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Inland from the coast are some of the finest ecclesiastical (church) ruins in Britain. Ancient abbeys
like Jedburgh, Melrose, Kelso and Dryburgh have a mystic air about them; ruined though they may
be they still exude a power and a presence.

There are some great houses worthy of a look – Cragside, the home of industrialist and inventor
Sir William Armstrong; Floors Castle, and Robert Adam’s masterpiece, Mellerstain.

And there is also a look at the scene of one of the bloodiest battles ever fought on British soil at
Flodden Field.

For more on the things to see and do on the road to Edinburgh click here . . .

Edinburgh

Recognised as the capital of Scotland since at least the 15th century, Edinburgh is home to the
Scottish Parliament and the seat of the monarchy in Scotland. The city has long been a centre of
education, particularly in the fields of medicine, Scottish law, literature, the sciences and
engineering.

It is also famous for the Edinburgh International Festival and the Fringe, the latter being the
world’s largest annual international arts festival. The city’s historical and cultural attractions have
made it the United Kingdom’s second most popular tourist destination after London, attracting over
one million overseas visitors each year. Adapted from Wikipedia . . .

The Lake District

The Lake District has inspired poets and writers for centuries. And no wonder. It is just one of the
most beautiful places in Britain, its 885 square miles protected as a national park since 1951.

In fact it gave its name to a group of 19th century writers, the Lake Poets, most prominently
William Wordsworth, Samuel Taylor Coleridge and Robert Southey. But others such as Beatrix
Potter and John Ruskin have drawn inspiration from this wonderful visual cocktail of lakes,
woodlands and fells (mountain sides).

For me, personally, I remember as a kid at school I had a box of “Lakeland” coloured pencils,
made in Keswick, and the photograph on the box fascinated me: The blues, browns and purples of
the towering glacier-gouged mountains cradling gentle lake-studded valleys instilled a desire to
see it for myself. It took a while – 35 years – but eventually I got there and it was even more
majestic, more inspiring, more beautiful than I expected. See the information on The Cumberland
Pencil Co below.

The Lake District has an amazing range of scenic beauty. The mountains were created by
volcanic eruption 450 million years ago. In the centre there’s the rugged crown of Scafell Pike, the
highest in England. Not far away are Saddleback and Skiddaw, almost the same height, but
rounded and smoothed by towering glaciers during the Ice Age less than a million years ago.
Those same glaciers carved out the huge valleys that formed the beds of the lakes.

Nowhere else in England do you get this contrast of so much water with dramatic scenery. It’s
what make the Lakes District such a popular tourist spot.

There are 16 major lakes, ranging in size from 1/2 mile Brothers Water to Windermere 10.5 mi.
long.