Opinion

National Park Extensions? Please, Not Yet!

June 4, 2013

Hearings on the proposed extensions of the Lake District and Yorkshire Dales national parks start today. I wrote most of the following on my personal Facebook account earlier this morning and then thought I should put it here too, even though I’m aware that it might well lead to losing some friends. I love both […]

Terrible Things Happen In Beautiful Places

May 25, 2013

Starting a short walk by Goldrill Beck and Brothers’ Water this afternoon I was stopped in my tracks by this poster. What was such a gruesome image doing in such a beautiful place? The National Trust appears to have concluded that shock tactics are necessary. Far too many sheep and lambs are attacked by dogs […]

Hellgill Force near the source of the Eden

May 14, 2013

Today I did another of my photo-drive-walks, returning to Mallerstang for the second week in succession. Last week I did a circular walk between Nateby and Pendragon Castle, taking in Lammerside Castle, so today after a few shots of Pendragon Castle (over the wall; it’s now “closed to public access for building repairs”) I started […]

Across the North – January 2013

January 15, 2013

It’s time for another news post. I haven’t done one for some time. Starting with the North West, the big news in recent days has been the Lake District National Park Authority’s rejection of an eighteen month trial installation of a Zip Wire at Honister Slate Mine, a centuries old industrial site on the side […]

Carbon, Trees and Cumbria’s Forests

October 24, 2012

When I was at school way back in the fifties we had a great young biology teacher, “Mr. Douglas” (no first names then!). The school was in a big industrial town but on the fringe so that we could easily go out in groups for our ecology lessons “in the wild” as it were. We […]

Across the North – October 2012 [1]

October 2, 2012

One, if not the, major theme in the Northern news in recent weeks has been flooding. My schoolboy geography lessons told me that the east of the country was drier than the west because the clouds from the Atlantic dropped most of their rain on the Lake District mountains and the Pennines before arriving on […]

Across the North – September 2012

September 20, 2012

Easier Access to the North Yorkshire Dales Having had to negotiate my way through Bedale on a number of occasions in recent months I must say that a bypass is welcome news. Of course, new developments like this are never without their challenges. There are always pros and cons to be weighed, and difficult dilemmas […]

Red Squirrel Revival, Or …

September 8, 2012

This morning I was giving some overdue attention to the fuchsias outside our kitchen window when I sensed movement to my right. Looking up I saw a squirrel, no more than three feet from me, sitting on the wall – and it was a red squirrel! I hadn't seen one for a long time until this […]

Second Homes and Property Prices in National Parks [Opinion]

June 29, 2012

Almost thirty years ago, while working as a consultant on tourism issues in the Lake District, I came to the conclusion that while National Park status gave an area increased attractiveness to visitors this was not necessarily the case for native residents. I am not opposed to the principle of national parks, but unless the […]

Lake District Goings On

April 11, 2012

Recent news from around the Lake District includes a story in the Westmorland Gazette that the National Park Authority is now looking forward to further plans for the future of its Brockhole visitor centre by the shore of Windermere. Much has been done over the past year or so but we can look forward to […]

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