Luckily the weather forecast for today wasn’t as accurate as yesterday as it said it was going to rain this morning and clear up this afternoon, as it turned out it was nice all day so we set off for Coniston and a walk to Tarn Hows which should have been just under 7 miles but ended up being rather more than that. The instructions weren’t very clear at the start and we ended up going the wrong way but we managed to get back on track and the walk was lovely, it went through woods, across the top of a hill giving fantastic views over Coniston water, then around The Tarns or Tarn Hows, this was once three small lakes that were joined together by the Victorians, they also planted all the Conifer trees, the area came up for sale in the 1920’s and Beatrix Potter brought it, she then sold half to the National Trust and left the remaining half to them in her will. Before walking round the Tarn we had an ice-cream, I still find it rather strange that in the middle of such magnificent scenery and what feels like the middle of nowhere you find an ice-cream van! It was 1.5 miles round the lake then we set off down the side of the beck (river!) and alongside a fantastic waterfall, this was possibly because of the rain yesterday but all the same it was fantastic. It was then time to head back round the road through the woods and back to Consiton. We decided that we would treat ourselves to a cream tea as it had been a slightly longer walk than expected, but unfortunately all the tea shops had run out of scones so instead we got in the car and went to Brentwood which is the former home of John Ruskin. I didn’t really know much about him other than I have a vague recollection of Ruskin Lace, but it turns out that he was an author, artist and social reformer, he was the first to suggest free education and health care as well as environmental reforms such as smoke free zones and a minimum wage. He moved to the Lake District to rest his mind after spending time in the industrial areas such as Sheffield and Manchester, he changed the house quite a bit and added a dining room which fantastic views over Consiton water, he also created a jetty and had a boat built for himself. There isn’t much of the house open, but the few rooms that are seem very comfortable, especially the library which he had enlarged and opened up. It was about 4.30 by the time we had finished walking round the house so we decided to head back to the apartment and relax before doing it all again tomorrow.
