Wisteria by Windows and Water

Flowers line the walls of Blackwell, a house designed in the Art and Crafts style. As it is June the Wisteria is in full bloom, glimpsed here through one of the small stained glass windows.  For an expansive view of the surroundings one can walk over

and sit on a window seat to gaze over the lake.  This particular day was overcast but with little wind.

Windermere was like glass, the only ripples from the small boats sailing along.

A more rustic view of Wisteria on a country cottage. Patience is required when growing this plant and though it thrives on neglect it does demand regular pruning. Grown from seed it can take 20 years to bloom, from a grafted plants it may only be a couple of year although it took a friends seven years to flower.  It was worth the wait seeing it spill over and through their pergola. Perhaps in a 100 years it may end up like this one.

St Bees Head

And lastly a winding coastal path on top of the cliffs of St Bees weaving its way through bluebells which I include because I am amazed they are still with us a month after they have usually long gone, the  result of late blooming after the coldest spring for 50 years.  I wonder what they think of the June sunshine. 

An entry to ABC Wednesday - a wander through the alphabet

Lakeside

There are many lake sides but unlike most of the names in the south lakes area which are Scandinavian or Celtic in origin and sometimes obscure, this ones meaning is in no doubt, because says exactly what it is in plain English, Lakeside.  In Victorian times tourists would come into the area by train but only so far as the margins of the lakes, the narrow valleys and mountains were the barrier.  The London Midland Region trains travel travelled up from London Euston to Carlisle and branches ran off, all change to the Furness Railway to get to Lakeside, but not today.

This heritage line is now cut off from its original route and only travels from Haverthwaite to Lakeside but the train seen here arriving is one that might have got you all the way in 1949 for it is an LMS Fairburn Tank loco.  277 were built and this is one of two owned by the Lakeside and  Haverthwaite Railway still steaming up and down the line.  Dismounting from the train cross the platform and round the corner

 is the steamer terminal, in this case of the boat variety rather than locomotive. 

a pleasant place to wait for the journey down the lake

or watch the boats laid up by the jetties

All aboard.  Well not when I took this picture as it was laid up, but they are steaming every hour from 9:15 onwards now as we enter the tourist season.  Wonder what the weather is like?  Check the web-cam, although not as I post this as it is rather late in the day but hopefully it will be in sunlight on Wednesday.

An entry to ABC Wednesday.  A journey through the alphabet.