Howe Foot Holiday Cottages
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Greetings Cards From Lake District Travel Guide
The one thing that you can safely say about the Lake District and the rest of Cumbria is that they're certainly not short of a brilliant view. Climb any fell, walk through any valley, saunter by any shore and you'll find something to celebrate, to cherish and to take the breath away.
There are, of course, the classic sights. The most famous one, perhaps, is looking down Wastwater, England's deepest lake, towards Yewbarrow fell, Great Gable and Lingmell fell, one which watchers of ITV some years ago voted 'Britains favourite view'. That scene (picture) also forms the logo of the Lake District National Park.
Much closer to Howe Foot is Coniston Water, a lake associated with the great Victorian John Ruskin, land and water speed ace Donald Campbell and writer Arthur Ransome. 20 minutes or so by car from your cottage brings you to the southern end of the lake where you'll be able to pull over and admire the view.
That sight of the area's third largest lake (picture) provides one of the images for a number of greetings cards - featuring a variety of Lakeland scenes - which I'm producing, and which you can view and buy at either of the Howe Foot cottages. You can purchase them individually (they're a good alternative to a postcard) or as a collection of five.
The idea for them came from a couple of friends who'd both had cards printed from their own art work. Impressed with the quality, and because I spend a lot of time travelling around the Lake District taking pictures for my own website, I thought I'd turn some of the images into cards.
But, as I've learnt from canvassing various people, everyone has a different view of what constitutes a 'good picture' when it comes to greetings cards. Some, for instance, don't mind figures in the picture, others think that people detract from the view.
Sue at Howe Foot likes there 'to be more than just a view in the photograph, apart from when it is a lake view and you can see the mountains in the background.' One of the cards that she is stocking at her cottages is exactly that - 'Buttermere morning'.
Buttermere is a great subject for photographs because few other stretches of water in the Lake District combine such drama and beauty over a relatively short distance as this one. And when you spot Highland cattle taking a dip in the water, as I did on a walk in July, that definitely adds something to the picture. You can see two in the picture here but the card itself has four.
A number of those whose opinions I sought liked the idea of a 'peaceful view', others liked ones which reminded them of a particular village or town. The card called 'River Eea at Cartmel' satisfies both criteria, I think. Cartmel, incidentally, is about 12 miles from Howe Foot.
The cards themselves are sized at 127mm x 178mm (5ins x 7ins) with no border around the image. They're printed on 300 gsm card and are blank inside. On the back there's a thumbnail version of the cover photograph, plus the title and Lake District travel guide website.
The cards come with a white envelope and both are wrapped in a 'compostable, biodegradable, recyclable' sleeve. There are a number of different images from across Lakeland to choose from but all are original photographs.
They include Coniston Water, Windermere 'steamers', Ullswater, Keswick Launch at Derwentwater, Ashness Bridge in Borrowdale, Blea Tarn in the Langdales, Wasdale, Kentmere (picture, the valley where Sue hails from) and Grasmere, the heart of William Wordsworth country.
The pictures for both Windermere 'steamers' (pictured here) and for Keswick Launch were taken fairly early in the morning, the former at Lakeside at the southern end of Windermere which is about 25 minutes drive way from Howe Foot.
So if you love the Lake District and Cumbria and you want to share their beauty with family and friends, look out for the cards on show and on sale at Howe Foot. As they are blank inside, they're perfect for any occasion…..or just to keep as a cherished memory of a lovely Lakeland holiday.
Christian Dymond
www.lakedistricttravelguide.co.uk
Posted 20th October 2021
