Tilberthwaite Valley

This morning I travelled to the Tilberthwaite Valley near Coniston, and from the car park walked to Little Langdale and back. Another very hot day so I came back to Holly for lunch and spent the rest of the day here. A couple of key things I needed to do got done.

The main image is of a part of a sheepfold created by Andy Goldsworthy, which is alongside a stream and near the car park. The interior of the fold has one of these panels and roundels on each side - this valley has seen centuries of the mining of green slate and copper: green slate, a wonderful material, is used here on each panel. Andy Goldsworthy wanted these sheepfolds to integrate with the landscape, and this certainly does - each roundel was partly obscured by bracken.

Near Little Langdale is a series of spectacular quarries - the Cathedral Quarry - which I had never heard of. Beatrix Potter bought the quarry in 1929 and donated it to the National Trust, who allowed quarrying to continue under license through to the 1950’s. The first cavern I entered was spectacular (extra) and is certainly cathedral like. The caverns were also cool and damp - a real relief on a hot day.