Lake Windermere, England

Located in the heart of northwest England's Lake District National Park lies Lake Windermere, the largest lake in England. It is surrounded by mountains and a few small towns such as Ambleside and Bowness-on-Windermere. 

After finding a good parking spot for our motorhome, we walked along the shore and through the town of Bowness-on-Windermere.  

On this quiet and peaceful day during the low-season, our first goal was the Nab Ferry, which takes vehicles, cyclists, and pedestrians from the east side of the lake across to the west side.

Our eventual goal of the day: to visit Beatrix Potter's Hill Top farmhouse in Near Sawrey, a village about 1 1/2 miles' walk from the ferry landing. From other passengers, we learned that the bus to Hill Top might be done for the season. Good to know. 

Sure enough, there was no bus service available. We were prepared for rain, so we began our trek along the lakeside road. We came upon a surprise to us, Claife Viewing Station, which you can just see behind the bare trees in the above photo. 

This unusual building was erected in the late 1790s for the express purpose of viewing the length of Lake Windermere. 

We climbed a few stairs to the viewing level and discovered another surprise: colorful glass panels framing the viewing windows. This is a recreation of actual windows that featured colored glass so that tourists of the 1800s could imagine the landscape in different conditions: green for spring, yellow for summer, orange for autumn, and blue for moonlight. 

View, above, of Lake Windermere to the south. These colorfully framed openings make lovely photo opportunities for today's tourists. 

Over Brian's shoulder, a bit of a view to the north end of Lake Windermere. 

Usually public footpaths are well marked in England and this trail on the west side of the lake was no exception. The sign indicates which way back to the ferry after our lovely day in this area. For further details, see the next blog post, "Beatrix Potter's Hill Top."