“We haven’t had a Sunday trip to Cartmel for a while…”

It was true, aside from a short and very wet mid-winter visit, we hadn’t been to Cartmel for some time.

There was a good chance that we’d find spring in full bloom, and feel that brightening of the late April light that so ‘warms the soul’, even if the temperature of the eternal polar wind doesn’t.

It would also get us away from the sinus-pounding stench of the ‘manure plus’ (a village name for it) that the local farmers spread on the fields several times a year in these parts. Rumour has it they dump gone off milk in the mix, as well. The crops love it, I’m sure…

The EU had put a stop to this kind of practice, but a Brexit benefit has been the removal of such controls and a return to airborne toxicity. Who wants a nanny-state, anyway…

Cartmel didn’t have the stench. It does offer several dog walks around the edges of its famous racecourse. Tess adores them, and happily picked one for us.

Despite the near-constant rain, the place had a definite spring feel to it. Bluebells are always a welcome sight – even if they are the non-native French varieties.

We duly trotted up the dog’s favourite hillock, then down the other side and along the course of the river Eea, returning through the forest and back along the final leg of the racecourse into the village square.

One of the joys of a visit to Cartmel is an abundance of tea-rooms and old-fashioned coffee shops. Not a Costa or Starbucks in sight; not that there’s anything wrong with their coffee, but it’s nice to have a change and return to individuality.

Our favourite tearoom is also a B&B. The ground floor is divided into two ‘salons’, and the timeless decor is gentle on the mind for the end of a stroll.

The village is the home of the celebrated ‘Cartmel Sticky Toffee Pudding’. Combined with a walk and a latté, it’s hard to beat, even if it is still late morning.

No trip to Cartmel is complete without a visit to the local priory, once a powerful religious centre governing a vast area of former Lancashire and Westmorland.

©Stephen Tanham 2024

All photos taken and processed on an iPhone 12 ProMax.

Stephen Tanham is a writer-photographer and mystical teacher. He is the founding Director of the Silent Eye, which offers an exciting journey of the soul guided by lessons, inner experience and outer companionship.

There are two blog streams:

http://www.thesilenteye.co.uk

(mystically-oriented writing)

and

http://www.suningemini.blog

(general interest, poetry, humour and travel)

Contact: STEVETEMEQ@gmail.com.