Hiley Website

Fine weather, chance for a walk, several emails and a previous meeting all fall into place today.

We decide on a walk on Sale Fell but call in to Wythop Village before we do

to visit the old School, the Mill and the Church.

On the way to Wythop . . . St Bartholomew's Church, Embleton, the other church in the valley.

The old School at Wythop, place of learning for one of our New Zealand Loweswatercam viewers in her youth.

The school has now closed and has been converted into a village resource as an independent hostel and local meeting room.

It is on the top road above the village and backs onto Ling Fell, a lovely position with fine views.

We have conversed by email in recent days . . .

Dear Ann and Roger,

Yes, I did go to Wythop School. Our headmaster (only 2 teachers) travelled from Whitehaven on the bus every day
and walked up to the school from the old main road. For years and years. I used to run down the steep brow going home -
always had skinned knees. Happy days.

My brother and his wife would be there when you visited the Mill. They started the cafe and museum and it closed when they left for Brisbane in 1999. All the buildings are separate residences now, the waterwheel is still there, being historic, but it all looks very different to my young days. It wasn't quite as tidy then, being a working mill, and the house was whitewashed.

It was a lovely place to grow up, lots of space, always a dog, hens, rabbits, a goat .... and the fells and woods to roam safely. I currently live in Gisborne, on the East Coast of the North Island, NZ.

Looking forward to following more of your walks,
Regards, Margaret

Hi,

I have been admiring your beautiful photographs of Wythop from your walk in March. I live on the hill above Wythop Mill, having been born and bred at Lake View which is next door to where I live now. I was one of the Garner family, several of whom still live in the same area. I, along with local Trustees, run the Old School as an independent hostel. The money earned is shared between the School Foundation, for the benefit of educational support for local children and the DEWODE, Uganda charity that I set up in 1997. We have built and supported a health centre in a remote village in northern Uganda.

I attended the School too, so was intrigued by your friend 'Margaret' in New Zealand. I guess that that would be Margaret Sealby from the Mill. Her brother and his wife were visiting at the time of your walk and were actually staying at my sister's house immediately above the Mill. There are glimpses of it in some of your photographs.

What a small world! Please pass on my kind regards to her when you are next in touch.

Kind regards, Pauline Hardie.



More local information on the Old School website.	Down now to Wythop Mill village itself.

As it happens I met the new owners of Wythop Mill in the shop in recent months

so we took the opportunity to call in and say hello, and see how the old mill looks now.

The bridge and bridge cottages at Wythop Mill.

The forecourt of the mill complex with another of Lakeland's red phone boxes.

The large house is Stables Cottage and the smaller is Sty Cottage, both available for self catering stays.

The mill has been converted as a fine dwelling and we were welcomed inside.

Through the glass next to the dining table is the inner gearing of the waterwheel.



The water wheel outside the back of the building.	It drove a timber mill when last in commercial use.

The side room . . . I think this was the entrance to the old tearooms when we visited in the 1980's.

In recent rains the wheel suddenly sprung into life as the mill pond above filled with water.

There was no-one more surprised than the new owners as it didn't say anything about that in the estate agents information.

With all the basics in place and still working they are now considering getting it back in good working order

and possibly generating electricity for the house and for the national grid.

Next thing you know they might even open a tearoom . . . only joking !

If you look over the wall from the road bridge you can see the sluice gate for the old mill pond.



The short water leat leads directly into the narrow pond.	At the far end is the secondary sluice gate for the mill itself.

Anyone any ideas as the best way to dig that lot out and re-instate the mill pond ?

Do email me with ideas and I'll pass them on.



Back at the car and looking over the wall at the mill stream outlet.	The third house of the mill complex is for sale . . . any takers ?

Many thanks to the new owners of Wythop Mill for the look around and we wish them the best in their (relatively) new home.

- - - o o o - - -

Distracted again as we pass the new St Margaret's Church . . . dating from 1806 when the old church at the back of the fell was closed.



One of two iconic lychgates set down at road level.	The churchyard daffodils are starting to look beautiful.

A diagonal view of the church with Sale Fell behind.

- - - o o o - - -

With the dogs in the car perhaps we had better go for a walk !

We parked just along from the church and headed up towards the fell through the large gate.

The good track climbs up behind the church through a stand of gorse bushes.

Up to the small memorial seat at the viewpoint.

Out of sight to the left is the church but ahead is Bass lake and the rounded outline of Binsey.

A left turn sets us on course for a clockwise perambulation around the fell.

Above us a small quarry which was possibly dug to provide stone for the church buildings ?

Below, zoomed in 'cos it was further away, the Pheasant Inn - Bassenthwaite.

Above and beyond . . . The houses of Dubwath.

Grand suburban-looking homes which may have been developed as a result of the railway

which would have ran across the picture had not Mr Beeching closed it in favour of widening the A66 roadway.

The full picture . . . from the fell fence, over the Dubwath Silver Meadows Nature Reserve, north into the haze.

They have been felling a crop of trees from the Wythop Woods

and now the secondary summit of Lothwaite heights is open to view.



The Routenbeck stream as it starts its cascade down the valley.	The gate out onto The Rivings where the stream starts.

Right again, leaving the wall and heading directly for the summit of Sale Fell.

Behind, the snow capped summit of Skiddaw rises like a new moon over the landscape of yellow winter grasses and bracken.

Zooming in . . . the darker intermediate summits of Ullock Pike, Longside Edge and Carlside are clearer now.

White stones of quarts off to the side from the summit of our fell.

Ann heads straight for the top.

Time to relax and enjoy the view . . . what you can see of it on this rather hazy day.

Still, to sit and relax on any summit is always a pleasure on a nice day, whatever the view.

Onward and clockwise, the low sun somewhat burning the colour from the photo.

Dylan leads, Harry follows . . . and I walk between, my jacket round my waist as it is now too warm to wear.

" Monarch of the Glen "

Down to earth with slightly more reasonable aspirations . . . he's just after an extra dog treat.

More gorse bushes as we start our descent towards the church.



Sheep graze by a mature hawthorn tree (?)	Both the large gate and the kissing gate have now gone.

The east window of St. Margaret's as we near the end of our walk.

This building always intrigues me. It stands a couple of hundred yards away round the corner from the church.

It is taller than it is wide and bears the plaque of the Wythop Sunday School. The architectural design is simple

but no clues as to the layout inside. Perhaps our New Zealand friend could throw some light on the matter ?

- - - o o o - - -

A bonus map of the walk teases you as to our next website outing.

It is a modern map, the colours altered slightly as shading

and printed out as a floor mat

to the scale of six inches to the mile.

It was an integral part of a Keswick Museum Exhibition.

All will be revealed once my pictures are sorted.

Watch this space . . . or should I say, watch the next space ?

- - - o o o - - -


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