Windermere and Water

Windermere Lake, Waterhead.

There are advantages and disadvantages to living in such a beautiful area as the Lake District. Like many houses in the Lakes, we are not connected to either mains water or sewage. Having lived in the same house for 25 years we are used to very occasionally running out of water in the height of a long hot summer, and are usually prepared for it. After the floods in November and then lots of snow in December/January who would have thought we would have run out at this time of year, but we have. So bottled water is the order of the day. On the journey back from Kendal to stock up, I parked at Waterhead to look at the sunset.

Evening at Waterhead Ambleside.

That was when things were put into perspective. This is the Lake District, it will rain again. Apart from the inconvenience there are many places in the world where people are desperate for water all the time. Look around at the scenery, it more than makes up for a few trips to Kendal and having to run a water pipe up the fell side.

Cherry blossom and Windermere

When we had been out around the Buttermere area we noticed that other people were in the same predicament and saw several blue pipes over the fell side. What we do is bypass the big 600 gallon holding tank and put a pipe into the header tank which always has a trickle of spring water coming into it. This means we can at least flush toilets and do a bit of washing. Teeth cleaning and drinking we use bottled water.

Late night Langdales.

I must say, when we do have water flowing through the tap it is the most beautiful tasting, soft water you could ever want. It reminds me of the last time we ran out of water many years ago. There was a knock at the front door and my husband was at home alone. On the doorstep was a Japanese lady holding an empty water bottle. He established that she was asking him to fill her bottle and proceeded to follow him in to the kitchen where he opened a bottle of water to fill hers. She gesticulated wildly that tap water was fine and turned on the tap. Nothing… We laughed for ages afterwards as we could imagine her going home and saying “did you know in England they just have taps for decoration!”.