The new path though White Moss woods

Gone are the rocks, the tricky steps, the water, the mud, and in its place is a smooth super-highway.
This is supposedly for wheelchair access, but as there's a tricky bridge at the start of the path, and the narrow kissing gate at the end, that's not going to be easy ( plus, it's quite steep)

Local opinion is unsure - some people think this is just making the paths too  bland. We certainly hope that they won't tear the ancient kissing gate apart and replace it with a wide wooden gate as they are thinking of doing.

They ( the Lake District National Park) are also thinking about carving a path through the big rock that sticks out into Rydal Water- the one you have to walk over when the lake is high. Locals view the idea that the rock mught be blasted away with horror!

Anyway, this is what the path looks like now when you come off  Loughrigg terrace or the Rydal Water path, go through the kssing gate and into White Moss woods to walk back to White Moss House .

New path through White Moss Woods

The muddy area on the left is where the old path went. There were steep, uneven steps, that were very wet and in winter they became icy and very tricky. All the rocks have been taken out, and that area will be grass. The new path curves round by the wall, and you get a new view of Rydal Water ( you can just see Rydal Water in the background)

Here's the Kissing Gate at the entrance to White Moss Woods- must they widen it?

We're only open for guests at White Moss House until 5 November this year, but if you can get away this week you can see the new walk, enjoy the autumn colours, all at great rates. Click here to see our special offers, or email sue@whitemoss.com, or ring 015394 35295.

Wonderful Autumn Colours in the Lake District

It was a glorious day today- maybe the last chance this year to see the wonderful autumn colours in the sunshine, as the forecast is for cloudier weather.
Here is a selction taken this afternoon on my favourite White Moss walk, described here as walk 2

Penny Rock Woods and Grasmere Lake from Loughrigg Terrace

Brockstone Grasmere Holiday Cottage from Loughrigg Terrace

Peter playing in the leaves in Deer Bolt Wood

Tree by the River Rothay, White Moss

River Rothay, last of the autumn leaves, White Moss

 

I've taken lots of pictures of the new path-coming soon- bookmark this blog!

There's a new path through White Moss Woods

For the last two weeks they've been working on the path from the bridge near White Moss House that crosses the river and goes up to the kissing gate leading to Loughrigg terrace.
All the rocks have been removed, all the water has been diverted off the path, and chippings have been laid. We now have a perfectly smooth 5 foot wide path, that you can ( in theory) take a wheelchair along. (Not sure how you get the wheelchair over the bridge) Also, it is still, of course, quite steep, so you would need to be pretty strong .....

Local opinion is divided as to whether this is making the whole area too bland. I think this new path is lovely- you'll be able to go on a circular jog now from White Moss House on smooth paths for a really testing circuit. The old path was tricky- the steps and rocks were uneven, muddy, and very tricky in winter when the water froze and the whole path iced over. However, there is talk of removing the kissing gate and putting in a wide gate, again, so that wheelchairs can get through. I would hate to loose that lovely old kissing gate. Maybe a new wide gate could be put alongside?

I'm hoping to get photos later of the new path. Meanwhile, just to let you know, we still have a room for this weekend see here for our last minute Grasmere special offers. The trees are looking better than anyone can remember, and the weather forecast for the weekend is outstanding.

Here's a taster of what you might see if you can get to the Lakes soon.

Autmn colours on White Moss walk

Lake District sheep- they're everywhere!

I'm always surprised when visitors mention that there were lots of sheep on their walk today. Those of us who are lucky enough to live in the Lakes rub along with these quirky creatures all the time. Visitors from cities, or from parts of the world without sheep, find this odd!

Here's a picture from last week's walk from White Moss House to Silver Howe, Grasmere.

What are you doing here?

You can see Grasmere Lake, Grasmere Village, Allan Bank and Dunmail Raise in the background. The sheep clearly felt I was on her territory!

We close for our Winter break on 5 November, but there is still time to come and see the Autumn colours which are spectacular this year, and take advatntages of our Last Minute Grasmere bed and breakfast offers.

Autumn colours on a walk from White Moss House

We're very lucky to be able to walk from our door at White Moss House, and enjoy spectacular views of lakes and fells.

This week, the trees are turning glorious colours. Here's a photo I took as I walked through Penny Rock woods down to the bridge and weir at Grasmere lake- just a 10 minute stroll from White Moss House.

White Moss walk to Grasmere shore via Penny Rock woods

With a good forecast for the weekend, we're hoping to fill our last rooms. If you can get away for a last minute break, why not stay at White Moss House, leave your car on our car park ( for residents only- free!) and set out on one of these wonderful White Moss walks.

We've just added some new Grasmere bed and breakfast special offers for this weekend. Please pass this information on if you know anyone who might be able to take advantage of our last minute offers.

Walk from White Moss House to Silver Howe

Yesterday was a brilliant autumn days in the Lakes, so we took the chance to scoot up Silver Howe. It's one of the many great walks you can do from our door.

Starting off through White Moss Woods, we met the National Trust wardens who are improving the path there. Whilst taking to them, we all saw a lovely red squirrel, then a huge stag appeared, with enormous antlers. Apparently it was bellowing like mad first thing in the morning. It's that rutting time of year, as all us fans of Autumn Watch know.

We then walked along Loughrigg Terrace, across the Red Bank Road and over to Silver Howe. Here's the cairn on the top.

Looking at Grasmere and Rydal Water from the top of Silver Howe

We then headed off down to Grasmere via Sting's house ( he wasn't there- I've yet to see him) and Allan Bank , enjoyed a drink in the sunny garden at Tweedies, then hopped on the bus back to White Moss. I know, we could have walked back easily, but we had to get back to welcome our latest guests.

The trees really are looking great, and they've got several weeks of fantastic colour still to go- one good thing about the wet year we've had.If you can spare a few days, it's a great time to visit. Check out our special rates - we'd love to see you! Here's the link to our Grasmere offers page.

Beautiful autumn weather at White Moss, Grasmere

The weather's fantastic here right now, and the hanging basket looks as good as it has all year.

We're offering excellent rates from now until we close for our winter break ( on the morning of 5th November- no bonfire significance in the date!)

You can go to our website and check the White Moss House Grasmere Special offers page.

We now also have a new White Moss House Facebook Page. If you could take a minute to visit and give it a thumbs up that would be great. You can also become a Friend and get all the up to date information and offers.

If you can't manage to visit White Moss House this year, you can now make a reservation for 2013. We're already fully booked on a few dates, so it's a good idea to plan ahead, especially if you want to organise your own houseparty with us, and take all our 5 rooms for exclusive use of the whole place.