Sunday was our designated day for a tour of the Lake District. Our main reason for heading up there, besides the great scenery, was to stop at John Ruskin's home, Brantwood. One of the big reasons for the trip to England was to explore a little family history. Cynthia is big into the geneaology, so she has lots of good stories to tell.
Brantwood played a part in our family history because it was originally owned by James Linton (he sold it to Ruskin). My great-great-great grandfather, Matthew Henry Frost Cantrell (b 1830) fell in love with Eliza Lynn Linton, a writer. But, Matthew was Catholic and Eliza was not (and the daughter of a clergyman to boot), so they didn't marry. Instead, she married James Linton, a poet and wood carver who did some of his work at Brantwood. Matthew was also a doctor who ended up taking care of the Linton's son at Brantwood for 18 months. Matthew got around, as he was also friends with Dickens and Thackeray. Apparently he called at Dickens' house the day Dickens died. Of course this is also the relative that, after his wife died, knocked up the 16-year-old maid when he was fifty-something and married her. They had three children, but she was never allowed to eat at the same table as him and his older children from the first marriage. Lovely.
Sorting out the family connections to Brantwood is almost as difficult as actually getting there. We took a long route, by Windemere -- one of the many lakes -- and then up to Coniston Water, which is the lake that Brantwood overlooks. On the way, we ended up taking a cow path--paved, but only 6'6" wide with tall hedges on either side! Luckily, we only met a motorcyclist coming the opposite way so we could squeeze by each other.
Once we got to Brantwood, the view was gorgeous...water, mountains, blue skies mixed with storm clouds, and, of course, sheep. We had lunch at Jumping Jenny's (named after Ruskin's boat) where the food was all homemade, locally grown, and organic. (We've managed to avoid fast food the whole time we've been out.) We toured the house and then came out to a little downpour so I whipped out the handy blue poncho (thanks Sherry!) and walked up a little ways into the gardens. It was easy to see why both the Lintons and Ruskin loved to be at Brantwood, in spite of the treacherous route in.
We continued our tour through English literature by stopping at Grasmere to see Wordsworth's grave and get some Grasmere gingerbread. Along the way we saw amazing vistas, and some very touristy spots, including Ambleside and Keswick.
Then, we headed out to the motorway to make our way down to Blackpool for "The Illuminations" -- four miles of lights along the seaside. We stopped at a rest area to eat in the Westmorlands, and this is when I expected we'd finally have to break down and eat fast food. Not to be. The rest stop (Tebay) is run by a local farmer's co-op, so they had locally grown, fresh food. Lamb dinner for me! When we sat down, we had this gorgeous view of the hills, and a little pond out back complete with rabbits hopping around. When they replace the rest stops on the 401, could they please provide us with something this peaceful?
We finally made it to Blackpool at about 9:00 and drove down along a fantastic light show. It was kind of like a parade of lights, but we were the ones moving. They had complete, moving scenes, and more traditional lights along miles of coastline dotted with hotels, arcades, shops, bingo halls, and theme park rides.
After that, it was back to Liverpool where we arrived home at 11:00 pm completely exhausted.
Did I mention that Cynthia is 72? We were worried about wearing her out, not the other way around!
No comments:
Post a Comment