Whinlatter Forest (HFF everyone)

England - The Lake District & Cumbria


In the Lake District, 500 million years of geological processes have produced a physical landscape of mountains and lakes of great scenic beauty.

Slate developed from sediments in oceans and seas, volcanoes erupted, limestone was formed by the deposition of dead crustaceans and sandstone was created in desert conditions. Various minerals were also formed in joints and faults in the bedrock.

The …  (read more)

Yewbarrow in her summer coat of green, Wasdale, Cu…

16 Jun 2009 31 41 540
Yewbarrow is a fell in the English Lake District which lies immediately north of the head of Wast Water. It is 628 metres high and the name is derived from the past prevalence of yew trees on the fell and its boat or 'barrow' shape. The cloud shrouded peak to the right is Great Gable which is 899 metres high, appearing as a pyramid from Wasdale (hence its name), but as a dome from most other directions.

Sunlit Fells over Buttermere, Cumbria

18 Mar 2013 24 18 433
Best enlarged Buttermere is a lake in the English Lake District in North West England. The adjacent village of Buttermere takes its name from the lake. The lake is 1.25 miles (2,010 m) by .25 miles (400 m) wide, and is 75 feet (23 m) deep. It has an elevation above sea level of 329 feet (100 m). A place of considerable scenic value, it is situated towards the head of the valley of the River Cocker and is surrounded by fells, notably the High Stile range to the south west, Robinson to the north east, Fleetwith Pike and Haystacks to the south east and Grasmoor to the north west. There are two possible origins for the name "Buttermere": One, that Buttermere means "the lake by the dairy pastures" (from the Old English "butere mere"). Whaley suggests this as the correct interpretation: " 'butter lake, the lake with good pasture-land', from OE 'butere' 'butter', conveying the fertile nature of the flat alluvial land at both ends of the lake, plus 'mere' 'lake',..." Two, that it is the corrupt form of a personal name. Robert Ferguson asserts in his 1866 work, "The Northmen in Cumberland and Westmoreland" that Buttermere derives from the Old Norse personal name "Buthar", as in "Buthar's mere" (lake). This accords with local tradition, which says that the valley of Buttermere was part of the holdings of an 11th-century Norse chieftain called "Buthar" (sometimes spelt "Boethar").

HFF from Buttermere, Cumbria, England

12 Apr 2010 20 26 647
Best enlarged Buttermere is a lake in the English Lake District in North West England. The adjacent village of Buttermere takes its name from the lake. The lake is 1.25 miles (2,010 m) by .25 miles (400 m) wide, and is 75 feet (23 m) deep. It has an elevation above sea level of 329 feet (100 m). A place of considerable scenic value, it is situated towards the head of the valley of the River Cocker and is surrounded by fells, notably the High Stile range to the south west, Robinson to the north east, Fleetwith Pike and Haystacks to the south east and Grasmoor to the north west. There are two possible origins for the name "Buttermere": One, that Buttermere means "the lake by the dairy pastures" (from the Old English "butere mere"). Whaley suggests this as the correct interpretation: " 'butter lake, the lake with good pasture-land', from OE 'butere' 'butter', conveying the fertile nature of the flat alluvial land at both ends of the lake, plus 'mere' 'lake',..." Two, that it is the corrupt form of a personal name. Robert Ferguson asserts in his 1866 work, "The Northmen in Cumberland and Westmoreland" that Buttermere derives from the Old Norse personal name "Buthar", as in "Buthar's mere" (lake). This accords with local tradition, which says that the valley of Buttermere was part of the holdings of an 11th-century Norse chieftain called "Buthar" (sometimes spelt "Boethar").

Off the beaten track, Ennerdale, Cumbria

04 Oct 2011 12 10 445
Best enlarged Small pond called Moss Dub in Ennerdale forest.

A glimmer of light on Derwent Water and Catbells,…

05 Oct 2011 12 12 355
Best enlarged Derwentwater (or Derwent Water) is one of the principal bodies of water in the Lake District National Park in north west England. It lies wholly within the Borough of Allerdale, in the county of Cumbria. The lake occupies part of Borrowdale and lies immediately south of the town of Keswick. It is both fed and drained by the River Derwent. It measures approximately 3 miles (4.8 km) long by 1 mile (1.6 km) wide and is some 72 feet (22 m) deep. There are several islands within the lake, one of which is inhabited. Derwent Island House, an 18th-century residence, is a tenanted National Trust property open to the public on five days each year. Derwentwater is a place of considerable scenic value. It is surrounded by hills (known locally as fells), and many of the slopes facing Derwentwater are extensively wooded. A regular passenger launch operates on the lake, taking passengers between various landing stages. Cat Bells (across the lake) is a fell with a modest height of 451 metres (1,480 ft) but despite this it is one of the most popular fells in the area. It is situated on the western shore of Derwent Water within 3 miles (5 km) of the busy tourist town of Keswick. The fell's unusual name may well have come from a distortion of "Cat Bields" meaning shelter of the wild cat, although this is not certain. The fell's name is sometimes written as Catbells.

Windswept Fell, Cumbria

07 Oct 2011 17 15 409
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Heavy-lifter at Honister Slate Mine, Honister Pass…

17 Jun 2014 10 12 381
Best enlarged The Honister Slate Mine (which is also known as the Slate Mine in Honister) in Cumbria is the last working slate mine in England. Quarrying for Westmorland green slate. The first slate may have been extracted from the Honister Slate Mine during the Roman times. Fragments (broken bits) of Honister slate have been found at the site of the Roman Bath House at Ravenglass and Hardknott Fort. Much later, the monks of Furness Abbey (Barrow-in Furness) who owned land in Borrowdale are thought to have mined at Honister. The early quarry men walked from Keswick to Honister. They started early on a Monday morning and lived rough on the mountains until the end of the week or even longer, working the slate by hand in all kinds of weather. Miners even walked from as far away as Egremont and Whitehaven in West Cumberland to spend the week working at the Honister Slate Mine. Stone huts called ‘bothies’ were built by the miners to live in. They were built from the slate from Fleetwith Pike and were only about 3 metres wide by 4 metres long. They had very thick walls to keep the wind and the rain out. They contained a fireplace so the miners at least had some warmth. The men would live in these bothies for up to two weeks, or for as long as their supply of food lasted. The first real surviving evidence of ‘slate getting’ at Honister is from around 1643. The main areas where this took place is at the top of the Crag at Bull Gill and also Ash Gill, at a height of about 2000 feet (610 metres). This is how the slate industry began at Honister. It was to be a way of life at Honister for many generations. Little was to change here for nearly three hundred years.

The Honister Pass road from Buttermere winding its…

17 Jun 2014 9 15 388
Best enlarged Honister Pass is a mountain pass in the English Lake District. It is located on the B5289 road, linking Seatoller, in the valley of Borrowdale, to Gatesgarth at the southern end of Buttermere. The pass reaches an altitude of 1,167 feet (356 m), making it one of the highest in the region, and also one of the steepest, with gradients of up to 1-in-4 (25%). The saddle at the watershed is known as Honister Hause, using the Cumbrian word hause for such a feature. Flowing through the pass from the summit to Buttermere is Gatesgarthdale Beck. Honister Pass is one of three passes that link the tourist area around Keswick, including Derwent Water and Borrowdale, with the valley of the River Cocker, including the lakes of Buttermere, Crummock Water and Loweswater. From north to south these passes are Whinlatter Pass, Newlands Pass and Honister Pass. Honister Slate Mine and Honister Hause Youth Hostel are located at the summit of the pass. Honister Pass holds the UK 24-hour rainfall record; in the 24 hours to 6 pm on 5 December 2015, 341.4 mm of rain fell there.

Wild Thyme, Lake District, Cumbria

10 Jun 2014 12 10 316
Best enlarged Found by a track on Ling Fell

HFF Everyone - Hawthorn tree and the distant Skidd…

12 Oct 2014 14 22 401
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Above Buttermere and the Newlands Valley road, Cum…

17 Jun 2014 16 18 523
Best enlarged Buttermere is a lake in the English Lake District in North West England. The adjacent village of Buttermere takes its name from the lake. The lake is 1.25 miles (2,010 m) by .25 miles (400 m) wide, and is 75 feet (23 m) deep.[1] It has an elevation above sea level of 329 feet (100 m). A place of considerable scenic value, it is situated towards the head of the valley of the River Cocker and is surrounded by fells, notably the High Stile range to the south west, Robinson to the north east, Fleetwith Pike and Haystacks to the south east and Grasmoor to the north west. There are two possible origins for the name "Buttermere": One, that Buttermere means "the lake by the dairy pastures" (from the Old English "butere mere"). Whaley suggests this as the correct interpretation: " 'butter lake, the lake with good pasture-land', from OE 'butere' 'butter', conveying the fertile nature of the flat alluvial land at both ends of the lake, plus 'mere' 'lake',..." Two, that it is the corrupt form of a personal name. Robert Ferguson asserts in his 1866 work, "The Northmen in Cumberland and Westmoreland" that Buttermere derives from the Old Norse personal name "Buthar", as in "Buthar's mere" (lake). This accords with local tradition, which says that the valley of Buttermere was part of the holdings of an 11th-century Norse chieftain called "Buthar" (sometimes spelt "Boethar").

Over Crummock Water and Loweswater from Rannerdale…

17 Jun 2014 14 8 568
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Scotland over the Solway Firth from Allonby, Cumbr…

17 Apr 2017 16 13 537
Best enlarged The Solway Firth (Scottish Gaelic: Tràchd Romhra) is a firth that forms part of the border between England and Scotland, between Cumbria (including the Solway Plain) and Dumfries and Galloway. It stretches from St Bees Head, just south of Whitehaven in Cumbria, to the Mull of Galloway, on the western end of Dumfries and Galloway. The coastline is characterised by lowland hills and small mountains. It is a mainly rural area with fishing and hill farming (as well as some arable farming) still playing a large part in the local economy, although tourism is increasing. The village of Allonby overlooks Allonby Bay in the Solway Firth. The area is within the Solway Coast Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty, and the historic county of Cumberland. Allonby, and the five-mile coastal strip of the bay, afford spectacular views across the Solway to the Galloway hills of southern Scotland.

English Summer Meadow

Cloudy day by Ennerdale Water, Cumbria

14 Jun 2014 19 16 513
Best enlarged Ennerdale Water is the most westerly lake in the Lake District National Park in Cumbria, England. It is a glacial lake, with a maximum depth of 150 feet (45 metres), and at ½ mile to a mile (700 to 1,500 metres) wide and 2½ miles (3.9 kilometres) long is one of the smallest lakes in the area. To the west of the lake lies the small village of Ennerdale Bridge, consisting of two pubs and a few houses. The lake has been referred to in guidebooks and maps variously as "Brodewater" (1576), "Brodwater" (1695), "Broad Water" (1760), "Ennerdale Water" (1784) and "Ennerdale Lake" in Otley's Guide (1823). It is now the Ordnance Survey convention to name it "Ennerdale Water". The lake lies in the eponymous valley of Ennerdale, surrounded by some of the highest and best-known fells in Cumbria including: Great Gable (899 m), Green Gable, Brandreth, High Crag, Steeple and Pillar. Ennerdale Water is fed by the River Liza and other streams, and in turn feeds the River Ehen, which runs to the Irish Sea. Although the lake is natural, in 1902 a shallow weir was added to what is probably a glacial moraine to maintain the level. The lake is owned by United Utilities, which abstracts water to serve customers in the Whitehaven area. United Utilities plans to stop using Ennerdale as a source of water by 2025, as the Environment Agency has confirmed that it will withdraw the abstraction licence to protect the environment of Ennerdale, its lake and the River Ehen.

A leafy lane in the Lake District, Cumbria

11 Oct 2014 12 12 463
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Silvery strand by the Solway, Allonby, Cumbria

14 Oct 2014 9 12 360
Best enlarged The Solway Firth (Scottish Gaelic: Tràchd Romhra) is a firth that forms part of the border between England and Scotland, between Cumbria (including the Solway Plain) and Dumfries and Galloway. It stretches from St Bees Head, just south of Whitehaven in Cumbria, to the Mull of Galloway, on the western end of Dumfries and Galloway. The coastline is characterised by lowland hills and small mountains. It is a mainly rural area with fishing and hill farming (as well as some arable farming) still playing a large part in the local economy, although tourism is increasing. The village of Allonby overlooks Allonby Bay in the Solway Firth. The area is within the Solway Coast Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty, and the historic county of Cumberland. Allonby, and the five-mile coastal strip of the bay, afford spectacular views across the Solway to the Galloway hills of southern Scotland. Both the South Saltpans beach and the West Winds beach were awarded the Blue flag rural beach award in 2005. The village is located on the 150 miles (240 km) Cumbria Coastal Way long distance footpath. From the late 18th century until the mid-19th century, Allonby was home to a small fishing fleet. The main catch was herring. Fish yards were built where these were salted and packed in barrels made on the premises. There was also a smoke house where kippers were produced. In the early part of the 19th century Allonby was a popular sea-bathing resort. Baths were built in 1835. The buildings still survive as private residences in the Market Square. The village is noted for a 17th-century coaching inn now known as the Ship Hotel. Charles Dickens and Wilkie Collins stayed overnight at the hostelry in 1857 (due to Collins' illness) while they were touring northern Cumberland, although Dickens later described Allonby as a 'dreary little place'. The Reading Room, opened in 1862, was designed by Alfred Waterhouse, the Victorian architect, when he was only 32 years old. The building was largely financed by Joseph Pease who was Britain's first Quaker MP.

Low sun reflected on Wastwater, Nether Wasdale, Cu…

28 Nov 2013 12 12 394
Best enlarged Wasdale is a valley and civil parish in the western part of the Lake District National Park in Cumbria, England. The River Irt flows through the valley to its estuary at Ravenglass. A large part of the main valley floor is occupied by Wastwater, the deepest lake in England (258 feet).

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