Droving

This is ‘The Highland Drove’ in Great Salkeld, near Penrith - you should have been able to read this but, as you can see, by the time we came out it was raining and I had to take a hasty photo in the wet.

It’s many years since we were last here, but we used to come and had some really good meals. The place has changed hands several times since then and the current owners are relatively new. They do seem to be making a good go of it, trying to retain its local pub ambiance, whilst offering quality restaurant food and accommodation for visitors. We were impressed with the welcoming feel, the imaginative ever-changing menu and certainly both our meals today were excellent.

The reason I have chosen this photo is because I was interested in the links with the droving activities in earlier times. Apparently there were a few drove routes through here, with much livestock being driven along routes from Scotland to Southern England.

And this was an original droving inn, with a watering site Lonnin Dub, just behind near the river. I am not sure whether this still exists as a pond, but at one time it was one of the few breeding sites for the rare Great Crested Newt. It is marked, though not named, on the OS map and we were going to walk down to find it . . . then it rained. I will do some more research and return - we may have to sample the food here again anyway!