• Alston
• Allonby And Aspatria
• Ambleside And Troutbeck
• Appleby In Westmoreland
• Askam In Furness
• Barrow In Furness
• Bassenthwaite
• Borrowdale
• Bowness On Windermere
• Brough
• Buttermere
• Brampton
• Broughton In Furness
• Carlisle
• Cartmel
• Cleator Moor
• Cockermouth
• Coniston
• Dalston
• Dalton In Furness
• Dent
• Grange Over Sands
• Grasmere
• Greenodd
• Grizedale
• Hawkshead
• Kendal
• Keswick
• Kirkby Lonsdale
• Wasdale And Gosforth
• Kirkby Stephen
• Longtown
• Loweswater
• Maryport
• Melmerby
• Milnthorpe
• Nenthead
• Newby Bridge
• Orton
• Penrith
• Pooley Bridge
• Ravenglass And Eskdale
• Sedbergh
• Seascale
• Shap
• Silloth And Solway
• St Bees
• Skiddaw
• Staveley
• Tebay
• The Duddon Valley
• Threlkeld
• Ulverston
• Vale Of Lorton
• Wasdale
• Wetheral
• Whitehaven
• Wigton
• Windermere
• Workington
• Spa Hotels In Windermere The Lake District
• Hotels With Hot Tubs In Windermere
• Hot Tub Hotels In Windermere And The Lake District
• Romantic Breaks In Windermere And The Lake District
• Themed Hotels In Windermere And The Lake District
• Weekend Breaks In Windermere
• Windermere Attractions And Boat Trips
• Boutique Hotels And Accommodation In Windermere And The Lake District
• Windermere In The Rain
• One Way Ticket To Windermere Por Favor
• Horse Riding In The Lake District
• Walks In The Lake District
• Windermere Boutique Hotel Bedrooms
• Holiday Accommodation Wanted In The Lake District

Things to do in Ambleside

Return to Market Place and head s, then turn R (w) into Church Street. Next to the corner notice The Old Stamp House, Wordsworth's office when he was Distributor of Stamps for Westmorland (collecting a government tax on legal documents) from 1813 to 1843. He kept the stamps and money in his house, and rarely used the office. Continue downhill to the churchyard. Kurt Schwitters's grave is at the far side of the church, not easy to find. Look for tall conifer at sw corner of building; the small grey slate headstone is 63yds sw of the tree. Strictly speaking, this is not a grave at all, for Schwitters's body was exhumed in recent times for burial in Germany. The memorial identifies him simply as 'Creator of Merz'. At the time of writing the stone is topped by a broken piece of sculpture including a cherub: inspired tribute to this master of the discarded fragment, or mere chance? Return to the main street (Lake Road) and continue s for a plain Victorian house, Laurel Villa. Here the nineteen year old Beatrix Potter stayed with her parents in April 1885.

A highlight of the stay was Ginners Travelling Circus. 'Very good,' she noted in her journal, 'wonderful performing bull'. She saw the same circus again in August 1895 and noted:

Mr Ginnet himself hath gone off in appearance since I last saw him on the same spot ten years since, when he rode a young red roan bull. He has subsided into a most disastrous long frockcoat and long, tight trousers with about a foot of damp at the bottom of them ... The scornful Madame Ansonia was arrayed in blue and silver, and, alighting from her piebald, put on galoshes publicly in the ring. The fair-haired enchantress did not appear unless indeed she had shriveled into Madame Fontainebleau, who displayed her remarkable dogs in an anxious cockney accent, and twinkled about in high heeled French boots and chilly apparel. These recollections provided inspiration for her circus novel The Fairy Caravan Hest Bank Ambleside St John's in the Vale.

Home >> Interesting Articles about the Lake District