Hiley Website

A lovely start to the morning here in Loweswater on Tuesday (31st March).

Jobs around the house and garden are keeping us busy, though perhaps we are doing them a little slower than normal !

This was the view first thing today as we looked out from the garden.

Great Gable with a wisp of morning cloud.

The sunshine highlights the bright yellow daffodils in the garden.

The different colours reflect the varieties not the light conditions.

New purple flowers on the periwinkle.

The climber is a bit of an out-of-control member of the garden but it looks nice and is restrained by being cut back most years.

With the garden centres shut for the moment my daughter has sent me a whole collection of partly-used veg seed packets which she no longer needed,

so the morning is spent setting some of them into seed trays.

- - - o o o - - -

Lunch over we head out for a walk . . . but the weather has changed by now of course.

Ann heading across the fields towards Foulsyke House.

Our neighbour has cleared the fallen oak

which explains the orderly pile of logs in the other field that we saw on the recent Scale Hill walk.

Looking back as we cross the second field.

The ground rises up as we near the top of the field and the views of Crummock Water and the valley improve accordingly.

Walking round to the start of the woods, we spot the head of the Loweswater Pheasant peeping out between the trees.

The local sheep have spotted us and group together to discuss tactics.

Two of the ponies that we often see on the side of Low Fell are down in a lower field today.

They come over to see if we have any food on offer as the grass is not giving much rich grazing at present.

Ann had a couple of broken polo mints

but one of then was a bit over enthusiastic when Ann was slow in getting them out of the packet.

Distant High Nook valley with Black Crag and Carling Knott on either side.

To the extreme left is the White Oak valley with Great Borne beyond.

The geographically highest point on our walk will be the Lonesome Pine.

The dogs are there first of course.

The tree sits in the corner of a very old square enclosure, the walls of which are now just visible as low grassy banks.

The tree is always a nice focal point for a walk as the view is second to none on a sunny day.

Today's weather is a bit overcast so the colours are a rather muted.

We sit for a moment and look around.

Oak Bank Farm was on the market recently but we've not heard of any millionaire buyers for the property and its extensive farmland.

There are however two builders skips down there so someone is doing some work, possibly to the roof of the barn on the left.

[ Over the back of the farm buildings are two other white houses which are separately owned.]

Who needs a drone when you can get an aerial photo like this of the field barn, from sitting comfortably by the tree ?

Godferhead's wildlife pond . . . full to the brim.

Zooming in on the head of the valley along the length of "Crooked Water" ( the Norse name for Crummock Water)

Great Gable is in cloud now but you can just see the snow patches remaining on Scafell's Broad Crag behind.

Is the focus not right . . . or is she just woolly round the edges !

Heading north, high above the Lorton Valley, we follow a narrow footpath around the fell.

The stile which we can remember being installed, has long ago perished,

making crossing the fence a little more difficult. With help, the dogs scrambled underneath.

Looking down on the old Pottergill Farm buildings.

The public footpath is shown heading straight down to the farm from the top of Low Fell, a very steep and difficult descent.

In practice people follow the fence line down using it as a handrail, then take the diagonal indentation across the photo to reach the woods.

Many of the over-wintering foxgloves look to be responding to the spring weather and are starting to grow.

Down into the start of the delightfully named Whinny Ridding Woods.



A giant amongst men, a tall pine amongst the larch.	The bark of fallen branch of Scots Pine has been chewed by the sheep.

Mellbreak ahead once more as we cross the rough grazing towards Wood House and Foulsyke.

- - - o o o - - - The remainder of the walk back was a reverse of our outward route, so we'll leave you with the thought that after last first weekend's crazy mass gatherings at beauty spots around the country, the idea of not travelling to the countryside during the Corona epidemic has finally got through to the British public . . . much to the dismay of the midges ! - - - o o o - - -

Oh to be in England, now that April's here!

Lovely photos of your garden en route to Scale Hill! (We knew you’d find no shortage of things close to home that are worth recording and sharing.) Except for the tiny seedling tomatoes just peeping up in their pots in a south window, our garden near Saskatoon, Canada, is still under the snow. Here is the view from our front steps yesterday morning , the weather's idea of an April Fool prank
You can see why it’s such a pleasure for us to share your Lakeland walks. (No need for snowshoes, for one thing……)
Thanks, as always ~ David and Cathryn Miller

Dear Roger and Ann,

You asked for some pictures from our walks and here are two I took this afternoon from Brunts Lane, East Bridgford, a restricted byway, about 300 yards from our house. The Lincolnshire Edge is our far horizon here and on all our walks to the east of our village near Nottingham. Between the tree in the centre of the photo and the trees to the left of it, is Belvoir Castle on the horizon. I got out our road atlas and measured the distance with a ruler and it is about 11 miles to the Castle, as the crow flies, I have to admit I always thought it was 15, but perhaps that must be by car!

The next photo is taken from the same spot and using the zoom on my camera to its fullest extent. A bit hazy but you can just about see the golden colour of the castle stone work! My camera is similar to Ann’s, a Lumix TZ70, so you can see why we love your photos of the mountains.

Let’s hope we all keep safe and well.

Love Hilary and David


	The Meanwood Valley. The Meanwood Valley Trail is an extension to the Dales Way.

Hi Roger and Ann.

As a regular viewer of your website I thought I’d drop you an email to say thanks for the updates and to encourage you to keep them coming - no need to try to make them more interesting (although, you do this admirably!) just seeing pictures of Loweswater and the surrounding area are keeping us going!

We visit the Lake District several times a year and this will be the first year in over 20 that we haven’t been there at Easter - we were due to have a cottage in Threlkeld and had planned some walks over the Northern Fells. We completed our first Wainwright round in 2012 (on my 40th birthday - which was the day of the very wet Royal regatta, if you remember that?) and are slowly completing a second round using it as an excuse to visit different parts of the district.

Living in Leeds at the moment is quite strange, obviously no access to the Yorkshire Dales so our walks are confined to local excursions. We are, however, blessed with the green corridor into Leeds in the form of the Meanwood Valley. This includes Woodhouse ridge (where the wild garlic is coming through), Meanwood Park and The Hollies, so we can get out to see the sky and look at some of the views. The Meanwood Valley Trail, which runs past our front door (more or less) is an extension to the Dales Way - one day we'll walk to the Lakes! I’ve attached some pictures from our walks. So thanks for your pictures and the web-site updates, they are very much welcomed!

Best wishes Chris & Jenny, Headingley, Leeds.

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