Coniston Fells

Today's the day ..................... for Arts & Crafts

Went to the launch of a new exhibition in Blackwell - the Arts & Crafts House, overlooking Windermere. It is all about the work of two outstanding Arts & Crafts architects and designers, Charles Voysey and Hugh Bailey Scott.

Baillie Scott designed Blackwell itself and Voysey designed two houses not far away called Broadleys and Moorcrag. Like Charles Rennie Mackintosh they were not only responsible for the actual building design, but also for furniture, wallpaper and other decorations that existed inside. They were commissioned around the turn of the 19th century by wealthy businessmen from the industrial north of England who were looking to build their 'holiday retreats' in the beautiful and unpolluted scenery of the Lake District.

This was the view on the way home looking back over Lake Windermere to the Coniston Fells. You can see why they might have been tempted ................