Relax - Intimations of immortality

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A WALK in the woods of England’s Lake District is communion with nature, where time floats with gentle breeze in the rolling hills.

Undisturbed in the green meadows, sheep graze and cattle tails swish like car wiper blades. The flowers have bolder colours as summer ripens.

Deep in the woods, the cuckoo calls. Quietly flows the brook. The lakes beckon.Then Windemere. The rest is poetry.

This is the rural England of Wordsworth and his Intimations of Immortality. No brash billboards blight the pastoral scene.

It's just the fields, livestock, trees, ancient churches, Roman walls, golden yew, English cottages.

Walk around the placid lakes in Tarn Hows and Hawkshead. The open spaces are carpeted with yellow buttercups and the tiny daisies are dwarfed by tall purple foxgloves.

Windemere, the longest and largest lake in England, has been immortalised by Wordsworth, who grew up in the Lake District.

Another illustrious inhabitant is Beatrix Potter, whose house on Hill Top is kept just as she left it.

Serenity at Beatrix Potter's Hill Top house.

Visitors can see her 17th century home in the hamlet where she wrote her famous children's stories.

Have lunch at the Tower Bank Arms, a pretty pub next to Hill Top.

It serves fresh fish-and-chips, toasted teacakes and home-baked bread.

The cottage pubs are quintessentially English. Bower House Inn is next to a stream.

Up in the mountains are the Roman ruins and you climb a steep and winding road to see them.

Lambs and tourists drive the local economy but farming now takes second place as more visitors throng the Lake District.

In Muncaster Castle, its owner Patrick Gordon Duff Pennington is an energetic octogenarian with a passion for gardening and poetry.

He writes poems and recites them under an 800-year-old Chestnut tree in front of his castle. The sprawling 77-acre wooded estate has an owl conservatory in a splendid garden.

On the dark side, spend a night in Muncaster Castle's Tapestry Room, touted as one of the spookiest places in England.

Don't shudder yet. A hair-raising Saturday night encounter with the resident ghost costs 495pounds (S$1,176) for a group of six.

Of the lovely gardens in Lake District, Levens Hall of 14th century vintage stands out with its prize-winning topiary of carefully pruned English yew, aged lime trees and beech hedges.

Another delightful attraction is Holker Hall, the stately home of Lord Cavendish.

The Elizabethan House, built in 1580, is magnificent.

One of England's great trees, a 400- year-old lime, grows in the Cavendish estate.

Up north from the Lake District is Manchester, two hours away by road.

A gay joint in Manchester's Canal Street.

The old industrial city boasts high culture with its concerts, drama and art shows.

Manchester now is a pale shadow of the economic powerhouse it once was, but it remains as spunky as ever with few inhibitions.

We saw a group of naked cyclists riding in the busy streets, presumably to mark World Naked Bike Ride day and promote riding.

There's Canal Street, a popular hangout for same sex liaisons. This is a gay place with one joint called Queer.

Visit Manchester United's (Man U) Old Trafford soccer stadium.

Man U's grand dame will be 100 years old next year.

The world famous football club is a mega money spinner and its 76,000-seat stadium is full each time a premiership game is played there, our guide says.

Some Man U die-hard fans have had their ashes scattered on the pitch when they passed. On the ball till the end.

The writer's trip was arranged by VisitBritain, the British national tourism authority.

For more information, go to visitBritain.com

MUST SEE

■ Windemere Lake, Hill Top, the English castles and gardens.

MUST DO

■ Walk in the woods of Lake District and have lunch in one of the cottage pubs.

■ In Manchester, stroll down Canal Street to soak in the gaiety.

GETTING THERE

British Airways has two daily direct flights from Singapore to London Heathrow Airport (Terminal 4). The airline operates

a joint station with Qantas, so there are two additional codeshare flights to London daily. Go to www.ba.com for more information.

British Rail has daily services to Lake District and Manchester. For flexi-pass tickets and timetables, go to www.BritRail.com

This article first appeared in The Straits Times special, "Natas Holidays 2009". It is published by the Special Projects Unit, Marketing Division, SPH.

Intimations of immortality

By Lee Kim Chew, Special Projects Unit | Fri, Aug 28 2009

Savour the poetic nature of England's Lake District and enjoy spunky Manchester, writes Lee Kim Chew.

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