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Kirkby Lonsdale

One fine day in 1875, John Ruskin came to Kirkby Lonsdale and stood on the stone terrace overlooking the valley of the River Lune. It was, he declared, "one of the loveliest scenes in England, therefore in the world." He was equally enthusiastic about the busy little market town - "I do not know in all my country," he continued, "a place more naturally divine than Kirkby Lonsdale."

Ruskin had been inspired to visit the town after seeing Turner's painting of that view, and Turner himself had come in 1816 on the recommendation of William Wordsworth. All three of them made a point of going to see the Devil's Bridge over the Lune, a handsome, lofty structure of three fluted arches reputedly built by Satan himself in three days. According to legend, an old woman, unable to cross the deep river with her cattle, had asked the Devil to build her a bridge. He agreed but demanded in return the soul of the first creature to cross, but his evil plan was thwarted by Cumbrian cunning. The old woman threw a bun across the bridge that was retrieved by her dog and thus she cheated the Devil of a human soul.

Kirkby's Main Street is a picturesque jumble of houses spanning several centuries, with intriguing passages and alleyways skittering off in all directions, all of them worth exploring. It's still a pleasure to stroll along the narrow streets bearing names such as Jingling Lane, past the 16th-century weavers' cottages in Fairbank, across the Swine Market with its 600-year-old cross where traders have displayed their wares every Thursday for more than 700 years, past ancient hostelries to the even more venerable St Mary's Church with its noble Norman doorway and massive pillars. In the churchyard, a late Georgian gazebo looks across to the enchanting view of the Lune Valley painted by Turner.

The town has three times been national winner of the Britain in Bloom competition and also attracts thousands of visitors for its Victorian Fair, held on the first full weekend in September, and again in December for the Yuletide procession through streets ablaze with coloured lights and decorated Christmas trees.