Why I love the Lakes

 I first visited the Lake District over 30 years ago. My friend Sandra and I thought we would go up for a long weekend; that weekend it rained cats and dogs. We had driven up from Guildford in Surrey where the rain was gentle and posh and the rain in the Lakes was heavy and industrial.

 What struck me about the Lakes was the vibrant green everywhere, and it was great to inhale the fresh air and feel it hitting the bottom of your lungs. You immediately notice the peace and quiet especially at night- I found it simply amazing how much noise the brain learns to cut out, all the white noise, that if it didn’t block out you would go mad. For the first few days on a trip to the Lakes I could literally feel my ears straining to hear sound that wasn’t there. Eventually mind adapted and I felt content with the peace.

The pressure of having to live a perfect life all disappears. My Louis Vuitton bag was left on the bed as I feared it wouldn’t fare well in the wind and the rain of the Lakes. What appeared essential for one place and culture in the world suddenly turned into something quite different in another part of the globe where the main needs are to keep one warm and dry.

 I love it that there are more sheep than people. I spend a majority of my days dealing with people and their issues. Whether it’s coaching, counselling or business support it is people. Talking, long meetings issues, challenges, and ultimately human ego and its main shades.

Sheep eat, poo, baa and look cute! You can sit amongst them and they largely ignore you and sometimes come up for a friendly sniff if they feel brave enough.

 Just being in the ‘now’ is a gift rarely afforded in today’s fast pace life.  I recall one afternoon when the sky was so blue in stretched into infinity. A bird of prey, suspended high above me, the only contrast to otherwise perfect sky. I was sitting amongst the bull thrushes, hidden in part from the wadders, sea gulls, swans and Canada geese who floated aimlessly on Esthwaite water. All the while, huge pike stuck to the bottom of the lake, much to the annoyance of the persistent anglers above them determined to catch the elusive fish.

The air was cool and pure. I had drunk the sweetest cup of tea and lay on a carpet of green velvet grass. The warmth of the sun on my face served to relax me further. The call of blue tits high above me serves added to the serene ambience of this idyllic setting. What else can one ask for?

 Back to the cottage, we rented sitting in front of a roaring fire and watching the dancing flames cast reflections that spark my imagination to create images of an astronaut to an aspidistra. The crackling of the fire is the only noise that interrupts the otherwise peaceful silence. As I gaze out of the window and look across Esthwaite water, a mist descends as the sun yields to the moon. The mountains cut into the darkening sky as the Milky Way peeps out from clouds that hang like a cloak over the fells.

I fall asleep in front of the fire and am woken up from my deep slumber by the call of the robin as the dawn chorus breaks. There is a bird feeder that hangs from a branch of Rowan tree outside the front room and around it there is a swarm of birds, the agile nut hatch, the persistent red capped wood pecker, blue tits, and coals tits vie for position. The passive pheasants wait for the spray of spare seeds from above and the feisty solitary robin digs for worms.

As a lone rain cloud breaks across the top of the fells, releasing cold rain, the most beautiful rainbow appears, crowning the sky in all its glory.

There is so much to discover in the Lakes