July 2023

One evening in the very hot weather we had last month I took Max for a run along St. Bee’s beach where he cooled himself down in a pool after charging around chasing his ball along the beach.

Looking through my photos for the past month they are all  either very sunny with bright blue skies or cloudy and grey.

This picture of Buttermere was one of the latter but it was so still and calm that the colour didn’t seem to matter.

Once it started to rain properly we had an invasion of tiny frogs, they were hopping about in the field, crossing the road and several even hopped into the kitchen.

Cumbria is known for its natural beauty and its lakes and fells. However there is lot of human history here as well, I’ve written in earlier blogs about Neolithic remains and there is much Roman history. We are just south of Hadrian’s Wall and Carlisle was the northern frontier of the Roman Empire. This summer there has been an archaeological dig at Carlisle Cricket Club of what is thought to be a Roman bathhouse which I went to see on a cycle ride round the Carlisle area. Earlier in the season two Roman god head sculptures were unearthed there which were said to be ‘unique and priceless’. On our visit amongst other things we were shown were semi-precious stones that had been found in the drains system.

It’s been a bit of a month for history. Cockermouth Castle, a home of Lord Egremont, is open  to the public on a handful of days a year and I was lucky enough to be given a ticket for one of these. It was a fascinating visit, much of the castle is in ruins but sufficient still stands to help you envisage what it must have been like in times gone by. The dungeons were still intact!

Finally, coming back to the present day and Foulsyke, I am including a picture of the flower pots in the courtyard which have enjoyed and benefitted from the sunshine although I have had to provide them with a lot of water!