Recently, as I’ve been walking around the Lake District taking wintry photographs (even though theoretically it’s been Spring!) I’ve been reading more about the geology with a view to getting a better understanding not only of the character of the mountains but also of the ways in which in the centuries before tourism our ancestors extracted a living from this often unforgiving landscape.

Here then are three books on this theme, two of which are specific to the Lake District and the first about British mountains more generally.

I suppose those first three were not truly a miscellany as they all focused on a single theme, and here now are three more that could be thought of as related by the word, ‘portrait’. The first is a portrait of a mountain, Blencathra, or as it has long been popularly known, Saddleback. Next is a portrait of a person, the late great Alfred Wainwright and his mountain walking, whilst the third is a portrait of a region, the Lake District as a whole but with a particular twist, the Lake District in Winter.

And now my final three for today are a genuine miscellany. I’ll let the titles speak for themselves.

I hope you enjoy this selection, or at least some of them, and while I’m thinking of it you might also be interested in a little site I put together rather quickly last week showing some of the pictures I took of wintry Ullswater.

Lake District Walking Holidays With Your Dog

December 27, 2012

Many people like to take their dogs with them on holiday, and visitors to the Lake District are no exception to this. On our new ‘sister’ site, Lake District Accommodation 4u, there is some useful information about dog friendly accommodation in the Lake District and more will be added over coming weeks. There are two [...]

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Photography and Lake District Weather

December 24, 2012

Recently I introduced an old friend to one of my sites. A day or so later she came back to me on Facebook (by the way here’s my “Around-England” Facebook page) saying, “I’ve bought a book”. Later I discovered that it was a book about Lake District weather; she’d bought “” by Val Corbett. Val [...]

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A Lake District and Cumbrian Gift Miscellany

December 10, 2012

Looking for a gift for someone who appreciates the Lake District and Cumbria? Here is a miscellany of suggestions, most of them at great bargain prices. See also our new gifts site Lake District Gifts

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Lake District Map – Make sure you get the right one

July 21, 2012

There are different kinds of Lake District map. Which is the “right” one depends on how you intend to use it. There are “horses for courses”, to borrow an old saying from the title of my previous maps article back in January. While mentioning that article I should say that I don’t apologise for more [...]

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Mountain Biking in the Lake District

June 29, 2012

In contrast with yesterday’s more leisurely book about historic houses () today we have two for the more energetic among us. I admit that I’m not qualified to judge myself but recently I gave as a birthday gift to a younger family member. He was delighted with it so I thought I’d put up here [...]

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“Houses of the Lake District” – Christopher Holliday

June 29, 2012

Christopher Holliday’s 2011 book, , is surely a “must” for anyone either interested in the Lake District and its history or planning to incoporate historic house visits into a Lakeland holiday. Equally it will provide a splendid reminder of places visited in the past and an encouragement to return. In just over two hundred pages [...]

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The Story of Brough-under-Stainmore

June 21, 2012

Today’s book was published last year, but I don’t recall coming across it until yesterday when I bought a copy in the tea room at Brough Castle during one of my Eden Valley photographic expeditions. This is a remarkably well produced local history. In fact, as a devourer of local history works for more than [...]

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Lake District and Cumbrian History

June 6, 2012

Attitudes to history vary widely. For some it is full of fascinating stories whilst to others it seems irrelevant in a world that should be looking forward. By many, though, it is seen as essential to the understanding of our present lives and vital to our thinking about the way ahead – and that’s where [...]

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The English Lakes – The 18th Century and Today

May 14, 2012

Back in the late-1760s the poet Thomas Gray travelled twice to the Lake District. The first visit was very short but he was so impressed that he returned a couple of years later and wrote extensively about about it. Sadly, he died in 1771 but in 1775 his account was publish as a “Journal of [...]

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