Pictures of the Week: Lake Coniston, Cumbria

We’re up in Cumbria, for a week with friends. Each day we’ve taken it in turns to chose a trip, and my turn was on Tuesday. The plan was to visit Brantwood House on the shores of Lake Coniston, once the home of John Ruskin: Victorian writer, art critic and social reformer.

One unplanned, but enjoyable, theme of the holiday was that we travelled across the lakes we visited by boat. So far we’ve sailed across, Ulllswater, Coniston and Windermere. Tuesday’s trip across Coniston gave us great views across the lake towards the dominant mountain in the area: the Old Man of Coniston. The boat that took us over Coniston to Brantwood was a fairly modern diesel vessel, but those lucky enough to visit Coniston in summer get to travel on this elegant launch.

This steam launch sails up, tours round Lake Coniston during the summer months

The Old Man of Coniston is around 2,600, feet high and dominates the lake. It’s easily viewed from anywhere on Coniston, but the best views are from John Ruskin’s study. It must be easy to be creative and original when this is the view from your desk.

This panorama shows the old Man of Coniston, just left of centre and the its surrounding hills.

It’s relaxing to be with friends in such a wonderful part of the country. Ruskin’s house was a revelation, and gave me lots of things to think about. Maybe I’ll write about those later, but one thing he wrote really made an impact on me:

There is no wealth but life.

Sometimes the most profound things are the most obvious. Enjoy the pictures!