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Halloween preparations – Hesket Newmarket, Cumbria

Our adventures this week have taken us to a small village called Hesket Newmarket.

You may remember we visited a place called Caldbeck a few weeks ago well, Hesket Newmarket is about 1.5 miles beyond this, down a narrow ‘B’ road.

The village is stretched along the main through road and has a Post Office, pub, church and has even been visited by a royalty.

It also has a strange custom of putting orange heads on display.

Possibly to scare away little boys, as we did not see any, or maybe it is a local custom only known to those who live nearby.

Brewery

Our journey today took us out of the city past our frequent walking place of Dalston, past Rose Castle, the home of the Bishops of Carlisle and high onto the Caldbeck fells.

This is sheep country and many of the woolly beasties were to be spotted grazing on the fells.

After parking the car, in one of the eight or so car parking spaces, we got the whiff of something a bit odd, a bit strong and actually quite sharp.

Hardly noticing the big collection of wooden sticks and debris ready for bonfire night in a week or so we sought out the source of the smell.

Charlie is best at seeking out smells, being a cocker spaniel, so he set to work and came upon a man moving big plastic drums around to and from a van.

It turns out that not only does the village have a pub, The Old Crown, but also has it’s own brewery.

Funnily enough called the Hesket Newmarket Brewery.

All now became clear as mum discovered that the smell was coming from the brewery so was a mixture of hops, yeast and something she called beer.

Co-op

Now that the source of the smell had been resolved dad took our leads and we went for a sniff around the grass and further investigation of the bonfire preparations.  Mum meanwhile visited the brewery information area for further research….. Good job she only likes wine and whiskey.

After a few minutes mum returned and recounted that the pub was the first co-operative pub in the country and is owned by over 100 people.  The brewery is also a co-operative started by around 60 people after fearing the micro-brewery would close in 1999.

Since this time the brewery has grown and now produces over 50 barrels a week of which some is bottled and sold in many specialist stores in the area.

Prince Charles visited the pub and brewery in 2004 where he opened a new temperature controlled storage facility.

Twelve roads or paths

Our expedition finally moved to the main high street and the pavement in front of the Old Crown Pub.

Opposite the pub and across the road is a strip of green grass with a number of ‘Do not park notices’ pushed in to it.

The pavement led, slightly uphill, towards a low canopied structure and the shop.

Hesket Newmarket is very old and is the meeting point of some twelve roads, bridle-tracks and footpaths.

Many of the buildings date from the late 17th to early 18th Century.

Hesket, as it is referred to occasionally, was granted it’s market charter in the early 18th Century.  However, the only evidence of this past is the Market Cross and the annual agricultural show held in September.

Unusual

Alongside the Market cross is a building known as the coach house. It is currently for sale with an asking price of around £210k

It is an unusual building and was used to house a carriage on the ground floor  with sleeping accommodation above for the groom.

Opposite the Post Office is a fine example of a finger post road sign which looks as if it has been recently refurbished.

We wondered if the company in Lanercost, Signpost restoration Ltd, had done the work on this black and white icon of our transport past.

Apart from the pub a community must have a good shop for all of life’s essentials.

Holiday rental

The village shop and tea room, with it’s old post box on the wall outside, stood behind us. A wooden bench was a tempting place to stop for a moment for something sticky and a warm cup of hot chocolate but it was a bit too cold and we were not allowed inside.

Maybe we can return in the summer.

As we continued up the hill dad spotted a large wooden sign which read ‘The Temperance  Hall‘ .

Research upon our return indicates that this property, like many others in the village, has become a holiday rental often owned by people from outside of the area.

Now at the edge of the village we turned around and returned, this time using the opposite side of the main street, towards the car.

With pink railings, guttering and downspouts the Free Church in Hesket Newmarket would seem a little bit of a rebel, decoration wise that is.

Carved into the stonework next to the main door is an unusual inscription for a church which reads, we think,  ’Dr Altham’.

We have no idea who Dr Altham is, or his connection to this building, maybe you know?

Crossing Point

Our walk took just about 40 minutes taking time to sniff and investigate so it is not somewhere we would come every week. However, it does make for a Sunday stroll or maybe a transit point on the Reivers Bike Trail to stop off and gather your thoughts over a pint of real ale and a pie from the village shop whilst sitting on the village green.

Further information

Appraisal of Hesket Newmarket Conservation Area -LDNPA

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Lake District Sheepdog Experience. Cumbria

Just spotted this website where you can learn all about working sheepdogs.

A fantastic instructional Border Collie sheepdog handling experience in Cumbria

This would make an ideal Christmas present for that ‘not sure what to get ‘ person.

http://www.lakedistrictsheepdogexperience.co.uk

Details are Troutal Farm
Seathwaite
Duddon Valley
Cumbria
LA20 6EF
United Kingdom
01229 716235

More details when we get them  - but the website is worth a visit

Please mention you spotted the link on ablogfrommydog.com

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Golden trees in Ennerdale, Cumbria

Saturday turned out to be a better day than anyone could have predicted with warm sunshine, a great walk and loads of paddling.

The brief was to go in search of autumn colours and all the guides hinted that Ennerdale was the place to visit.

Mum had written about a number of places around the county to visit in her article over on Naturearoundme all about the autumn gold rush.  So we thought we should visit at least one of them for on the job research.

Bowness Knott was to be our destination, situated in a place called Ennerdale near to West Cumbria. OS Grid Reference: NY109153

We have not visited this area before so all the sniffs are new and we were eager to go exploring.

Leading from the car park area was a firm, well drained forest track.  So the area would be ideal for pushchairs and wheelchairs with a helper.

To our right were high tall cliffs below which was a great lake of clear fresh water.  On our left was woodland mainly pine but also many other trees including oak.

Vehicles are not allowed on this track except for the occasional deliveries to the Youth Hostel.  So it is worth keeping a look out for these rare occasions.

Ennerdale Water was just too tempting and after about ten minutes the path came to the waters edge and we were straight in.

Cool, clear fresh lakeland water up to our tummies and great for a drink.  Stones and shingle made for a gentle slope from the path in to the water so we could paddle quite a way with our feet on the bottom.

Dad says that we should take care as it does get very deep, up to 40m,  in the middle.

Ennerdale Water is over 4km long and supplies drinking water to much of west Cumbria.

With a clear blue sky overhead, the autumn colours of the trees lined our path.  Rich golds were mixed with brown, dark green and every shade in-between as the trees get ready to rest for the winter.

Interestingly very few leaves were falling on to the road.  Must be some weird science going on.

With our lickers fully refreshed we continued down the path.  Being wet, some of the dusty road surface was starting to stick to our fur so, at every chance to go for a paddle, we just dived in.

Mum started to get a little fed up of this and we turned off the low road and climbed up to our left following another forest trail.

This path was a little bit steeper and zig zagged first to our right then to our left where Charlie once more put his nose to the air and detected water.

Off to our left and sounding quite spectacular was gushing water.  However, we could not see it, as it was hidden behind trees and undergrowth.

As we climbed the noise became louder until eventually a clearing and in the distance, we saw the source.

Trickling through the rocks and making a noise out of scale with the amount of water,  was a stream cascading between rocks.  Quite a disappointment as we were expecting at least a mini Niagara Falls:-)

No paddling to be had here as the stream was out of reach so we turned back down the hill towards our original path.

Towards the bottom of the hill mum spotted something white in the undergrowth at the side of the path.  She got all excited  as it turned out to be a bone.  For mum this sighting was like finding treasure .

At home she spends hours watching satellite tv and programmes about Egyptian Mummies and bodies.

What followed was just like a scene from a C.S.I. programme where they try and work out what happened.  If only mum had some yellow numbered cards and a torch the tableau would have been complete.

Charlie and I helped as we tracked down various bones amongst the leaf litter.

Eventually we found a skull situated a little way from the leg bones. Alongside it was a vertebrae.

Given that all the bones were clean, it would appear they had been in the forest for some while.  We kept our distance from the bones in case they had nasties on them.

Given the size of the leg bone, about 20cm,  the dead animal was quite short.

First indications pointed towards possibly a sheep or possibly a small roe deer.

Part of the  lower jaw bone was also found.  This confused the ‘crime scene’ as it looked quite angular. The teeth were not worn,  so the beastie may have been quite young.

Given that we had not seen sheep on our walk and that it was a woodland area, it would appear this may have been a small deer.  But not being experts we can only guess.  Can you identify the bones?  Let us know via the comments.

Leaving this part of the forest as we found it we returned to the original path and another quick paddle.

It is thirsty work searching out bones and new sniffs.

Dad decided that we had now walked far enough away from the car and we should start our return.

We returned to the car along our original path.

A circular path is available for walkers wishing to go over the tops and having the correct outdoor gear including a map and basic safety equipment.

Entering the car park we were made aware of the risks of venturing onto the fell tops as we past a collecting box for Coniston Mountain Rescue.

It is hard to believe but it looked as if many attempts had been made to break into the stone sided container.

It is worth noting that the car park is free and that toilets are not available in the area.

Further information

Learn all about autumn at the Woodlands Trust

All about why leaves change colour

Wainwright Pictorial Guides to the Lake District

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WebWatch with Charlie

It is a while since I took a good look around the web and posted a few website worthy of a quick mention.  Please get in touch if you would like to suggest your dog blog  or dog story for inclusion next time.

First thing I spotted was this article from the Daily Mail in the UK.
A paralysed dog has been put back on his feet again, raising hopes of a treatment for humans with severe spinal injuries.
Henry the miniature dachshund was unable to walk after discs ruptured in his spine last November. Read More

Here are a few more including some other dogs with blogs

Max the Golden Retriever’s Personal Blog – Max has become a bit of a celebrity even appearing in an article on CNN. Max is a three year old golden retriever who lives across the pond in the USA

 

All the Creatures – An unusual collection of videos, articles and still images featuring many kinds of animals including dogs.  We especially liked the idea of a heated bed .

 

The Hybrid Connection – Follow the adventures of two hybrid puppies. Sparky the Puggle (a cross between a Pug and a Beagle.)  and Patches the Beagler (a cross between a Beagle and a Cavalier King Charles Spaniel).

 

New Yorker Cartoon. A bit of fun this to make you smile.  I had my own blog for a while….

 

Max’s Dog-Blog – Life from the point of view of an  ’Overweight and Middle aged’ German Shepherd

 

You can follow the adventures of Harry a Border Terrier via his blog. Harry was named after Harry Potter but heis real posh name is Bramble Keeper.

 

Farley has his one blog here. Dog Tails is a dog blog and diary written by a Golden Retriever named Farley. He is also involved in the 1000 golden project to track down 1000 golden retrievers and their owners and how they get on together.

 

Their seems to be a bit of a thing going on here with linking to Golden retrievers but here is another one.  Charlie lives in oregon and by all accounts loves to play and share his toys.

 

The Kennel club has announced the winners for the Dog Photographer of the Year 2009.  You can see the images on Flickr

Do you know of any websites we should feature?

Please get in touch if you know of a website we can feature in my webwatch feature next time.  Please get in touch via the contact us form at the top of this page.