Andrew Thomas: South Lakeland area that inspired literary history

We parked at Wray Castle on the western side of Windermere.

I could hear a woodpecker busy at work in woodland in the grounds, while crows wheeled around the castle’s turrets and flew in and out of the arrow slits.

The castle was built in 1840 in the Gothic Revival style.

Writer, artist and conservationist Beatrix Potter, author of children’s stories including The Tale of Peter Rabbit, spent a summer holiday there in 1882 when she was 16. She later bought a small farm, Hill Top, at Near Sawrey.

One of my first jobs as a reporter at The Westmorland Gazette was to do a feature about Wray Castle College of Marine Electronics, which was then housed in the castle.

Sunday morning was bright and there were some stunning views from the castle towards the Fairfield Horseshoe and the Langdale Pikes.

During our walk we enjoyed views across Windermere towards Wansfell. Also visible was the northernmost part of the lake, scene of the ‘North Pole’ adventure in Winter Holiday, one of the Swallows and Amazons series of children’s stories by Arthur Ransome.

That same day, a group of around 30 people was taking part in a marathon reading of Winter Holiday at Windermere Jetty Museum. The event was organised by the team that previously held similar readings of Swallows and Amazons on the shore of Coniston Water and Pigeon Post at the YHA Coppermines hostel.

Our route took us to the summit of 803-feet-high Latterbarrow, the subject of a chapter in Wainwright’s book The Outlying Fells of Lakeland. It is topped by a monument, aptly described by Wainwright as an ‘elegant obelisk’.

We now had views down to Hawkshead, the village where Romantic poet William Wordsworth was educated at The Old Grammar School and where he lodged with Ann Tyson and her husband.

The next highlight on what now felt like a ‘literary walk’ was lovely Blelham Tarn, before we returned to the castle.