Tranquility and Red Squirrels

The Haweswater Hotel by the side of the lake is magic.  It’s the only building along the length of the lake and must be one of the most tranquil places to stay in the whole of the Lake District.  Built in 1937, the interior is pure Art Deco, with most of the original features intact.  That said it’s the outside that impresses most.  On a rare beautiful sunny day and with not a breath of wind, we sit in the garden overlooking the steep-sided valley drinking in the peace.  Blackcaps sing from the wooded slope behind, House Martins feed young in nests beneath the roof of the hotel and Chaffinches fly back and forth taking peanuts from the bird tables.  But it’s the Red Squirrels that provide the real magic.  So tame but yet so wild, they too come for the peanuts, sitting in classic Squirrel Nutkin poses on the lawn just a couple of yards from the excited guests. There’s a Golden Eagle in the valley behind the hotel, which may be the only one in England, but it’s impossible to leave the squirrels that for me define a part of wild England now mostly gone. They strengthen my resolve to campaign for the culling of Grey Squirrels.