There are bigger, more nowhere tops the Lakes Spectacular places, but for magnificent variety
As the National Park’s 70th anniversary slips by almost unmarked, Melvyn Bragg pays tribute to its ‘unique beauty’
NO PART of Britain surpasses the Lake District for natural beauty, many would argue. Whether you’re walking its fells, messing about in boats on its glacial lakes or just drinking in the ever-changing views, it has the power to lift the human heart like few other places. As lockdown lifts, visitors have been flocking back. Even snowboarders have been taking advantage of the freak spring weather on its high slopes this weekend.
But few of those enjoying this supremely scenic corner of the country would have known that an important landmark passed yesterday with little fanfare. In normal times, the 70th anniversary of the Lake District winning National Park status would no doubt have seen celebrations, but social distancing meant people had no choice but to wander lonely as a cloud in silent tribute, or wait patiently until pandemic rules permit proper party.
Among those desperate to pull on their walking boots is the writer and broadcaster Melvyn Bragg, 81, who has been staying at his London home during lockdown, but yearns for his cottage in the Fells.
“You’ve got 33 lakes, waterfalls, rivers and there are 400 hills – or fells as they are called up there,” says the presenter of Radio Four’s iconic In Our Time programme. “I’ve been over quite a lot of it but there are still parts of it I don’t know that well. I am going to put that right when this Covid thing finishes. I haven’t been able to go up there for 16 months.We are going to make a determined effort to cover all the bits we haven’t yet seen.”
On a gloriously sunny day in September 2019, Lord Bragg married his partner Gabriel Clare-Hunt at Bassenthwaite in the Lake District with mountaineer Chris Bonington as one of the guests. Now Cumbria is close to both their hearts.
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RAGG was born in Carlisle, the only son of mechanic Stanley Bragg and his wife Mary, a tailor. Raised in the modest town of Wigton, he spent much of his childhood living above the pub where his father had become landlord.
“I was born in 1939 on the edge of the Lake District and we made lots of trips there as a kid,” he recalls. “I got a cottage there nearly 50 years ago and have stayed ever since. It was just a hamlet, we are talking about seven dwellings on a fell side.
“The nearest shop was a long walk but we used to have a van that came around on Tuesdays and Fridays with all sorts of provisions. It was a hill farming community. They were my friends and still are. People went there, but not in swarms. Right from the beginning of being made a National Park, it was very much appreciated.” As you might expect from someone who studied history at Oxford University, the story of the Lakes, a visitor spot since the 19th century, has been a lifelong fascination. “This is where some of the English aristocrats came when there was a war with France,” he explains.
“They made it fashionable along with the poets – Wordsworth and so on. Turner went to paint the landscapes, they all piled in and it became a place to go. It is just magnificent.”
The poet Samuel Taylor Coleridge, a mainstay of the Romantic Movement, was a friend of Cumbrian local William Wordsworth and moved to Greta Hall, Keswick, in 1799. “Coleridge was the first man to walk around the Lake District and he wrote a marvellous book about it,” says Lord Bragg, made a Labour life peer in 1998 as Baron Bragg, of Wigton in the County of Cumbria.
“Coleridge said the prospect changes every 60 yards. You just walk up a bit of a fell and it’s all different. It’s so interlocked that the views are just wonderful. Of course, the air is sweeping in from the Irish Sea, which is not very far away.”
He laughs: “I feel like putting the phone down now and getting in the car and driving up there, except I’ve got work to do. I would honestly say it still holds its own identity. It’s kept itself as it was, despite the crowds. It’s a unique place in this country – and on the planet, I think.
“There are bigger places, more spectacular places but there is nowhere as magnificent in its variety. You can walk for two or three hours or the whole day, visit little villages, see an isolated farm or go to a nice town like Keswick.These lakes are not tiny ponds, one – Windermere – is 10 miles long and has steamers on it.
“God knows what will happen in the next 70 years but I don’t see it changing. I think people will look after it and, on the whole, I think they are doing pretty well.”
Richard Leafe, chief executive of the Lake District National Park Authority, has the
challenging task of helping the local economy thrive while retaining the area’s wildness. He says: “This last year has shown us how much people value this protected, natural landscape and how important it has been for everyone’s wellbeing.
“This National Park is home to flourishing wildlife, incredible landscapes and thriving communities – more than 41,000 people live there and 19 million more visit each year.
“Our focus will continue to be on ensuring this is a place for all visitors to enjoy. We’ll also be tackling some of the major challenges facing society, such as climate change and nature recovery.
“We’re working hard to protect the future and ensure it remains a Lake District for everyone.” The park became a World Heritage site in 2017, which increased its global popularity – and visitors.
YET IT hasn’t stood still. There are now 48 “Miles Without Stiles” routes to help wheelchair users and families with pushchairs. And since 2010, 754 new homes have been built, almost half of them classed as affordable, while work is underway to create apprenticeships in traditional skills. Photographer Steve Razzetti, 62, who lives at a former farm in the wilds of Hesket Newmarket with his wife Natalie and three sons, Jonty, nine, Elwood, 13, and Ruben,15, says: “Self-isolating for us as a family was bliss because we are in the middle of nowhere and it was just so tranquil. There were no jet trails in the sky, no sound of traffic, just peace.And we all felt closer to nature.
“The easing of lockdown has come as quite a shock and some people have found it quite hard. Visitors have been camping by the lakesides, getting drunk, chopping down trees and just trashing the place.
“They call it wild camping, but we call it fly camping because of all the rubbish. We welcome people back, it’s great that they can get outdoors again, but we all hope people will respect and leave places as they find them, pristine.”
While Tony Lywood, a Cumbrian county councillor who sits on the board of the National Park Authority, explains: “A lot still needs to be done to protect communities in villages and towns. One in every two homes sold goes for a holiday let or a second home and local people are being priced out of the property market.
“We need to make it easier for people to buy their own homes and stay in the communities. I’m more optimistic about the landscapes but there is still a risk of the Lake District becoming a Disney-style theme park unless we are all vigilant.”
‘Coleridge said the prospect changes every 60 yards. You walk up a bit of fell and it’s all different’
APLAN to have gondolas carrying visitors 600 feet on cables to the Whinlatter Forestry Centre near Thornthwaite was ditched following protests, along with a separate plan for a zip wire across part of Thirlmere. At Grasmere, Ambleside and Windermere, the rumble of cars is getting louder and the volume of visitors will increase in the coming months.
But for now the snowboarders are enjoying the bliss of being at one with a landscape they cherish.
As visitors gaze across the landscape, many do not realise how much of a debt they owe toWilliam Wordsworth.
He described the Lake District as “a sort of national property, in which every man has a right and an interest who has an eye to perceive and a heart to enjoy”.
This philosophy became a blueprint for a campaign for National Parks in 1936, which saw laws come into force in 1949.
Two years later, with little fanfare, the designation for the Lake District – the second place given the status after the Peak District – was made. As the daffodils poke through the snow and frost, still fluttering and dancing in the breeze as Wordsworth observed way back in 1804, his dream has matured into a magnificent reality.
Some 70 years on, the National Park is blossoming as never before, and appreciated more than ever.