Uncommon Waters

Uncommon Waters was published in British Heritage (USA)

The Lake District, England’s largest national park, only has one lake – Bassenthwaite Lake. All the other bodies of water are meres, waters or tarns. Over 16 million visitors explore the 885 square mile national park annually, most heading for Windermere, Derwent Water and Ullswater. All three offer boat trips and are a fantastic way to see the park’s mountains and fells from a different angle. One of the boat companies, Windermere Lake Cruises, carries over one million tourists every year and is the 16^th most popular tourist attraction in the entire UK.

However, many visitors miss out on the spectacular scenery surrounding the lesser-known lakes, despite them being easily accessible by car, on foot and even public transport. They may not have pleasure craft offering round-the-lake cruises, but they offer an opportunity to experience the real Lake District, whilst discovering some of its interesting history.

Loweswater

Lying approximately 13 miles west of Keswick, Loweswater’s name comes the old Norse, laufsaer, which means leaves, so it’s also known as the Leafy Lake. A relatively level shore-side footpath from the car park at Maggie’s Bridge takes visitors through Holme Wood, a traditional English wood of alder, oak, lime, chestnut, ash and sycamore, which is the perfect home to the native red squirrel.

The western tip of Loweswater lies less than 500-metres from the national park boundary, yet on a clear, still day, the views and reflections across this mirror-like 150-acre lake are some of the best to be found in the country. Unlike all the other lakes, which drain away from the centre of the park, Loweswater is the only major lake that drains into the park.

For six months of the year, Loweswater is home to Hunter Davies (biographer for Manchester United footballer, Wayne Rooney, The Beatles and Lake District walking legend, Alfred Wainwright) and his novelist wife, Margaret Forster.

Esthwaite Water

Esthwaite Water is sandwiched between England’s longest lake, Windermere, and Coniston Water, venue for many water speed records. Visitors often see Esthwaite Water when traveling from Beatrix Potter’s house, Hill Top, at Near Sawrey, to nearby Hawkshead. Using quiet roads and lanes, it’s possible to walk around this 280-acre lake, but those in the know take to their fishing boats. Esthwaite Water is the most nutrient-rich body of water within the park, making it ideal fishing grounds for trout and pike, and the occasional passing osprey!

A young William Wordsworth, who went to nearby Hawkshead Grammar School in 1778, aged eight, enjoyed paddling in its waters. Such was his affection for Esthwaite Water, he mentions it twice in The Prelude.

Crummock Water

Crummock Water is the tenth largest body of water within the park and its name derives from the Norse word for Crooked One. Lying 14 miles by road from Keswick, it’s two and a half miles long, three quarters of a mile wide, and up to 140 feet deep. Two main sources, the short, but idyllic, Buttermere Dubs stream, and the impressive Scale Force waterfall, one of the highest in the Lake District, with a total height of 170 feet and a single drop of 120 feet, feed into this lake. It is widely believed that Crummock Water was joined to neighbouring Buttermere many years ago, for the two are separated only by a narrow, half-mile strip of farmland.

Buttermere

Buttermere, rather than Crummock Water, is a far better choice for those seeking a gentle afternoon’s lakeside amble. The 11^th biggest lake within the park has a comfortable, relatively level, four-mile circumference. The small hamlet of Buttermere is popular with walkers keen to climb the 1,960-feet-high Haystacks, the favourite mountain of walking legend, Alfred Wainwright, whose ashes are scattered on Innominate Tarn, near its summit.

Buttermere was the source of a national scandal in the early 19^th century, when Mary Robinson, known locally as the Maid of Buttermere because she was the most beautiful woman in the area, unwittingly married a bigamist imposter, John Hatfield. This was only discovered when the local poet, Samuel Taylor Coleridge, wrote about the wedding in a London newspaper. Hatfield fled to Wales, but was eventually caught, before being tried and hanged in Carlisle.

Both Buttermere and Crummock Water are best approached from the east, which involves negotiating several one-in-four gradient ascents and descents through the 1,100 feet high Honister Pass, which explains why many coach tours fail to reach these magical lakes!

Moss Eccles Tarn

Thousands of visitors go to author Beatrix Potter’s home, Hill Top, at New Sawrey, yet most ignore the gentle two-thirds of a mile climb along the lane opposite to Moss Eccles Tarn. This intimate, five-acre body of water is full of water-lilies and bordered by rhododendrons and was once owned by Beatrix Potter, herself. She regularly rowed a boat on its waters to help her creative muse, which inspired her book, The Tale of Mr Jeremy Fisher, all about a gentleman frog.

Tarn Hows

Surprisingly, Tarn Hows is man-made. High in the hills between Hawkshead and Coniston, a single-track, one-way lane leads to this beauty spot, with its level two-mile path, a section of which is wheelchair friendly, surrounding the tarn. Created by the MP for Leeds, James Marshall, in 1862, Tarn Hows was originally two smaller ponds, which were enlarged and the thick pine spruce and larch woodland then planted. Today, it provides a great habitat for the red squirrel and is a Site of Special Scientific Interest because of its natural diversity. It’s home to the one of the UK’s rarest invertebrates, medicinal leeches, as well as the delicate water lobelia, which flowers in sheltered bays in summer.

In winter, a dusting of snow adds that special magic to views across to the Langdale Pikes and the fells of Wetherlam and Coniston. James Marshall sold the land in 1929 to Beatrix Potter. She sold half the land to the National Trust in 1930, and left the remainder to the Trust in her will.

Brothers Water

Brothers Water is confused. It is either the Lake District’s smallest lake, or its largest tarn. Named from the old Norse word, Brothir, which means broad, it was known as Broad Water until renamed in the 19^th Century, when two brothers tragically died in its waters after falling through thin ice. Many visitors drive past, because it lies at the foot of the Kirkstone Pass, linking Windermere with Ullswater.

Taking the level path along its western shore enables visitors to walk alongside some of the oldest oak woodlands found anywhere in the Lake District. It’s also the route Dorothy Wordsworth took on Good Friday in 1802, the day after she’d spotted those famous daffodils on the banks of Ullswater. William sat nearby, writing poetry, whilst Dorothy went exploring. In her diary she wrote, “I was delighted with what I saw. The water under the boughs of the bare old trees, the simplicity of the mountains, and the exquisite beauty of the path.” Today, both Dorothy and William would recognise the path along Brothers Water.

So, whilst Windermere, Ullswater and Derwent Water draw the crowds, these seven seductive shorelines offer a tantalising glimpse of the true Lake District without the tourist trappings. For these uncommon waters, small is most definitely beautiful.

(c) Simon Whaley