Thoughts on the Cumbrian Fells

I have lived with my family in West Cumbria for twelve years now and the beauty of this area still has the power to take my breath away.

We've had some very cold weather and some foul weather over the past few days: and since earlier this week the fells and mountains like Scafell Pike have been snow-capped.

I had a long journey back home this lunchtime after a meeting and after dropping a colleague who had attended it back home. It had been a grey and wet morning but the sky suddenly cleared as I was driving along a very high stretch of road.

I was suddenly presented with an amazing vista of rolling fields, hills and mountains, the furthest of which were more than twenty miles away, gleaming white in the sun. There are no words to describe how beautiful it was, but it reminded me that Cumbria is one of the most lovely places in the world.

When we are trying to recruit people to staff our hospitals we ought to do more to emphasise how fantastically lovely this are is and some of the other very real health and quality of life advantages of living here.

Comments

Anonymous said…
The Landscape is all Cumbria has and that even that is under threat from all angles.
12:06 am
Chris Whiteside said…
I think that is unduly negative. The people of Cumbria are an even greater asset than the landscape.

There are three reasons why I particularly like living here: the people, the landscape, and the food, in that order.
7:13 pm
Anonymous said…
Do you eat Cumbrian Seafood? I don't know anyone that does.
10:32 pm
Chris Whiteside said…
I was thinking when I made the comment more of things like Herdwick Lamb, Cumberland Sausage, and a great variety of other local dishes and treats.

Whitehaven has some of the best seafood restaurants I've found anywhere, such as Arrighi's and Crosby's, and Keswick has some excellent seafood restaurants too, though I have never asked how locally their fish is sourced.
11:08 am
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