The local civic society has been busy in Grange-over-Sands, putting up lots of blue plaques to explain various bits of the town's history and/or interesting buildings. There's one for the church, another for the municipal clock tower, and also several celebrating more obscure nooks and crannies. One of these announces that a detached, relatively old-looking [...]
After a weekend when both of us had to put in a fair bit of work, we took this morning off and headed for the small "seaside" town of Grange-over-Sands, about twenty miles south. I use seaside in quotes because it's on the shores of Morecambe Bay rather than the actual coast, and also because [...]
A whole year has whizzed by since the last set of Heritage Open Days and suddenly they're on us again. This year it's better than ever since the event lasts for two weekends rather than one, with the same fascinating mix of history and culture to explore. We're whizzing about ourselves at the moment and [...]
Abbot Hall art gallery in Kendal is perhaps one of the town's best kept secrets. It nestles down a side alley, past a car park, on the edge of the river next to the church, but hidden away behind its own original stable block, now the Museum of Lakeland Life and Industry. But if you [...]
We're in the middle of a long-lasting and unusual heatwave here. There's been no rain at all for over three weeks now, and temperatures have been around 26c for at least 15 consecutive days. That might not sound like much but believe me, it's almost unheard of for Cumbria, where the weather often changes every [...]
It's taken me longer to read this book than I'd hoped. At first it all sounded fantastic, with an elderly bookseller hero and a plot involving spies, ciphers, hidden libraries and a missing (and extremely valuable) book. And at first, it bowled along with great vigour as Isaac Inchbold was asked to track down the [...]
The title refers to the pet name for our local newspaper, the Westmorland Gazette. It's based in Kendal and has just reached a rather impressive milestone - it's 200 years old this year! The paper was first set up in 1818 by William Wordsworth and a crony, to counter what they saw as the Whig [...]
