Friday 10 February 2012

The English Lake District

Thanks to Sylvia Ney for this 'Smart Cookie' award.  I've never thought of myself as 'smart cookie' before LOL

Rules for recipients:

1) Thank and provide a link to the persona who awarded you.

2) Share 4 interesting or little known facts about anything.

3) Pass the award on to other "smart cookies".

Okay, so for my 4 interesting facts, I'll give you four facts about the English Lake District, since my recently released romance 'Fragrance of Violets' is set there.

1. The poet William Wordsworth is buried in Grasmere Churchyard.  Probably his most famous poem is 'Daffodils'
I wandered lonely as a cloud
That floats on high, o'er vales and hills,
When all at once I saw crowd,
A host of golden daffodils;
Beside the lake, beneath the trees,
Fluttering and dancing in the breeze.




2. Wordsworth attended this school in the village of Hawkshead, from 1778 to 1787. The school was founded in 1585, but the present building dates from 1675, and it remained as a school until 1909.



Like many schoolboys, he even carved his name on one of the desks (now preserved in a special frame)


3. St Michael and All Angels Church in Hawkshead is on a small hill
overlooking the village.

Wordsworth wrote about it in one of his poems:

I saw the snow-white church upon her hill
Sit like a throned lady sending out
A gracious look over all her domain.

At the time he was at school in Hawkshead, the 12th century church was whitewashed, hence the 'snow-white church'.


4. Near to the village Hawkshead is the small hamlet of Near Sawrey, where the children's writer Beatrix Potter lived.  She bought a 17th century stone house, called Hill Top, in 1905, and lived there for several years. Many of her characters, such as Tom Kitten and Jemima Puddleduck, were created here, and her books contain pictures which show the house and garden.



Now to award some other 'Smart Cookies' - doesn't say how many, so any blogger from The Writers' Post blog group is welcome to pick up this award, since you're all 'smart cookies'!

11 comments:

  1. I feel educated. Did you see the film about Beatrix Potter?

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  2. Thanks, Jillian!

    Recognised a lot of the 'location' places in Miss Potter, Ana. When I used to go up to the Lakes in the 60's and 70's, there were still people in Hawkshead who remembered her doing her shopping in the village. She bought a lot of land around there and left it all to the National Trust when she died, including the farm where we used to have our caravan.

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  3. Stopping by from The Writers' Post to pick up my smart cookie award. I won't get this to my blog until next week-but I will post there. SO thank you. And interesting information about William Wordsworth :)

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  4. Beautiful pictures. I love that they saved and framed his name in the desk!

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  5. Thanks, Jenn and Debra. The village has a lot of links with Wordsworth and the house where he lived during his school days there still exists, too.

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  6. nice pictures.
    thanks for stopping by my blog and commenting about my UPSET.

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  7. Nice pictures and interesting facts. Thank you for including me in the smart cookie award through the Writer's Post!

    Kathy
    http://gigglingtruckerswife.blogspot.com

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  8. Well Paula that was a fun way to to see some of the things about you! I enjoyed the visit, and thank you for the cookie :-)

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  9. A very interesting and informative post. A great read. I studied Wordsworth (amongst many other poets) in school and the poem "The Solitary Reaper" comes to mind. Stopping by from The Writer's Post. Thanks for the cookie.

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  10. Danneromero - thanks for visiting here too!

    Kathy - thanks for the new award you've just given me!

    November - glad you enjoyed it!

    Suzy - must confess I've never read 'The Solitary Reaper' - but I do like Wordsworth's 'Prelude.'

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