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BB2335
: Trouble at t'Mill
Wednesday
13th December 2023
Staveley
is an interesting place. Although
in the National Park, it is not a tourist
honey trap. It’s a working village.
Once upon a time it had several bobbin
mils. The one in the centre of the village
still remains though the building is now
used as Wilf’s café. Surrounding
it are several modern, industrial type units
that house the Hawkshead Brewery and bar,
Wheelbase bike store, More bakery and lots
of small businesses. It also has a
large yard with plenty of parking which
is free.
Or
is it?
According
to the Mill Yard website it certainly is.
“Follow signs into Staveley and
turn at the Spar shop into the Mill Yard,
where there is plenty of free parking”.
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However
on entering the car park things seem somewhat
different. There are many intimidating
posters telling quite a different story.
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Wilf’s
was to be our meeting point. Would
we have to pay to park or not? We
asked the lass on the counter before we
ordered our coffees. “Not today,”
she said. “But from next week you’ll
have to pay”. She clearly wasn’t too
pleased. Nor are we. Staveley Mill
Yard has been a success story. Why
risk spoiling it?
Anyway,
we decided to take advantage of the free
parking whilst we could. Next time
we’ll park out on the streets. Or
somewhere that would actually welcome our
custom.
Our
first objective was Reston Scar.
This
is a modest little hill to the north, bordered
by the A591 as it winds its way to Windermere.
It might be small but from its twin
peaks it does command a superb view of the
Lakeland panorama.
Our
second objective was lunch. We dropped
down to the River Kent .....
.....
then climbed to the
remains of what might once have been a house
at Elfhowe.
The weather was somewhat
strange. It was a glorious day with
a rainbow! Whilst we ate lunch there
was a waft of the thinnest raindrops you
will ever encounter and then it was sunny
again.
We
couldn’t linger too long as we had arranged
to meet Stephen down at the Hagg Foot bridge
over the river and we were now well behind
schedule.
We took the minor road that
leads to Littlewood Farm where Tony paid
respects to his friend that is buried in
the private graveyard.....
.....
then dropped down
to the left bank of the river and followed
the permissive path to the bridge where
Stephen awaited us.
The
path alongside the right bank back towards
Staveley is a very pleasant trail. There
is a huge barn that puzzles us.
A
lot of money has obviously been spent on
installing solar panels and skylights but
there are few other means of letting light
into what must be a massive interior space.
There is no road access so what is
its purpose?
The
path turns away from the river to the road
and normally I would have had a moan about
its diversion in 1999. However today
was a different matter. Thanks to
the diversion we passed the barn where Richard
winters his boat. We spotted his car
so went to see what project he was working
on instead of coming out with us. It
was a rather fine, large wooden boat.
I
wish I could remember details of its history
but I can’t except that during the war it
was used as some sort of defence boat for
the seaplanes that were being built at Windermere.
Now it is a beautiful craft though
some rot has been discovered in the woodwork
which is why he was there. Apparently
mahogany is not a good wood to have under
the waterline.
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After
entering the village we reached the Eagle
and Child.
I hadn’t previously considered
the origins of this pub name.
There are many variations of the story
in ancient folklore but most involve a male
child found in a nest being cared for
by an eagle. The child was then rescued
by a nobleman who adopted him.
We
had a very warm welcome plus decent beer.
Maybe we should adopt the Eagle and
Child? There might be trouble at t’mill
but there’s pints of pleasure at t’pub.
Don,
Wednesday 13th December 2023
Thanks to
Mike, Robert and Tony for several
of the photos
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