eric robson's hawkshead...

Stroll out from Hawkshead onto Claife Heights. By gentle woodland paths with spectacular views over Esthwaite Water to the west and Windermere to the east you can travel back to an age when this place was one of the most fashionable in England.  When Thomas West wrote the first ever guide book to the Lakes in 1778 he singled out Claife Station for particular mention.

"This station is now sufficiently pointed out
by the elegant building lately erected thereon..
which renders it one of the most delightful
places near the lake"

The station - essentially a viewing chamber - is a ruin now but in the age of the picturesque, when visitors to Lakeland took instruction in how properly to view and appreciate scenery, this was the place to see and, as important, be seen.

The building was approached by walkways, illuminated on summer evenings by Chinese lanterns hung from the trees. The building itself had a drawing room which looked out to Windermere and the mountains. Each window revealed a different aspect through a different coloured glass which attempted to replicate the spirit of the seasons and the changing weather. Light blue for winter, green for spring, yellow for summer and orange for autumn. Dark blue gave a sense of moonlight and lilac the threat of a thunderstorm.  And just imagine those early visitors standing in the drawing room with their backs to the windows and looking at the view as reflected in a mirror known as a Claude glass. It was as if the scene was too wild and terrifying to view in reality. It had to be captured and tamed by the mirror.

So make sure you take a little mirror with you to get an impression of how landscape was appreciated two and a bit centuries ago.