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Windermere

Birthwaite village no longer features on any map, thanks to the Kendal and Windermere Railway Company, which built a branch line to it in 1847. With an eye on tourist traffic, and considering the name Birthwaite had little appeal, they named the station Windermere, even though the lake is over a mile distant. In the early days carriages, and in later years buses, linked the station with the landing stages in the village of Bowness on the shores of the lake. As the village burgeoned into a prosperous Victorian resort, it became popularly, and then officially, known by the name of its station, while Windermere water was given the redundant prefix of Lake.

The Victorian heritage still predominates in the many large houses here, originally built as country retreats for Manchester businessmen - the railway made it possible for them to reach this idyllic countryside in just over two hours. Hotels, boarding houses, comfortable villas and shops sprang up around the station and spread rapidly down the hill towards the lake until Birthwaite and Bowness were linked together.

Windermere's railway is still operating, albeit now as a single track branch line. The Lakes Line is the only surviving line to run into the heart of the Lake District. Diesel railcars provide a busy shuttle service to and from the main line at Oxenholme. The route, through Kendal, Burneside and Staveley, is a delight and provides a very pleasant alternative to the often crowded A591.

Within a few yards of Windermere Station, just across the busy main road, is a footpath that leads through the woods to one of the finest viewpoints in Lakeland, Orrest Head. This spectacular vantage point provides a 360-degree panoramic view that takes in the 10-mile length of Windermere, the Cumbrian hills and even the fells of the Yorkshire Pennines. In Victorian times, visitors wandered through such ravishing scenery carrying, not cameras, but small, tinted mirrors mounted in elaborate frames. Arriving at a picturesque spot, they placed themselves with their back to the view, held the mirrors above themselves and so observed the view framed as in a painting. As the image they saw recalled the romantic landscapes of Claude Lorraine, the mirrors were known as Claude Glasses.