Some walks you can never tire of...

I think we probably walk from home, up to Tarn Hows at least once a week. We never get tired of it, there are several routes, the walk is different every time and the views are just so beautiful. How could anyone tire of this. No, we just feel lucky to be able to enjoy this experience whenever we want too.
This time we decided to take the path from the village that runs alongside the road to Hawkshead, down past the lake and into Monk Coniston Woods at a place called Boon Crag. The woods here are part of the Monk Coniston estate and have been managed by The National Trust since Beatrix Potter left them to The Trust as part of her bequest. Monk Coniston was previously owned by a Lancashire mill owner, James Marshall. He collected trees from all around the world and so many of the trees here are not strictly native, but the mature woodlands are a wonderful and interesting place to be. Without straying from the path I recently identified some 17 different species and there were a few others that I couldn't identify, including quite a few coniferous trees that I find tricky to tell, one from another.

This tree caught my attention as we walked through the wood. For some reason it's bark seems to spiral around the trunk. I think it is a young redwood.

In the sunny glades within the wood there were lots of Speckled Wood butterflies.

And this cherry tree, playing host to a fern, looking very comfortable with it's marsupial like home.

At High Cross the path leaves the wood and the view back to Coniston Old Man opens out.

There is a small tarn near the crossroads at High Cross, it is known as Wharton Tarn.

Turning left, the path then follows a ridge, sometimes through woodlands and sometimes through more open areas like here, looking through a gap n the wall towards Fairfield.

After a mile and a half the path reaches Tarn Hows.

Always fabulous views in all directions.

Deer can do a lot of damage to the trees by feeding on the bark. This small area above Tarn Hows has several trees recently stripped of their bark by deer. It's unlikely that these Rowan trees will survive.

We walked around the tarn and then took the footpath from the main car park, back down through the Monk Coniston Woods, returning to Boon Crag, the lake and eventually the village. A walk of around three hours, allowing time for photography. The above picture is the summer house at Monk Coniston Hall.