Things to do in the Lake district

A tour of Kendal the Lake District

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For a tour of Kendal, the Town Hall makes a convenient starting point. The Tourist Information Office was formerly the office where A Wainwright worked as Borough Treasurer from 1947 to 1967, the period when he was writing and illustrating his incomparable Pictorial Guide to the Lakeland Fells (seven volumes, 1955-66). (Wainwright donated his royalties to charity. The animal sanctuary he supported is the Wainwright Shelter Kapellan (visitors by appointment only): to get there, leave Kendal following signs to Brough, A685; look for white sign at roadside roughly 5m after leaving Kendal.) Turn down Lowther Street (at s side of Town Hall) and at the foot of the street bear L and cross the bridge over the Kent for Gilkes's factory. Walk s along the riverbank. When you come level with a small footbridge over the river turn L (E) into Parr Street which leads to a gate into the Castle grounds. Kendal Castle is open at all times because several public footpaths run through the grounds. An impressive ruin (mainly thirteenth century) with three massive, well preserved towers, it belonged to the father of Catherine Parr, sixth and last queen of Henry VIII whence Gordon Bottomley's 1912 poem 'The Pride of Westmoreland' celebrates his marriage to a Kendal girl:
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When I married the pride of Westmoreland Youth's wisdom did not floor me, I took my pick in Kendal town Like Harry the Eighth before me. Return to the river bank, continue s to the next bridge, and cross it. Turn L (s); after 200yds, on the w side, you will see the plaque marking the house of the painter George Romney, who died here in his native region after a successful London career in 1802.

Turn back and walk N past the bridge. You will see (on R, between road and river) Holy Trinity Church, the beautiful and enormous parish church (said to be the largest in Cumbria). On the wall at the sw corner by the door as you enter is Romney's memorial, a black stone tablet with an urn and the tersely eloquent assertion that 'So long as Genius and Talent shall be reversed his Fame will live' . A brass plate on the floor at the E end (under the largest stained glass window) shows a more elaborate eloquence in the verse epitaph composed for himself by Hest Bank Ambleside St John's in the Vale Ralph Tyrer, vicar of Kendal (died 1627):

London bred me, Westminster fed me Cambridge sped me, my Sister wed me, Study taught me, Liuing sought me, Learning brought me, Kendal caught me, Labour pressed me, sickness distressed me, Death oppressed me, & graue possessed me, God first gave me, Christ did saue me Earth did craue mee, heauen would haue me.

(Line two presumably refers to a marriage arranged through his sister's influence. ) A less conventional memorial is an old and tarnished helmet hanging high up from a bracket at the E end of the N wall, known as the Rebel's Cap. This is said to be a relic of the Civil War, worn by the royalist Robert Phillipson (alias Robin the Devil) when he pursued his Parliamentarian enemy Colonel Briggs into the church on a Sunday. Phillipson barely escaped alive from the Puritan congregation and lost his helmet in the melee.

An early nineteenth century Vicar of the church, Matthew Murfitt, is commemorated by Wordsworth in his 1814 sonnet, 'Lines written on a blank leaf in ... The Excursion'. Murfitt was an early admirer of the poem.Just N of the church is the Abbott Hall Museum of Lakeland Life and Industry (open 10.305 Monday to Friday all year; Saturdays from Spring Bank Holiday to end of October, 10.305; winter Saturdays, 25; Sundays, 25 all year; car park; admission charge). There are displays on local history, industry, agriculture and crafts, as well as rooms devoted to two contrasting children's authors John Cunliffe, author of the Postman Pat books and television scripts for young children (the series was conceived when he was teaching at Castle Park School in Kendal), and Arthur Ransome. The Arthur Ransome room contains manuscripts, drawings, photographs, letters, and books as well as personal items, including Ransome's desk (with typewriter, lucky holed stone from Coniston Old Man, and a vast array of pipes), his fishing rods, chess set and a Jolly Roger flag. A bookcase displays many of his favorite books, including Homer, The Hobbit, volumes of folktales and Icelandic sagas, and works on natural history.

Kendal things to do

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During any tour of the lakes, take time to glance at Kendal, which is a well built and well paved town, pleasantly situated It is famous for several manufactories; the chief of which is that of Knit stockings, employing near 5000 hands by computation.

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Hot on the heels of the economic tourist came the aesthetic one. The poet Thomas Gray visited in October 1769: the dusk of evening coming on, I entered Kendal almost in the dark, and could distinguish only a shadow of the castle on a hill, and tenter grounds spread far and wide round the town, which I mistook for houses. My inn promised sadly, having two wooden galleries, like Scotland, in front of it: it was indeed an old ill contrived house, but kept by civil and sensible people; so I stayed two nights with them, and fared and slept very comfortably.

(He too was at the inevitable King's Arms.) The 'tentergrounds' were the many fields around the town where new cloth, dampened during 'milling' to improve its texture, was stretched on frames to dry. The town, which he explored next day, did not appeal to him: the town consists chiefly of three nearly parallel streets, almost a mile long; except these, all the other houses seem as if they had been dancing a country dance, and were out: there they stand back to back, corner to corner, some uphill, some down, without intent or meaning. Along by their side runs a fine brisk stream, over which are three stone bridges; the buildings (a few comfortable houses accepted) are mean, of stone, and covered with a bad rough cast.

In general, the town has appealed most to observers who have taken Some pleasure in its industries. Joseph Budworth in 1792 noticed with approval that 'the country people, both men and women, were knitting stockings as they drove their peat carts into the town', and quite apart from its cloth (today only a memory), Kendal's products have always had their own strongly marked character. In the early nineteenth century it was known for Kendal Black Drop, a preparation of opium and spices said to have been used by Coleridge; a century later it was noted for Black Kendal Twist, still available from local tobacconists, a pipe tobacco much favoured by Arthur Ransome but described by his friend Edward Thomas as 'strong enough to knock out the unaccustomed southerner like a blow from a battering ram'. W H Auden, in his 1959 prose poem Dichtung und Wahrheit, praises his lover more ‘more beautiful than a badger, a seahorse or a turbine built by Gilkes & Co of Kendal'. Sure enough, you will find Gilkes's factory (not open to the public) on the E side of the river, just over the bridge behind the Town Hall, still producing some of the world's best water turbines.

Lake District poets

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The poet Thomas Gray visited on his Lakeland tour in 1769. He walked in the park, and his account gives a fascinating glimpse of the very beginning of the industrial revolution, when its activities were seen as demonic but sublime, like an illustration to Paradise Lost:
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This seat of the Stricklands, an old catholic family, is an ancient hallhouse, with a very large tower embattled ... I soon came to the river; it works its way in a narrow and deep rocky channel over hung with trees. The calmness and brightness of the evening, the roar of the waters, and the thumping of huge hammers at an iron forge not far distant, made it a singular walk: but as to the falls (for there are two) they are not four feet high. I went on, down to the forge, and saw the demons at work by the light of their own fires: the iron is brought in pigs to Milthrop [Milnthorpe] by sea from Scotland, &co. and is here beat into bars and plates.

To reach the walk, take the lane E from the Hall entrance and go under the road. Follow the lane to its end, and then turn L (N) until you reach a footbridge. You can follow the river for about 2m. There are no ironworks now, and perhaps Gray means that he went down to Milnthorpe, then a busy little port (the Kent estuary has since silted up).

Continue 4m N to Kendal (several well hidden car parks, and a truly fiendish oneway system), a pleasant town of silver-gray limestone clustered in the Kent valley. Drayton's Polyolbion (1619) gives us an eloquent introduction:

Where Can first creeping forth, her feet hath scarcely found, But gives that Dale her name, where Kendal towne doth stand, For making of our Cloth scarce match'd in all the land. 'Can', of course, is the River Kent, which flows attractively through the town centre. Kendal was famous as a cloth town from the fourteenth century onwards: hence Falstaff's tall story of the 'three misbegotten knaves in Kendal green' who gave him so much trouble in Shakespeare's Henry IV Part One.

Most early visitors mention the cloth industry. Celia Fiennes gives a characteristically breathless sketch in 1698: Kendal is a town built all of stone, one very broad streete which is the Market Crosse, it’s a goode trading town mostly famed for the cottons; Kendal Cotton is used for blankets and the Scots use them for their plodds [plaids] and there is much made here and also linsi woolseys and a great deal of leather tann's here and all sorts of commodities twice a week is the market furnished with all sorts of things.

She visited the King's Arms (now gone), where One Mrs Rowlandson she does pott up the charr fish the best of any in the country, I was curious to have some and so bespoke some of her. The food (including the potted charr) was still good at the King's Arms in 1768 when Arthur Young, busy touring the north of England to report on its economic potential and productivity, recorded:

A good house, very civil, and remarkably cheap. A brace of woodcocks, veal cutlets, and cheese, Is. a head, dinner. A boiled fowl and sauce, a roast partidge, potted charr, cold ham, tarts, and three or four sorts of foreign sweetmeats, 8d. a head; three people supped. Another supper; cold ham, tarts, potted charr, anchovies, butter and cheese, 6d. a head. Tea or coffee 6d. a head. Other things proportionably cheap.

Things to do near Levens Hall the Lake District

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Opposite the Hall gates a walk leads NE alongside the River Kent for 1m. At the far end, where the A590 now crosses the river, was formerly the 'little bridge ... with some steps in the crag leading down to it', where Laura in Helbeck waits for her secret twilight meeting with Hubert Mason. Returning across the park she is mistaken for the ghost of 'the Bannisdale Lady' (modeled of course, on the Levens Lady).

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Immediately N of the bridge by the Hall gates, turn L (w) on A590 for 2m, then R (N) on to A5074. The road runs up the Lyth Valley under the slope of Whitbarrow Scar, an enormous limestone ridge wooded on its lower reaches. The valley is yet another setting for Helbeck of Bannisdale, which describes it well in springtime: The course of the bright twisting stream was dimmed here and there by mists of fruit blossom. For the damson trees were all out, patterning the valleys; marking the bounds of orchard and field, of stream and road. Each with its larch clump, the grey and white farms lay scattered on the pale green of the pastures; on either side of the valley the limestone pushed upward, through the grassy slopes of the fells, and made long edges and 'scars' against the sky; while down by the river hummed the old mill.

This little known region is celebrated also in Margot Adamson's poem 'Spring Under Whitbarrow Scar'. Visitors to this 'Wide silent valley/ Beneath whose scree faced hill the sea birds call' will still see the 'Good, greys tone, whitewashed farms with northern names' just as she catalogues them in her poem: Foulshaw, Rus Mickle, Grassgarth, Flodder Hall, Johnscales that's hidden in the shadowing trees, High Sampool where the restless lapwings call though not quite in that order. To appreciate the area's gentle delights properly, park where you can (not easy) and walk w up the lane that leaves A5074 1m N of the main junction with A590. This tiny road takes you past all the farms mentioned in the poem, and when you reach The Row, a hamlet at the N end of the valley, you can go past the houses and follow a path up on to the top of the Scar itself a strange gentle wasteland of grey limestone fragments, remnants of an ancient seabed, with marvelous views.

The naturalist William Pearson gives lively sketches of the area, its wildlife and human goings-on in his Notes on the Natural History of Crosthwaite and Lyth, and the Valley of the Winster (1839). Few details escaped him, and one is grateful to him for preserving the text of a notice he once found barring the main road up the valley

Levens Hall the Lake District

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Turner sketched the Hall in August 1816. From March to June 1897 Mrs Humphry Ward rented the house whilst writing Helbeck of Bannisdale, using the Hall as the main model for the novel's 'Bannisdale Hall'. The house delighted her: at last we arrived saw the wonderful grey house rising above the river in the evening light, & plunged into the hall, the drawing rooms, the dining room, and all the intricacies of the upper passages & turrets with the delight and the curiosity of a pack of children. Great wood and peat fires were burning everywhere; the magnificent carved chimney pieces in the drawing rooms, the arms of Elizabeth over the hall fire, the strange stucco birds and beasts running round the hall, shewing dimly in the scanty lamplight we shall want about six more lamps and the beauty of the marvelous old place took us all by storm. Then through endless passages and vast kitchens, bright with long rows of copper pans & moulds we made our way out into the gardens among the yews and cedars, and had just enough light to see that Levens apparently is like nothing else but itself, and that there are broad straight graveled paths among the fantastic creatures & pyramids & crowns ... It is hard to stop quoting: one can feel the novelist's imagination taking fire. The house had everything even a ghost, the 'Levens Lady', a legend which figures in the novel.

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The dining room, its walls covered with gilded leather, is clearly described in the novel: 'It [the leather] is very dim and dingy now,' said Helbeck, 'but when it was fresh, it was the wonder of the place. The room got the name of Paradise from it , Helbeck also describes the grounds, including the extraordinary topiary garden. The seventeenth century owner was a friend of the diarist John Evelyn, an early enthusiast for landscape gardening, and the garden is the best one of its period still intact. During Mrs Ward's tenancy several literary visitors came, notably Henry James, about whose visit (alas) we have no details.

Arnside and the Lake District

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Continue N following signs (about 4m) to Arnside, the quiet and amiable vestige of a minor Victorian seaside resort. This is a pleasant place to potter about; Arthur Ransome enthusiasts will want to follow the promenade w to its end, then take the causeway footpath a further 250yds for the abandoned sheds of Crossfield's Boatyard, where the original dinghy Swallow, which was owned by Ransome and helped inspire his Swallows and Amazons, was built.

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From the promenade also Mr Cedric Robinson's guided walks set out across Morecambe Bay. For details of dates and times, contact any local Tourist Information Office. A walk across the Bay is an exhilarating experience of a strange and beautiful terrain: if you are bound for a walking holiday in the Lakes, why not enter the district in the traditional way, across the sands, and share something of the sublimity tasted by the earliest tourists? Near the promenade the Kent Viaduct, a graceless utilitarian object of squat brick piers and grey metalwork, crosses the estuary. It is the subject of Gordon Bottomley's melancholy poem 'The Viaduct' (1906): the monotonous procession of 'Piled trucks, tarpaulin mounds, and heavy vans' lumbering over the viaduct reminds Bottomley of an Imperial Roman Triumph. Levens, the Lyth Valley, Crosthwaite and Sizergh Continue N on B6385 to Milnthorpe, then go L (N) on A6 3m to Levens Hall (open Easter to end of October; closed Friday and Saturday; car park; admission charge), a fine country house whose core is a medieval pele tower, around which cluster gabled Tudor wings, some with enormous barrel like Lakeland chimneys.

A tour of the Lake District

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From Hest Bank, take the coast road N, following signs to Carnforth and then Silverdale; if coming directly from the M6, leave at junction 35 and follow signs to Silverdale, an attractive coastal village amongst wooded limestone hills. Leave the village going s and after V2m at junction go down small road (signed Jenny Brown's Point). On R you will see Gibraltar Farm and Tower House, formerly a single property. In the attractive Tower House garden is a square three storey stone tower. Elizabeth Gaskell often visited the farm, writing in a letter of 1850.

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Silverdale can hardly be called the seaside, as it is a little dale running down to Morecambe Bay, with grey limestone rocks on all sides, which in the sun or moonlight, glisten like silver. And we are keeping holiday in the most rural farmhouse lodgings, so that our children learn country interests, and ways of living and thinking. Sometimes the Gaskells rented the Tower as well as rooms in the farmhouse. In 1858 Mrs Gaskell reported:
We live in a queer, pretty crampy house, at the back of a great farm house ... the house is covered with roses, and great white virgin sceptred lilies, and sweetbriar bushes grow in the small flagged square court ... In the garden, half flower half kitchen is an old Square Tower, or 'Peel' a remnant of the Border towers.

She was wrong about the tower it is from the early nineteenth century but she loved it and found it a good place for work. 'You don't know how beautiful Silverdale is,' she told a friend, 'and a tower of our own! think of that!' In 1855 she began her Life of Charlotte Bronte here. Large parts of her novels Ruth (1853) and Sylvia's Lovers (1863) were also written here.

The village of Silverdale provided the model for' Abermouth' in Ruth, whose Chapter 24 portrays the black posts, which, rising above the heaving waters, marked where the fishermen's nets were laid ... and grey, silvery rocks, which sloped away into brown moorland, interspersed with a field here and there of golden, waving corn. Behind were purple hills, with sharp clear outlines, touching the sky.

Return to junction and go R (E) up Hollins Lane to rejoin main road; at next junction go L (N). After 100 yds private drive on R leads through woods to The Sheiling, built by Elizabeth Gaskell's daughters and later the home of the poet and dramatist Gordon Bottomley from March 1914 until his death in 1948. Hard now to believe that this pleasant but rather suburban looking dwelling, with its red tiles and half timbering, was once the last word in architectural design and supposed to harmonies perfectly with its rural setting. The house is described in Edward Thomas's poem 'The Sheiling', written after a visit to Bottomley in November 1916, shortly before Thomas's departure for the Western Front, where he died the following year:

It stands alone Up in a land of stone All worn like ancient stairs, A land of rocks and trees Nourished on wind and stone ...

During the visit Thomas entertained his host with 'a riotous collection of army songs' and walked in the nearby hills. The landscape hereabouts has been celebrated in several poems by an almost forgotten writer of the 1920s, Margot Adamson. 'Easter on Thrang End' surveys the view over farmland and sea from the hills above Thrang End Farm, just across the road from The Shieling the 'White rocks, green hill grass and wide sky' with the spring sun on brown brackens talks and the silver shallows of Morecambe Bay. 'Beyond Slack Head' notes the rich wildlife of this relatively untouched area, where the limestone pavements encourage a rich growth of wild flowers.

Morecambe Sands

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The perils of the sands feature in Elizabeth Gaskell's short story 'The Sexton's Hero' where a rejected suitor loses his life saving his sweetheart, now another man's wife, from the incoming tide. A good fictional glimpse of the sands and their strange atmosphere is also given in the opening pages of Melvyn Bragg's The Maid of Buttermere (1987), where the imposter Hatfield walks out into the solitude of the Bay to practice his new role as The Honorable Alexander Augustus Hope.
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In 1857 railway viaducts were built across the estuary, putting an end to most cross Bay traffic, but the present Queen's Guide to the Sands, Mr Cedric Robinson, still takes parties of walkers across, marking the route in the traditional way with 'brobs', branches of laurel embedded in the sand, which will survive several tides before being dislodged (they can be clearly seen in Turner's paintings). The walks, however, now leave from Arnside, for in 1980 the Kent shifted its bed and the Hest Bank route is now unsafe.

Finally, a footnote from the Lancashire humorist Edwin Waugh, who tells us (in Over Sands to the Lakes, 1882) that a gentleman once asked a guide if his colleagues were never lost on the sands. 'I never knew any lost,' said the guide; 'there's one or two drowned now and then; but they're generally found somewhere i'th bed when th'tide goes out.'
The very name of Morecambe Bay is testimony to the spell cast by books over the landscape hereabouts. Until the eighteenth century the estuary was known simply as 'Kent Sands'. But the Greek geographer Ptolemy, in his Geographia (c 150AD), mentions an estuary somewhere in NW Britain called 'Morecambe'.

In 1771 Whitaker's History of Manchester suggested that Ptolemy's Morecambe might be the Kent Sands. The identification was popularised by Thomas West in his Antiquities of Furness (1774), the first guide book to the area; educated tourists began to use it and soon the Bay had a new name. The seaside resort grew later, and now everyone knows Morecambe. (But if you look at a map of the Carlisle area you will see a small estuary just s of the Solway Firth called 'Moricambe'; this is a relic of another, and less popular, attempt at identifying Ptolemy's estuary.)

Things to do in Morecambe Bay

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Some way outside the Lake District proper, at Hest Bank, 6m N of Lancaster. If you had travelled northward to the Lakes at any time before 1857, this is where your real journey would have started, crossing the sands of Morecambe Bay at low tide to avoid twenty miles of bad roads and heavy tolls to Cartmel.

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For the point where travelers turned away from land and ventured out across the Bay, leave the M6 motorway at junction 34, following signs for Morecambe, then for the Promenade. Go N along the coast road; pass the Hest Bank level crossing and turn L at sign for Morecambe Lodge and Red Bank Farm; follow road down to car park. The road continues, unmealled, over a belt of pebbles and grass, then disappears into the sand. The journey across the Bay made a magical beginning to a Lakeland tour; as Wordsworth put it.

The Stranger, from the moment he sets his foot on those Sands, seems to leave the turmoil and traffic of the world behind him; and, crossing the majestic plain whence the sea has retired, he beholds, rising apparently from its base, the cluster of mountains among which he is going to wander, and towards whose recesses, by the Vale of Coniston, he is gradually and peacefully led.

At low tide the sea exposes more than 120 square miles of sand: an extraordinary, shining desert. Crossing it is perilous. There are quicksands, shifting river channels, and an incoming tide which may vary half an hour either side of the official tables depending on wind direction, and can arrive as a wall of water six feet high moving faster than a man can run. Guides have always been essential. In medieval times they were maintained by the monks of Cartmel and Conishead Priories; since the dissolution of the monasteries they have been the responsibility of the Crown.

The Gothic novelist Ann Radcliffe crossed the Leven Sands at the E side of the Bay on her 1794 tour and tells us that the Guide is punctual to the spot as the tides themselves, where he shivers in the dark comfortless midnight of winter, and is scorched on the shameless sands, under the noon’s of summer, for a stipend of ten pounds a year! and he said that he had fulfilled the office for thirty years.

The Lonsdale Magazine for February 1821 gives a splendid (albeit semi fictional) account of the crossing, supposedly written by a cheerful youth on a tour. We begin in the inn at Lancaster: I was aroused, by the bustle of preparation, about five o'clock ... I found my father, uncle, and sister already assembled. I was regaling my senses with the fumes of the coffee, when the driver unceremoniously burst into the room: 'For God's sake,' said he, 'make haste. The tide is down, and we should have been, by this time, at Hest Bank. If you delay, we shall all be drowned.

They arrive in time, and as they cross the Kent channel, A more picturesque, grotesque, touresque, or whatever other esque scene you may think fit to call it, I think I never saw. There could not be fewer than forty carts, gigs, horses, chaises, etc. with men, women, children, dogs, and I can hardly tell what beside, all in the river at once ... It would have been a fine model ... to draw the Passage of the Red Sea from ... The waves dashing through the wheels the horses up to the breast in water the vehicles, some driving one way, some another, in all imaginable confusion the carriers swearing the drivers cracking their whips the women and children screaming and the apparent impossibility of any of them ever escaping formed altogether such a coup d'oeil as I never had seen nor ever expected to see.

Lake District literature

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For Wordsworth's Michael, 'the green valleys, and the streams and rocks' were 'like a book' preserving the memory of the work, the triumphs and crises of his life as a hill farmer. Loved landscapes acquire a human meaning, and for centuries the Lake District has fostered not only human life but a harvest of thought and literature whose effect has been felt far beyond this small corner of England. Many writers have lived here; others have come briefly to work or to rest. Some have exploited the place, some have hated it. Some who never came have been inspired by a place name, or the picture on a postcard. To link places with the writing they inspired or allowed, as this book tries to do, is to understand something about how people see and use landscape, and about how places enter people's minds, to change their ways of thinking and feeling.

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As for my 'coverage' of literature, I hope I have mentioned all the important matters that a reader might expect to find in a book of this sort, and I have tried to be systematic in dealing with significant minor writers. But the field is endless. Finally, my criteria have been personal and I have included what seemed interesting: scraps of weird information, traces of the quirkiness of human nature, good verse or prose in unlikely places, interesting writing by forgotten authors.

Throughout the task I have been haunted by thoughts of Coleridge, who (having been richly misled by Hutchinson's History of Cumberland and other topographical books) stigmatized 'all authors of tours, county histories &c' a category into which he would certainly have put this book as 'Damned liars, strong words but true.' Absolute accuracy is not attainable in human enterprises, but I can at any rate claim that this book contains no lies. I have driven every road mentioned here, I have walked every path; I have (almost) climbed every mountain. Except where I indicate otherwise, I have myself seen the things listed.

I hope the reader will enjoy these explorations as much as I did, and will take them further. It remains for me to thank the many people who have helped. First of all, two people must be named, either of whom could have written this book better than I have done. One is my friend, and for some twenty years colleague at Manchester University, Bill Ruddick. This book is just one product of that infectious enthusiasm for the Lakes and their literature which he has conveyed to so many colleagues and students. The other is Dr Robert Wool, Hon Keeper of collections at Dove Cottage, who unstintingly shared his encyclopedic knowledge of Cumbrian lore, and helped in countless practical ways.

John Ruskin and the Lake District

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Like Wordsworth, Ruskin attracted friends and disciples to the Lakes, and his influence was extraordinary. One young admirer, H D Rawnsley, went on (with several others, including Beatrix Potter) to found the National Trust; Ruskin's secretary, W G Collingwood, almost single handedly transformed the historical and archaeological understanding of the Lake District, and for good measure befriended a young journalist called Arthur Ransome. Ransome, imbued with attitudes which are easily traced to Ruskin, invented (with Swallows and Amazons, 1930) the modern children's novel, incidentally promoting the idea that children can benefit from outdoor adventure and the acquisition of real skills, from sailing and semaphore to metallurgy and the building of blast-furnaces.

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The blast furnace (it appears in Pigeon Post, 1936) deserves its place here, for it would be wrong to think of the Lake District as an agricultural Arcadia untouched by industry. Part of the area's unique flavor comes precisely from the fact that it is a spectacular rural landscape subtly tinged by the marks of industry. Mining, iron smelting, quarrying and charcoal burning have gone on here since prehistoric times. In the early industrial revolution Keswick and Caldbeck were mill towns. Historians have pointed out that a timely accident, in the form of the change from waterpower to steam, saved the district from real damage. Had the development of steam power been slower the availability of abundant heads of water would have outweighed the disadvantages of mountain roads and remoteness from cities, and the Lakes (like the west Pennines) would have been irrevocably industrialized. Happily, steam came and the demand for coal moved the industries to the Cumberland coast, which is still scarred.

Yet in the central Lakes mining went on until recently, and quarrying still does, as the detonations and rumblings to be heard most days in Langdale and Coniston testify. And from most of the higher peaks on a clear day you can see the nuclear installations around Sellafield, now one of the district's chief employers. Industry, agriculture (and, for the past two centuries, tourism) have developed a symbiotic relationship in Cumbria: naturally, for all depend on the area's rich and complicated geology. Essentially the district consists of two massive domes of very old and very hard rock, centering on Scafell and Skiddaw, surrounded by belts of red sandstone and white limestone.

You will see these in the buildings as you travel. During the ice ages snow from the 'domes' slowly moved downhill, packing into glaciers which scraped out the radiating valleys and left lakes in the deeper hollows when the ice melted. (The lakes themselves are thus quite young geologically only some twelve thousand years old.) It is with good reason that Lakeland writers have always loved stone, from the Rock of Names carved at Wythburn with Coleridge's penknife to the fragment from Coniston Old Man which Arthur Ransome kept on his desk.

William Wordsworth and the Lake District

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As a literary entity the Lake District was already well known when William and Dorothy Wordsworth came to live at Grasmere in 1799. It is, to say the least of it, a curious coincidence that the great poet of nature and human affections should have spent his childhood in a region which was considered the quintessence of grandeur and beauty in English landscape. Born at Cockermouth in 1770 and educated at Hawkshead, Wordsworth had written the early poems of Lyrical Ballads mainly in Somerset, but in 1794 he and Dorothy, together for the first time since their troubled childhood, walked from Ambleside to Keswick and resolved to make the district their home. Their arrival at Dove Cottage was followed by a great creative outpouring, including (on William's part) 'Michael, the first drafts of the The Prelude, 'Resolution and Independence', and much of the 'Immortality' Ode; in fascinating counterpoint to this, Dorothy composed her Journal.
Wordsworth never again lived away from the Lakes, moving merely from Grasmere to Rydal, and his presence attracted others. Coleridge came, then the essayists Thomas De Quincey and John Wilson. Coleridge drew Southey, who stayed long after Coleridge had left again. The notion of a school of 'Lake Poets' arose, a natural journalistic simplification, but (apart from Wordsworth and Coleridge) these writers really had little in common. What they did share, to some extent, was an interest in landscape and an appreciation of the local community, still characterized by the 'Statesmen' (or Estatesmen), small farmers who owned their land and were famous for their resilience and independence of outlook.

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As Wordsworth's reputation grew in the 1820s and '30s, it added another dimension to the Lake District's literary attractions, and this had important consequences. For the Victorian reader, Wordsworth's poetic authority centered especially upon his long poem The Excursion (The Prelude did not appear until after his death). A philosophical reflection on man, nature and society, The Excursion promoted humane values, including education, social concern and a respect for the relationship between human beings and the rural landscape. Its values had a deep impact upon John Ruskin, who visited the Lakes many times before settling at Brantwood in 1872. Ruskin was what we should now call a passionate conservationist, whose love of the countryside was linked to an interest in manual skills and traditional crafts.

All about the Lake District

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We must blame Mr Gardiner's business for the loss of one of English literature's more promising Lakeland tours. In Chapter 27 of Pride and Prejudice, Elizabeth Bennet agrees to join her aunt and uncle on a visit to the Lakes: 'My dear, dear Aunt,' she rapturously cried, 'what delight! what felicity! You give me fresh life and vigour. Adieu to disappointment and spleen. What are men to rocks and mountains? Oh! What hours of transport we shall spend!Alas, all too soon a letter brings the news that 'Mr Gardiner would be prevented by business from setting out till a fortnight later'. They are 'obliged to give up the Lakes'. The suggestion of a Lake District holiday for her heroine is, of course, a teasing joke on Jane Austen's part. She herself had never been there; and to exercise Elizabeth's wit on the 'rocks and mountains' would have diverted her novel into topical satire, for by 1813, when Pride and Prejudice appeared, the tour of the Lakes had been a fashionable commonplace for nearly twenty years.

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Until the mid-eighteenth century the literary history of the area had been what one would expect of a remote and fairly poor northern agricultural region. In the ninth and tenth centuries, but leaving no written trace, there must have been an oral treasury of myth, song and folktale enjoyed by the Norse settlers who carved out small farms from the marsh and forest of the valleys. Later, from about 1100, there were chronicles and saints' lives produced in the monasteries, and from the sixteenth century onwards a scattering of gifted minor poets Richard Braithwaite of Burneside, Thomas Hoggart of Troutbeck, Thomas Tickell of Bridekirk, and all those talented, forgotten individuals who wrote poignant or witty verses to be carved on gravestones and other things.

The Lake District achieved prominence, and gained an identity, from the coincidence of several utterly disparate factors. The first was roadbuilding. After Bonny Prince Charlie's 1745 campaign it was realised in London that the Union between England and Scotland demanded better communications. A road building programme was begun and by 1768 the main route north through Westmorland and Cumberland, now the A591, was being leveled and surfaced. Although most roads in the district remained mere boggy tracks straggling between pothole and boulder, a central strip from Lancaster to Keswick was now open to private carriages.

At much the same time, educated Englishmen were starting to take an interest in 'picturesque' landscape. Paintings by, or in the manner of, Poussin, Claude Lorraine and Salva tor Rosa were brought back from the Grand Tour or marketed as engravings, and after 1750 British landscape artists began to come north to explore Cumbrian landscapes which, with their lakes, waterfalls and rugged mountain vistas, resembled the work of the French and Italian masters.

10 towns and villages to visit in the Lake District

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You may be a new visitor to the Lake District, or it may be your regular holiday destination, but there are so many things to see and do, you should take your time to discover the various towns and villages which make up this beautiful region of England. Below are ten of our favourites:

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1. Maryport Cumbria

Maryport is situated on the eastern coast of Cumbria, and is one of the many undiscovered gems in the area. Although it is located just outside the Lake District National Park, Maryport is a great base for visitors who want to explore Windermere, Ullswater and beyond. Pubs and restaurants in the Lake District are plentiful and you can pick up a local guide from your hotel or guest house for information about local attractions, events and things to do. As Maryport is situated close to the lakes and the sea on the Solway Estuary, you can make the most of sweeping views, walks, coastal sailing and lively pubs and restaurants.

2. Newby Bridge Accomodation

Newby Bridge accommodation is plentiful and varied, and you can book into a cheap guest house, a luxury hotel or a holiday cottage nearby at Windermere. With stunning views of Windermere Lake, there are plenty of things to see and do in the area for adults and children. Shops, bars and restaurants are close by and you can find a fabulous range of boutique hotels, vegetarian hotels, dog friendly hotels and themed hotels in Windermere and Bowness. The Lake District is one of the most beautiful regions in England, and if you are planning to visit, pick up a map from a tourist information office to make the most of your stay.

3. Patterdale

Patterdale lies at the southern end of Ullswater, close to Glenridding, and is the perfect holiday spot if you want some peace and quiet. If you want to climb up Helvellyn, or enjoy the views and walks around Ullswater, Patterdale is a great starting point. If you are a lover of the great outdoors, you can even join in the Patterdale Parish Borough Walk which is held annually. The choice of hotels, bars and restaurants in Ullswater, Patterdale and Windermere is enormous, and the best way to enjoy the Lake District is to hire a car and explore the area at your own pace.

4. Penrith

A traditional market town, Penrith is one of just a few local towns which cater for the locals before the tourists. Penrith is a bustling, large and lively town with plenty of attractions for all the family. Acting as a regional centre for the eastern Lake District, Penrith lies just outside the National Park, and enjoys a position on the strategic route to Scotland. Once the capital of Cumbria, the town is an important shopping centre, and is the hub of the Eden Valley. Accomodation in Penrith ranges from luxury hotels to guest houses and bed and breakfast. Take your time to explore Penrith and the surrounding district, and make sure you book early if you are planning a Christmas break in the Lake District.

5. Pooley Bridge

Pooley Bridge lies at the northern end of Ullswater, which is the second largest lake in the Lake District. Offering a fantastic range of pubs, hotels, holiday cottages and restaurants, Pooley Bridge is a good base if you want to visit Ullswater and Glenridding. Enjoy a trip on board one of the famous Ullswater Steamers which sail all the way along the lake, and relax during your stay at one of the Lake District boutique hotels. Wherever you are staying in the Lake District, take the time to check out the events, attractions and facilities in Pooley Bridge, which is surrounded by stunning scenery.

6. The Borrowdale Valley

One of the more popular tourist destinations, Borrowdale Valley is made up of several small villages, including Rosthwaite and Grange. This picturesque valley is close to Derwentwater and Keswick, and you can find a great range of holiday accommodation close by. If you are looking for Lake District breaks, or themed hotels in Windermere and Bowness, you can check out a range of accommodation in Cumbria. The Borrowdale Valley offers visitors some of the most breathtaking scenery they will see in Cumbria, and there are plenty of attractions to keep visitors happy, whatever the weather.

7. Sedbergh Cumbria

Located in the south of Cumbria, Sedbergh is close to Kendal and Kirkby Lonsdale, just within the Yorkshire Dales National Park, at the foot of the Howgill Fells. A good range of holiday accommodation can be found in and around Sedbergh, plus a great choice of attractions for all the family. Lake District cottages can be pre-booked, along with car hire and hotels in Sedbergh, Windermere and Ullswater. The Lake District offers something for everyone, and you will find a fantastic range of country pubs, restaurants and hotels within walking distance of Sedbergh, Cumbria.

8. St Bees Cumbria

If you are planning a weekend break in the Lake District, St Bees is a good place to visit. Situated on the west coast of Cumbria, St Bees boasts a great beach and a picturesque village centre. The Coast to Coast long distance walk also starts or ends here each year, so if you are planning to book hotel accommodation in the Lake District during the time of the walk, make sure you book early. With a wide range of things to see and do, St Bees is undoubtedly one of the must-see places the Lake District has to offer.

9. Tirril and Sockbridge

Tirril has been attracting visitors for many years, and William Wordsworth once commented that ´Tirril was the loveliest spot that man hath ever known.´ Tirril and Sockbridge are sister villages, sitting on the edge of the Lake District National Park near Ullswater and beside the River Eamont. Wordsworth´s brother, Richard also lived in Tirril and once owned the local pub, the Queen´s Head, which is still open today. If you want to discover the true beauty of the Lake District, there is no better place to start than Tirril. Its rolling landscapes and beautiful surroundings are amongst the most stunning in the Lake District.

10. Ulverston

ULverston is a lively market town in Cumbria, which takes great pride on being one of the friendliest places in the Lake District. Ulverston is the starting point for the long distance ´Cumbia Way Walk´ which ends in Carlisle, and is also famous for being the birthplace of comedian, Stan Laurel. Ulverston offers visitors a wide range of things to see and do, and offers some of the best accommodation and hotel packages in the Lake District. If you are planning a winter break, or a Christmas break in Ulverston, check out the hotels and guest houses nearby.

10 places to discover in the Lake District

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Wherever you go in the Lake District, you will be surrounded by stunning scenery, and some of the best luxury hotels, boutique hotels and guest houses in England. Choosing ten places to see in the Lake District is not easy as there are so many beautiful places to visit, but below are some of the best:

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1. Ennerdale and Ennerdale Bridge

Situated in the western Lake District, Ennerdale and Ennerdale Bridge are close to the town of Whitehaven. Ennerdale Water is the most westerly of the lakes, and is one of the most unspoilt areas of natural beauty in the Lake District. Traditionally the first night stop for west to east walkers on the coast to coast distance walk, Ennerdale provides a great range of Lake District accommodation, late deals and breaks which can be booked online. Windermere breaks and spa breaks in the Lake District can also be pre-booked. If you plan touring around the lakes, pick up a Lake District map from a tourist information office to and check out the best places to visit.

2. Glenridding

Situated on the south-western shore of Ullswater, to the north of Patterdale, is Glenridding. If you are looking for a Lake District hotel or a guest house near Ullswater, Glenridding is a great place to stay. If you are planning to climb Helvellyn, or enjoy the stunning scenery around Ullswater, check out the accommodation in Glenridding. Also with a good selection of attractions and things to do, Glenridding is a great place to take the kids. Lake District cottages and lakes hotels range from luxury stays to cheap weekend breaks in Windermere, Ullswater, Glenridding, Bowness and Keswick. Whatever your preferences, you can find accommodation in the Lake District to suit all budgets and requirements.

3. Grasmere and Grasmere Village

Situated to the north-west of Ambleside, Grasmere and Grasmere village are close to Rydal Water, and have some of the strongest Wordsworth connections in the lakes. Take the time to visit Rydal Mount and Dove Cottage and see where Wordsworth grew up and wrote some of his most famous poetry. You can find plenty of hotels in the Lake District, plus a wide range of cottages and self-catering accommodation to suit all requirements. Late deals and Christmas breaks in Grasmere and the Lake District are now available. Enjoy the stunning landscapes around Grasmere, Bowness and Windermere.

4. Hawkshead

Situated between Coniston Water and Windermere, Hawkshead is at the northern end of Esthwaite Water. Visitors to the Lake District can book holiday breaks in boutique hotels in surrounding towns and villages, including Windermere and Bowness, where you can enjoy the most beautiful landscapes and countryside in England. Nestling in the beautiful vale of Esthwaite, Hawkshead is noticeable by a cluster of whitewashed houses, and is within easy reach of Sawrey, Outgate, Satterthwaite and Grizedale. Accomodation in Hawkshead includes bed and breakfast, guest houses and luxury hotels close by.

5. Kendal Cumbria

Kendal is situated in the south-east of Cumbria, and lies just outside the boundaries of the Lake District National Park. One of the most accessible and popular towns in the region, Kendal is close to the M6, and is a great base for visitors who want to explore the lakes and the Yorkshire Dales. You can also find a great range of shops, holiday hotels, pubs and restaurants in Kendal and the Lake District. Lakeside hotels can be found in Windermere, Bowness, Kendal and Ullswater. Things to see and do by the lakes are plentiful, and you can hire a car to make the most of your stay and discover the beauty of the Lake District in style.

6. Keswick

Whether you are looking for family hotels in Keswick or Windermere hotel offers, you will not be disappointed. The Lake District boasts some of the best accommodation in England, set amongst beautiful landscapes and spectacular scenery. Keswick lies at the north end of Derwentwater, and is a vibrant town with a good range of shops, bars and restaurants. Local areas which can be easily reached from Keswick include: Windermere, Bowness, Ullswater, Kendal and Ambleside. Gay hotels, small hotels, luxury hotels and boutique hotels can all be found in the Lake District, and this little piece of paradise offers visitors some of the best things to see and do in the UK, in an incredible setting.

7. Kirkby Lonsdale

Kirkby Lonsdale lies to the south-east of Kendal, and is situated on the edge of the Lake District National Park. Also convenient for travelling round the Yorkshire Dales, Kirkby Lonsdale is a popular base for holidaymakers. Holiday accommodation including cottages, small hotels, guest houses, boutique hotels and spa hotels can be found near to Kirkby Lonsdale, and there is no shortage of things to see and do at the lakes for the whole family. Take a trip to Windermere and enjoy a lake cruise, or a boat trip around Ullswater. Lake District attractions include: the House of Beatrix Potter, Outdoor Adventure Parks and the amazing Lakes Aquarium on the shores of Lake Windermere.

8. Kirkby Stephen

Also situated on the edge of the Lake District National Park is Kirkby Stephen, which is close to Kendal and Appleby-in-Westmoreland. The area around Kirkby Stephen provides a good range of holiday accommodation and hotels in the Lake District. This picturesque market town offers a wide range of things to see and do, and if you are planning to travel around the lakes, pick up a map of the Lake District from a tourist information office. Small hotels in the Lake District include themed hotels in Windermere, boutique hotels in Bowness and holiday cottages in Ullswater. Make the most of a weekend break by taking a guided lake tour, and enjoy the breathtaking scenery.

9. Langdale

Situated in the central lakes area of the Lake District is the hidden gem of Langdale. Well known as the home of the Langdale Pikes, and the small villages of Little Langdale and Great Langdale, this region is steeped in history and surrounded by amazing scenery. Accomodation in Langdale includes hotels, guest houses, bed and breakfast accommodation and holiday cottages. If you want to get away from it all and tour the Lake District from Langdale, you can hire a car and easily drive to Windermere, Bowness, Ullswater or Kendal, where some of the more impressive lakes are situated.

10. Bewcastle

Bewcastle is a remote moorland hamlet which features the ´Bewcastle Cross´. This intricately decorated cross dates back to the 7th-8th Century, and stands close to the church and castle, which were built with stone from Hadrian´s Wall. If you want to visit Bewcastle, but also want to tour the Lake District, you will find some great hotels, guest houses and holiday cottages nearby. Lakes hotels and romantic hotels in Windermere are an easy drive from Bewcastle, and you can also enjoy the beautiful landscapes around this tiny hamlet.

10 great places to visit in the Lake District

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The Lake District is one of the most visited regions of England and boasts some of the most stunning landscapes in Europe. Whether you are new to the Lake District, or a regular visitor, we have compiled a list of the best places to go in Cumbria:

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1. Ambleside

Situated north west of Windermere, where you will find some of the best accommodation in the Lake District, Ambleside is a picturesque town which has retained its original charm. You can make the most of your stay by booking an Ambleside guest house, and explore the area with the help of a map of the Lake District, which you can pick up from the local tourist information office. Bargain breaks and Christmas breaks can be booked in Ambleside, Windermere and Bowness, so you can take your time to enjoy the countryside. You will find a range of attractions and things to do in Ambleside, plus stylish boutique hotels in nearby Windermere.

2. Appleby-in-Westmoreland

Appleby-in-Westmoreland is one of the most charming towns in Cumbria, and it lies close to the River Eden at the foot of the Pennines. The Lake District fells are just a few miles from Appleby, and it is the perfect place for walkers and lovers of the countryside. Steeped in history, the town retains much of its original charm, and offers a great range of attractions and things to do. Holiday accommodation in Appleby-in-Westmoreland is plentiful, and information about guest houses, boutique hotels, bed and breakfast accommodation and bargain breaks can be found online or from the Lake District Tourist Board.

3. Bassenthwaite

Bassenthwaite lies close to the famous town of Keswick, and is home to a nature reserve with a wide variety of wildlife, including birds of prey and ospreys. Also a popular sailing venue, Bassenthwaite attracts visitors from far and wide, and viewing points around the lake provide spectacular vistas over the water and surrounding countryside. Close to the fourth highest mountain in England, Skiddaw, Bassenthwaite also boasts a range of great accommodation nearby, and if you are looking for a quiet break in the Lake District, this could be the perfect place for you. Whether you are looking for luxury holiday accommodation, a guest house or a boutique hotel in the Lake District, you can book online or find more information from the tourist board.

4. The Borrowdale Valley

The Borrowdale Valley is a popular area close to Derwentwater and Keswick, and the villages of Rosthwaite and Grange are well worth a visit. You may be looking for accommodation in the Borrowdale Valley or a bargain break in Windermere, but you will be spoilt for choice with accommodation in the Lake District. The area which surrounds Borrowdale provides a good selection of things to see and do, including plenty of attractions for the kids. You can find information about events, festivities, pubs, restaurants, guest houses and boutique hotels in the Borrowdale Valley, Windermere and the Lake District from the local tourist board.

5. Bowness-on-Windermere

Bowness-on-Windermere lies south of Windermere itself, and actually borders the lake of the same name. Windermere, at 10.5 miles long, is the longest lake in the UK, and attracts tourists from far and wide to its excellent shops, bars and restaurants. The scenery around Windermere is stunning and if you are looking for luxury accommodation close by, you can find award winning boutique hotels and guest houses just a stone´s throw of the lake. Take a cruise down Lake Windermere in a steamer and enjoy the surrounding scenery from the water. If you are planning a weekend break in the Lake District, there is no better place to be based than Bowness-on-Windermere.

6. Brampton and Capon Hill

Located just east of Carlisle, Brampton is a historical town with plenty to see and do. With its red sandstone buildings and beautiful surrounding countryside, Brampton attracts visitors from all over the UK. Capon Hill is situated just outside Brampton, where the survivors of Bonnie Prince Charlie´s assault on Carlisle Castle were hung by the Duke of Cumberland in 1746. If you are based at Brampton, and want to make the most of the Lake District, check out Windermere pubs, hotels and restaurants or enjoy a weekend break or spa break in Bowness.

7. Carlisle Cumbria

Carlisle is situated in the north of Cumbria, and is the county town of the region. Although Carlisle is outside the official boundaries of the Lake District National Park, it offers visitors a rich history and plenty of things to see and do. Take a trip round Carlisle Castle or take a day trip to the lakes, to Scotland or Northumberland. Accomodation in Carlisle and the Lake District is plentiful and varied. If you are looking for a dog-friendly hotel in the Lake District, a boutique hotel in Windermere or a bed and breakfast in Ambleside, you will not be disappointed. Enjoy the shops and history of Carlisle, and remember to book early if you are planning a Christmas break in the Lake District.

8. Cockermouth

Cockermouth lies to the west of Bassenthwaite, and if you are looking for Lake District holidays, this is a good place to stay. With historical buildings, including Wordsworth House, Cockermouth sits on the edge of the Lake District, and provides a good range of holiday accommodation, plus boasts a wide range of attractions for all the family. Bargain breaks are available in Cockermouth and the Lake District, and can be pre-booked online. Boasting award-winning architecture, a rich local heritage and delightful landscape setting, Cockermouth is a great place to stay.

9. Coniston Cumbria

Situated to the west of Windermere, Coniston is a peaceful and tranquil spot which is perfect for visitors who want a quieter weekend break or Lake District holiday. Famous for Donald Campbell´s ill-fated attempt at the world speed record in his boat ´Bluebird´ in 1967, Coniston offers visitors history, serenity and stunning landscapes. The area around Coniston also offers visitors a wide range of things to do, and whether you are looking for luxury hotels, themed hotels, guest houses, b & b´s or boutique hotels in the Lake District, you will find them close by.

10. Elterwater information

Located to the west of Windermere and Ambleside, where you can find a great range of accomodation for short breaks in the Lake District, Elterwater is a small village which first flourished with the quarrying of slate. Elterwater´s name derives from the small lake by which it sits and the Norse word ´elter´ means ´swans´, which migrate to the lake in winter. Modern day Elterwater caters to holidaymakers with a range of shops and pubs, plus a youth hostel. If you want to experience Old England, take a trip to the village green, where Morris Dancers strut their stuff in the summer months. If you are looking for a quiet break or special offers in the Lake District, check out Elterwater.

Exploring the Lake District

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The popular idea of the Lake District as a place with an identity of its own, to be explored by touring for the sake of its scenery, was precipitated by the poet Thomas Gray. In October 1769 Gray travelled at leisure between Keswick and Lancaster looking at the scenery. He was equipped with several 'Claude glasses' small convex pocket mirrors, plain or tinted, in which a landscape could be viewed (over one's shoulder) and composed into a living picture, supposedly like a composition of Claude Lorraine. The Claude glass had been invented to help painters find subjects, but Gray viewed the landscape itself as a work of art, as 'picturesque', though he does not use the word himself. He described his tour in a series of beautifully written letters to his friend Thomas Wharton, and after his death the letters (still the best and most delightful account of a Lakeland tour) were published by William Mason in his 1775 Life of Gray.

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They became enormously popular and encouraged literate people to visit the Lakes and seek out the scenes Gray had described. Publication of Gray's letters was quickly followed by Thomas West's still more popular Guide to the Lakes: Dedicated to the Lovers of Landscape Studies and to all who have Visited, or Intend to visit the Lakes in Cumberland, Westmorland and Lancashire (1778). It was the first systematic guide to the area, and it formalized Gray's perceptions by identifying a series of specific 'stations' or standpoints from which the best views might be obtained. Most of these are given in the present book; some are still popular viewpoints. Travelling in the Lakes soon became a popular middle and upper class recreation, especially after 1789 when revolution and war made continental travel impossible. Guides and Tours poured from the press, and have never ceased to do so. The best of them form an important literary genre, and I quote from them freely in this book.