Gateway to the Lakes

Today's the day ............................ for a few home truths

This is Kendal, the place where I live. Sometimes called the Gateway to the Lakes, it is the third largest town in Cumbria with a population of about 27,500. Since 1189, when it received its market charter, it has been a bustling market town.

Here's a few facts that you may or may not know about the town:

Katherine Parr, the sixth and sole-surviving wife of Henry VIII, was the granddaughter of William Parr, the last baron to live at Kendal Castle.

The Ring o' Bells at Kirkland (built 1741) is the only pub in the UK that stands on consecrated ground. It was apparently built to provide refreshment for churchwardens who had the thirsty task of gathering up parishioners intent on evading church services.

High Tenterfell is one of many sites around Kendal where newly washed cloths were stretched out on rows of tenterframes to dry. The phrase 'to be on tenterhooks' (in a state of high tension) comes from this practice of stretching cloths on frames.

The most famous woollen cloth made in Kendal is 'Kendal Green' - a hardwearing cloth said to have been worn by the Kendal Bowmen (who fought at the battles of Crecy in1346 and Poitiers in 1356). Shakespeare refers to 'Kendal-green' in Henry IV (Part I), so it was already well-known by 1597.

Kendal Brown Snuff is a product of trade from North America and the Caribbean. Kendal used to have several snuff-making industries, of which one still survives - Samuel Gawith & Co.

Kendal Mint Cake, made of sugar, with peppermint flavouring and other 'secret' ingredients, is still made in Kendal by Romneys, Quiggins and Wilsons. It was taken to the Antarctic by Sir Ernest Shackleton on his expedition of 1914. Edmund Hillary the first person to climb Everest in 1953, took some of Kendal's famous mint cake with him to the summit.

So - plenty of blipping possibilities then - from that lot ............................!