Day 23 - Coniston Country Fair and Day 24 - Stately Homes

July 24:  We ventured off today to the Coniston Country Fair, surprisingly in Coniston in the shadow of Old Man.  The day was full of low clouds and rain so we drove there using the rental car.  We covered the fair grounds pretty quickly - vendor stalls, food stands, a central arena marked out by a rope, several smaller arenas similarly designated, a 'walling' competition area (near an existing wall), and two large tents, one for crafts and one for refreshments.  There was also a small animal enclosure with a cow, 6 sheep, some 10-day-old chicks, and an egg sizing machine that sorts eggs by weight. (We were told that brown eggs, which is what is sold in England by and large, come from brown chickens.)  In contrast to the country fair we saw in Scotland, this one had many fewer farm animals and many more dogs - beagles, hounds, lurchers (a hybrid of greyhound and border collie)but not other sheep dogs.

The Fair from across the water

While it rained, the fair activities were mostly suspended.  We visited the walling competition where several young people were rebuilding a five-foot-high section of dry-laid stone wall.  This is a particularly important skill for the local farmers to have.  The cross section of a good wall is trapezoidal in shape, the two faces fitted together like a jigsaw puzzle, with larger stones at the bottom and connecting stones midway up that join the two faces.  Smaller stones, rubble-like, are placed in the middle between the two faces.

The walling competition site

We spent some time admiring the 3 Herdwick sheep - one tup (male), an ewe and her two lambs.  These are the highland, fell sheep indigenous now to this area but thought to have come originally from Norway.  They are hardy and extremely well adapted to fell grazing.  Their wool is coarse and not of much value, but the interpretative sign said the wool makes very good carpets - tough and long lasting.

Male Herdwick sheep

We then watched some dog judging of fox hounds and beagles.  There were contests for four beagles, matched pairs, and singles.  The larger fox hounds were judged individually.  We watched several red, blue and yellow ribbons awarded but were none the wiser on what makes a winning dog.

Champion beagles

The rain had mostly stopped by then, and the fair started up with children games in the large arena (egg carries, bag races, and even an egg toss).  We bought three varieties of cake in the refreshment tent; it appeared they were homemade by the local folk of the village.  We ate them while watching a demonstration by a falconry organization that had a variety of raptors and owls on display.

Peregrine

One more circuit of the grounds and a check-in at the walling competition was enough for us.  Elaine watched the egg tossing contest while Betsy and I bought the last 2 meat pies from a seller.

We drove over to the other side of Coniston Water to Brantwood, the last home of John Ruskin, so Elaine could tour the house and we could visit the gardens, which we had skipped the other time we were here, due to rain.  The various gardens are laid out on the hillside running down to the lakeside.  I took a lot of photos of the flowers up close and may put a collection of them together when I get home.  Elaine enjoyed the seeing the house and learning about John Ruskin.  We had tea at the cafe before driving home.

July 25:  The weather was a little better today, with less rain but the clouds were still low, obscuring the fell tops.  We visited two stately homes today - Blackwell Arts and Craft House and Sizergh Castle.

We arrived at Blackwell, just south of Bowness, a few minutes before it opened and strolled around the lawns.

There were several quirky, most unlike Beatrix Potter, sculptures (such as a badger as a bag lady) - not sure what the message was.

A "bag lady"

The inside of the house was spectacular.  Every space and all the furnishing reflected the arts and craft design principles.  The house reflected a number of the patterns that make space attractive.  For example, "The heart of every room is the hearth."  There were window seats in every room and benches bordering every fireplace, often placed in an inglenook and including a small window.  Spaces were arranged on different levels and moved the eye from shadow to light.  The woodworking and wood carving were superb.  In contrast to the Ruskin house, we noticed that we were more entranced by the inside of the house than the external views, even though it overlooks Windermere and its fells.

A very nice sideboard

Sizergh, southwest of Kendal, is a castle that has been in the family home of the Stricklands for over 750 years.  While the building and grounds were donated to the National Trust in 1950, the family still has rights to use some of the rooms.  While it was not said, it is a case of not having enough family fortune to maintain the house and gardens.  So why not give it away but retain partial use and let the Trust pay for upkeep.  The original tower (Norman-styled) was built in the 15th century and the rest of the house was added later.  The interiors are large, with dark wood paneling, huge fireplaces with intricately carved "overmantel" pieces, and wide-board, uneven floors.  It is reflective of a true castle, although never used as such.

Sizergh, with the reflecting pool in front and Norman-style tower on left (photo by Elaine)

One wall panel in the "Inlaid Room," considered the finest example of inlaid paneling in England

We took a guided tour of the several gardens.  We started off by viewing the traditional, two-level, great barn, a style designed for the Lakeland hill farms because it took up less room.  We then went to the south garden, with a "hot wall" designed to absorb sunlight to help grow plants needing warmth.  We saw a tall grass garden area which was originally designed to be in the Dutch-style, now just terraced with grasses.  Next was the reflecting pool, which has an infestation of carpet weed,  a surface algae that obscures the reflections.  A volunteer was pulling some of the weed out using a floating rake.  We next visited a limestone rock garden, with fine textures and a nice pallet of colors, the kitchen garden where local vegetables were being grown for the cafe, and finally to the stumpery, a "stump" garden.  The gardeners were still planting the stump garden which contains a hodgepodge of large stumps set on the ground with many ferns and other plants planted among them.  The garden is the 'keeper' or showcase of four rare ferns of England.

The "hot wall"

The new "Stumpery"

The limestone rock garden

We walked down to the nearby Strickland Arms Pub for what we hoped was drinks and snacks.  We did have beer and cider but food service had ended for the afternoon.  We had 'crisps' instead.