Location Summary
NT manged property. Extensive grounds for walking. Lakeside (Windermere), woodlands and open areas. Picturesque garden areas. Opportunity to extend walks beyond the Estate boundaries.
Gothic boat houses.
Website: NT Fell Foot
Car Park: Paid (free for NT members)
Fee: Free
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Captain's Log
First View Of Vintage Caravan
21/04/23
Daffys
We'd just been to the top of a very blustery Gummer's How (see Not Quite Summer On Gummer) and had driven the short distance down to the National Trust's Fell Foot. Conditions were a lot calmer down at this level. We started heading down towards the lake from the carpark. The Daffodills looked so resplendent in the flower beds that even Wordsworth would have been inspired to pen a verse or two.
A Steam Train Arrived As We Walked Alongside The Lake
Inside The Vintage Caravan
Vintage Caravan
A sign indicated a vintage caravan display and we trotted along to have a look at it. There was just one small caravan but you could go inside and have a look around. In 1949 Fell Foot was created as a caravan site and this was one of the caravans from the late 1960s. My parents used to have a similarly sized (10 foot) caravan that formed many happy memories of my childhood. I kept hitting my head on the roof of this caravan and so either I've got taller or there was more headroom in my parent's caravan. The inside of the caravan was kitted out with items from that era. There didn't seem to be much that difference between this vintage caravan and that of my parents. It actually felt quite cosy in there and I thought about laying down and having a kip. I wasn't sure where the Cabin Boy and Kapitan Mo would sleep though, and so we decided to continue our potter around the park.
Boat House
Rhododendron Bush
Potter Around The Gardens
Some Rhododendrons had wonderful pink flowers, although not quite as fulsome a display as I'd seen in their native Nepal. Without the protection of the trees it was windier at the lake side. A Black Headed Gull strutted around near us, looking for trouble. The lake was crowded with anchored small boats and a steam train joined the party on the other bank. It is a fantastic view looking northwards along the lake. Up on our right side we could see the summit of Gummer How where we'd been battered by the wind not longer than an hour ago.
Fell Foot isn't a large National Trust site but you certainly get your money's worth in terms of scenery. Our potter around the grounds had lasted less than an hour but it was well worth the visit.
Gothic Boathouses
09/11/22
First Visit
I was on my way back to Ambleside after spending the morning at Sandscale Haws, when I saw the National Trust sign for Fell Foot and decided to drop in. The park is at the very bottom of Lake Windermere, where the lake turns into a river, and heads off to Newby Bridge. From the carpark, I descended through some very pretty woodlands to an even prettier lakeside. The views northwards along the lake were excellent and I started wandering to some buildings on the shoreline. These turned out to be some very impressive gothic styled boathouses, one of which had been converted into a cafe. A flotilla of boats was scattered over the lake and many stored on the shore, in a boatyard. I'd guess this place is heaving on a summer's day; far better to visit midweek in November. I chatted with a chap taking photos of the boathouses. He'd been over at Castlerigg in the morning and had mixed weather. It looks like I made the correct decision spending the first part of the day on the coast.
Black Headed Gull
I retraced my steps along the shoreline and then followed some trail posts ('Meadow Trail') that directed me southwards along the river. I saw a Greater Spotted Woodpecker near the top of a tree. Even though the light was fading it looked remarkably colourful. A Hawk jet flew overhead and made its way up Lake Windermere. I noticed that it had a red, white and blue banded flag on the tail wing. I presumed this was Dutch...although it had an RAF roundel on its fuselage. How confusing. I had a look at its route on the website, Flightradar24. It looks like it took off from Anglesey at 14:12 before returning at 15:15. It appears to have spent most of the time over the sea between Wales and the Lake District. For some reason the route it took through the Lake District doesn't appear on the map.
The trail had ended up in a large field and so I walked around its edge back to the lake. The hill on the east side of the Lake is Gummer's How. The view from the top, along the Lake, must be very good and I put it on my future list of possible short walks. A rainbow appeared at the far end of the lake, but it had dissipated by the time I'd sorted my camera out.
The wander around Fell Foot had been a great way to spend a couple of hours. Given its location, it is definitely one to do on less busy days.