Beckside and Brimstone

Well, Smithers and I are safely home after a good journey which took six and a half hours from door to door, entailing a cab ride, five different trains/tubes and then a lift home from the final station by car from our middle son.

I’m uploading my blip now before I continue with the unpacking and putting away, before I get too tired. We left the Lakes in glorious sunshine and I took a few photos with my phone as I walked round to the recycling point to deposit a few items there before we left for home. 

The estate was originally a gunpowder mill (1824-1930), the site being chosen for the proximity of the Great Langdale Beck which provided the water for the mill, and because of the plentiful timber in nearby Cylinders Wood with which to make charcoal. When the timeshare development was created in the 1980s, eighty Scandinavian-style timber lodges were erected, each one sited so that it would have a beautiful view. They were very popular and the lodges had pretty well full occupancy for all of the 50 weeks of the year for which they were available (allowing for maintenance weeks).

It was therefore decided some years ago to convert one or two of the old slate buildings left over from the gunpowder mill days into new lodges, to provide more weeks for sale. We were staying in one of them this holiday, which is called Beckside, and my photo shows the flower bed outside it. The Traveller was in one of the Scandinavian lodges a short distance away.

About ten years ago a new, 16-bed boutique hotel called Brimstone was built in the grounds. (The name is a nod to the site's former use.)  It occupies the site of what was once a rocky mound covered with rhododendrons which served no purpose. (It was an interesting time when the builders were dynamiting the rock out to make way for the hotel!) 

The new building has matured well into the landscape and we think it’s enhanced it. It’s definitely an asset to the estate, bringing in new visitors to enjoy the site. I’ve added some shots of Brimstone in extras in case anyone’s interested. In the last extra you may be able to make out two of the old mill stones which are dotted around the site as a nod to its heritage.

https://www.ujp.co.uk/projects/langdale-brimstone/