#RoofSquares 9-15: Lake District Edition

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We spent last week in the Lake District and it proved fertile ground for attractive roofs. We rented a cottage in Ambleside which was up 30+ steps from the street: a long way to climb with your luggage or after a hard day’s walking! From our patio we looked out almost at roof level to the Churchill Inn across the road. The picture above was taken the afternoon we arrived – but don’t worry about the grey skies. By the next morning, they had disappeared and we had glorious weather for the entire week.

The view above was taken from one of the cottage’s skylights, so that’s our roof and chimney in the foreground. To the right is the Churchill Inn again, and the whole scene is backed by Black Fell. I can’t get enough of these grey slate roofs! One more view from this perspective:

This time, we were across the road in a top floor café. The spire is St Mary’s Parish Church and it’s unusual amongst the grey slate roofs – it’s sandstone. Not sure I approve!

A few more Ambleside roofs – this house has very unusual chimneys.

The old Market Hall has a distinctive pointy roof and is now a popular Thai restaurant (very good, we tried it).

Coming back down into Ambleside one afternoon, I couldn’t work out what the round structure below us was, then as we got nearer I realised it was the roof of the local garden centre.

Finally, walking out of Ambleside on the other side of town you come to Rydal Park and Rydal Hall. I like this shot of the Hall’s roof peeking out behind the garden wall (which has another little roof  on the summer-house built into the staircase).

I’ll have more lovely Cumbrian roofs for you next week. In the meantime, pop over to Becky’s Roof Squares challenge for all the fun of the fair and to see what everyone else has found.

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  1. Pingback: A Square Retrospective – 2018 – The life of B
  2. Pingback: Ambles from Ambleside – The Glasgow Gallivanter
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  10. Love your roof collection! Many have done doors and windows, but roofs deserve their fifteen minutes of fame. Our favorite are the gray slate ones, they are so painterly they remind us of the Van Gogh type era paintings.

    Peta

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  12. The Lake District is unique as it seems to have got everything just right to entertain tourists yet in a beautiful mountain setting. Never had a dull trip down there in 40 years of bagging hills and yet to find a bad fish and chip shop.. Ambleside, and all the other Lake District towns/ villages are a joy to explore. Nice roofs.

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    • I just love it for all the reasons you mention. It can be busy, but most people don’t stray too far from the villages. I’ve never been in full summer though, and probably wouldn’t want to risk it!

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  14. How lovely to see Ambleside in dry bright conditions. 🙂 We were there just for one day and night at the end of December last year. It was snowing when we arrived and the following day the snow had started to melt and the sky was grey and overcast – we still thought it was a lovely place though.

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  15. We only visited Ambleside for one day and spent most of the time doing that lovely walk to find the Roman ruins. I would love to go back and spend a whole week. Your photos are beautiful, Anabel. It’s all so gorgeously green.

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  17. Hi Anabel – my first walk was out of Ambleside … all of six months old!! I have happy memories of very early holidays there on the lake and rowing around – my mother’s first husband’s family had a home on the shores … now a hotel! Love those slate rooves and the general views – somewhat reminding me of Cornwall … cheers Hilary

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  18. Gorgeous! Ok, here’s maybe a silly question… are these lovely, historical villages you visit surrounded by modern, boring houses and buildings (which, of course you don’t show because they are… well… boring), or are the whole villages as quaint and lovely as we see in your pictures? For instance, I could do a post about the Old Town section of San Diego and anyone who wasn’t at all familiar with our city might think that San Diego looks like an old Mexican village. This may be an odd (maybe naive) question, but I’m in awe of the amazing villages around you – it’s like time has left them alone.

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    • Not silly at all! In this case, the Lake District (which is in NW England) has been a National Park since the 1950s, and last year became a World Heritage site, so development is tightly regulated and there is nothing ugly. Now, Glasgow is another matter – there is a lot of hideous stuff, particularly from the 60s and 70s, and I do only show you the nice bits! On the whole though, outside the Central Belt, ie the corridor between Glasgow and Edinburgh where most of the population lives, Scottish villages are generally attractive.

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    • I had an idea before I clicked on it what that might be! Perhaps I’ll add that to my last post. (Edit to make myself look less stupid – doh, it’s obvious on the blog! On the app where I read comments it’s just a link.)

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  22. Yes, the Lake District is beautiful, and, can be forgiven its terrible weather. Though I am sure it has plenty of good days, though we haven’t as yet had good ones on our visits. Anabel, I enjoyed the different angle you chose to focus on from your latest visit

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  25. This roof challenge you’re doing is a lot of fun. My mind is in overdrive imagining some epic fantasy story unfolding in this town. Maybe dragons landing on those roofs?

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  26. What a beautiful town! I love the whole look of it and love that picture of the town with the church in the background. I wish I could wiggle my nose and instantly. Be there.

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  27. Your Lake District adventures continue to delight me. A week in Ambleside sounds good, especially if the weather is decent and I imagine the crowds are not so bad before the August rush. I hope you will share your walks with us as well as the roofs. The odd chimney one is interesting. Looks like a fake Georgian facade added to an old cottage much the same as many houses in Ludlow were built. Behind many of the fakes were medieval timber-framed cottages!

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    • Yes, I think that house has definitely had an add-on! I’d love to know how it worked behind the two top windows. The town was very busy on Saturday evening – after that, it calmed down. This is probably about the latest I would want to be there until the autumn. Becky’s roofs are buying me time – quick posts to write while I compose something more detailed – so the walks will follow.

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  28. A change from Lancrigg this year, then.
    The weather has been glorious up in the Lakes for a few weeks. I’m Glad you benefited from it and I’m looking forward to reading your reports from your stay

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    • We decided it was time for a change, though we did pop in to Lancrigg for lunch one day and discovered it had new owners. We were really lucky with the weather, it was fabulous. More to follow!

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  30. So glad the grey disappeared so we could enjoy all these fabulous rooves under blue skies. Glorious and well worth all the climbing and rambling.

    Can’t keep up with all your gallivanting!

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