Ambleside

The village of Lakeside, England, where I was yesterday, is at the south end of Windermere Lake. The town of Ambleside, where I went this morning, is at the north end. So, after breakfast and the 25-minute walk from my hotel to the pier, my morning began again with a boat ride on Windermere Lake. Taking about half an hour, this journey was only about five minutes shorter than the voyage to Lakeside yesterday.

The Ambleside pier isn’t right beside Ambleside. Getting from one to the other involves an amble.

I say “an amble,” but to the best of my knowledge, there is no local, regional, or national regulation requiring that you traverse that distance by ambling. I think you’re allowed to walk jauntily, jog, run, cycle, or drive.

Then again, maybe the best of my knowledge is inadequate. That’s the case even more often than you probably already think, impossible though that may be to believe.

If there is a law requiring ambling within the town limits—and considering it’s called Ambleside, it would be oxymoronic for there not to be—the municipality could become wonderfully wealthy if it started enforcing the law and levying large fines on anyone who moves about by any means other than ambling.

Of course, that would probably cause people to change their behaviour. However, a town where ambling was the rule, rather than the exception, would be a wonderful place, even if it weren’t rich. True, deliveries of large items, such as furniture, would be much more difficult and slower in Ambleside, but that’s the price that one must pay for tranquillity.

Where was I? Oh, yeah. Getting from the pier into town.

An announcement on the boat as it neared Ambleside Pier said it would take about fifteen minutes to walk into town on the upper road. The lower road would take a little longer, the voice said, but it’s more scenic and passes by the Roman fort. The voice didn’t say how much longer it would take, but that’s the route I chose.

Ambleside Roman Fort

The Ambleside Roman Fort is just off the road, in a large field. There’s not much of the fort left. At a few points, there are a couple of ancient stone bricks and a sign saying, This is where one of the fort’s towers was, or here’s where such and such part of the fort was.

However, there was one part of the field where ancient stone bricks outline the walls of some of the rooms of the fort.

Despite there not being much fort left, the field and the views of the lake from it are quite attractive.

At the far end of the fort field from where I entered it, there’s a gate on a path that leads through a series of other fields and almost to the main part of town, where I stumbled upon …

St. Mary’s Church

I hadn’t read about St. Mary’s Church anywhere before spotting its imposing stone steeple in front of me. The church is constructed of stone. It looks simple, but handsome. The door was open. A sign said, “Welcome.” So I went inside.

The interior is far from spectacular, but it is attractive with some nice, peaked arches. There are large stained glass windows at the front and back, and some smaller ones on the side.

It was worth a quick look, and that’s what I gave it.

Bridge House

Something in Ambleside that I had read about is its Bridge House, which is probably the town’s most well-known feature. It’s weird.

The Bridge House is a small, old structure built in the 17th century. It straddles a stream, Stock Beck. The footprint of the structure is roughly square and is not quite as wide as the small arched bridge that exists only to support the house.

According to the Ambleside page on the National Trust website, over the years, the Bridge House has been used as “a counting house for the mills of Rattle Ghyll, a tea-room, weaving shop, cobbler’s, chair maker’s and, at one time, home to a family of eight.”

The Armitt Museum, Gallery, and Library

The Armitt Museum, Gallery, and Library is a charming little, um, museum, gallery, and library all in one compact building.

The museum part had three exhibitions. I believe the first is a permanent exhibit. It was about the museum itself and a famous person that the Lake District, of which Ambleside is a part, claims as its own, Beatrix Potter.

The museum, gallery, and library centre was named after its founder, Mary Louisa Armitt (1851- 1911), “who wanted there to be a place in Ambleside that would tell the history of the long past to the present.”

The stories of the museum, the area, and Beatrix Potter were told through text panels, pictures, and a couple of short videos.

Beatrix Potter is most well-known for her children’s books. However, in addition to being a writer, she was also a visual artist. Beyond creating illustrations for her books, she also produced other works.

Fungi seem to have been a favourite subject of hers. The Armitt displays some of her fungi drawings and watercolours. I think that’s what qualifies as the gallery in the institution’s name. I didn’t see any other art on display. However, the temporary exhibition spaces may display art sometimes. I don’t know.

The first temporary exhibit I came across was, coincidentally, about the Ambleside Roman Fort, the fragments of which I had just visited.

Text panels talked about the Romans’ invasion of England and their activities there. There are also some small archaeological artifacts, including lead slingshot bullets and pottery fragments. There was also one somewhat larger artifact: Much of a tombstone that marked the grave of two Roman soldiers.

The exhibit also displayed small models of what it’s believed each of the two consecutive Roman forts that had been on the site looked like.

The other temporary exhibition was about another allegedly famous local author, Alfred Wainwright (1907 – 1991). I’d never heard of him, but that might just be because I’m a pleb. Or maybe he’s only famous in the UK. But, even if that’s the case, that doesn’t mean I’m not a pleb.

Wainwright wrote guidebooks and created illustrations about the splendour of the outdoors, particularly the fells of the Lake District. The “fells of the Lake District” is a bit of unintentional foreshadowing of an upcoming post in this journal. I know authors aren’t supposed to label foreshadowing clearly, but I’m not very good at it.

Before I’d read about the Lake District, I hadn’t heard of “fell” as a noun describing a geographic feature. It’s a hill or stretch of high moorland, especially in northern England.

The library in the centre is small, but delightful. Its shelves hold mostly oldish books. On one shelf, I spotted a collection of what looked like leather-bound William Wordsworth works. Wordsworth was a famous Lake District poet. (This time, internationally famous. I had heard of him. I’m not that much of a pleb.) I pulled one of the books off the shelf. It had a printing date of 1876.

Ambleside, In General

I didn’t head back to Bowness/Windermere until late this afternoon, but I ambled out of town after lunch until it was time to catch the boat back. Because this post is about only my morning activities, I should say a few words about Ambleside here.

I think there are some areas with different architectural materials outside of the town centre, but most or perhaps all of the buildings in the town centre are low-rise and constructed of stone. It’s very quaint and a most enjoyable town.

There’s probably more I should be saying about Ambleside. I liked it very much, but my afternoon activity got me back to my hotel later than I usually end the day. I didn’t finish and post this until after dinner. And I still have the afternoon post to write. I wouldn’t want to disappoint my fan. So, I’ll end this here and get on with it.