carved desk

A little bit outside of the village is the old manor:

stone building with archway

cottage with cobbled path


Whoops, one more batch from Hawkshead in the Lake District, for an upcoming post. 🙂

Posted by Sophie Turner on Monday, February 8, 2021


That's all for this month, but I'll be back with more Lake District in future posts!


1 comment:

  1. It's not just an old building, it's where Beatrix Potter's husband worked

    ReplyDelete

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