This unassuming little garden arbour has provided shelter for some of the greats of the 19th century – although the name of only one will be widely recognised today. It was built as a retreat in the grounds of a ‘small Gentlemans House’ called Dove Nest, which ‘stands on a sweet Wooded eminence with a fine grass Knoll in front which commanded a noble view of great lake of Windermere and the fells beyond.

In 1810 Ellen Weeton was employed at Dove Nest as governess to the Pedder family. She described her new surroundings to a friend, writing that a pretty walk led from the house to the flower garden where there was an arbour. Miss Weeton was intrigued by an inscription in pencil recording that ‘Adam Walker was delighted here, June 24th 1807’. Presumably it was the view which had caused such a stir: before the planting on the shores matured the panorama was said to take in almost the whole length of the lake.

Adam Walker (c.1731-1821), author and inventor, is largely forgotten today, and possibly wasn’t known to all even in his lifetime: under the pencilled words Miss Weeton saw a footnote to explain that he was the ‘celebrated experimental philosopher’.

Two decades later another visitor to Dove Nest caused a bit of a stir, for she was then feted as one of the best known writers of the day: Felicia Dorothea Hemans (1793-1835).

Mrs Hemans, as she was known, produced a large body of work, but she is best remembered today for The Stately Homes of England and for Casabianca: the latter tells the true story of a young man who refused to leave a sinking ship during the Battle of the Nile. If Casabianca doesn’t sound familiar, you will definitely recognise the opening line: ‘The boy stood on the burning deck’. The poem is perhaps best-known today for its countless parodies, most of which are far too rude to repeat here.

In 1830 Mrs Hemans visited the Lake District to stay with fellow poet William Wordsworth (1770-1850) at his home, Rydal Mount. After a fortnight there she decided to extend her stay by a few weeks and rented Dove Nest, a ‘lonely, but beautifully situated cottage’ which she had previously admired from the lake. Joined by two of her sons she enjoyed walking, exploring and boating on the lake.

Mrs Hemans described Dove Nest as having an ‘air of neglect’ which she rather liked. Nature was beginning to ‘reclaim’ the garden from art, and an ‘old-fashioned alcove’ was overgrown with ‘sweet-briar and moss rose-tree’. From the arbour there were views of ‘lovely Windermere’. Wordsworth frequently visited Dove Nest, and one evening he recited verse in the arbour. Mrs Hemans wrote that it was ‘quite a place in which to hear Mr. Wordsworth read poetry’.

Mrs Hemans had become a famous poet not just in Britain but in America too, and during her stay at Dove Nest word soon travelled that the literary lion(ess) was in town. She did her best to hide from the fans from both nations who turned up on her doorstep brandishing their autograph books, and hoping the celebrity would write a few lines (she called it ‘album persecution’). A friend of writer Harriet Martineau suggested she should just hang a bag of autographs on her door to avoid the nuisance callers, and fellow writer Charles Lamb (1775-1834) declared himself ‘no friend to Albums’. He despaired of the young ladies who turned up on his doorstep asking that he contribute to their books. He wrote a poem describing albums which begins:

‘Tis a Book kept by modern young ladies for show,
Of which their plain grandmothers nothing did know.
‘Tis a medley of scraps, fine verse, & fine prose,
And some things not very like either, God knows.

Such was her fame that many years after her short stay at Dove Nest, postcards were still being issued captioned ‘Mrs Hemans’ Home’.

Dove Nest has been substantially enlarged since Mrs Hemans stayed there, and is now a smart hotel called The Samling. The garden arbour is listed at grade II.

For more on The Samling https://www.thesamlinghotel.co.uk

Eller How is a handsome villa, high above the town of Ambleside. In 1863 it was bought by the Boyle family, and soon after they added this curious prospect tower. Known as the Tower of Beauty and Friendship, thanks to a unique element of the design, it stands on a mound in the gardens.

Henry Boyle (1839-1901) was born in Staffordshire, where his family had played a prominent role in the pottery industry. Henry married Eleanor Hocking in 1862, and their extended honeymoon took in a trip to the Lakes. Enchanted by the scenery they decided to settle there.

Their new home was Eller How, a fairly recently built house which had previously been run as a school by Anne Jemima Clough (1820-1892), the great promoter of higher education for women, and the first Principal of Newnham College, Cambridge.

Henry Boyle’s interest was the natural world, and having bought more land around the house he began to extend the garden. By 1869 he had added steam-powered heating to his new ponds, allowing him to grow ‘exotic aquatics’ which were the envy of professional gardeners (to be precise they were said to be in ‘ecstasies’).

He created a grotto with coloured glass windows that was home to rare ferns, and in 1898 caused a stir locally when he acquired ‘a real life specimen of the Egyptian crocodile’. The local paper was quick to snap up the story, and reported that the creature ‘was obtained from the banks of the Nile […] where the finest and most carniverous specimens of this reptile are found’. In its native habitat, the story continued, the crocodile liked to ‘bask in the sun’. Sunbathing is not a year-round pastime in the Lake District, so it was probably for the best all round when Boyle decided it had become too big, and it was quietly disposed of.

Amongst the newly-planted trees and shrubs there were rustic bridges and winding walks, which gave the ‘impression that the garden covers a much greater space than it actually occupies.’

The spoil from digging out the lakes and ponds, and sculpting the garden, is thought to have been used to create the mound, on which sits the unique and delightful tower. This was constructed by Henry Boyle himself, and just grew whenever Boyle found himself with some time on his hands.

Boyle commemorated his guests at Eller How in a unique fashion: their names and the year of their visit were inscribed into damp cement laid on the face of bricks, which were then incorporated into the fabric of the tower. The ‘Tower of Beauty and Friendship’, as it became known, mainly recorded female visitors, and there are around 40 women’s names visible today. The Boyle’s social circle included the local gentry such as Mildred le Fleming of Rydal Hall as well as the daughters of the Vicar of Ambleside and the local magistrates.

Boyle’s daughter-in-law recalled that some of the ladies later regretted this move, as the dated stones made it impossible to lie about their age. She was presumably referring in particular to the stone marking the visit of ‘Rotha Clay’, dated 1894. Rotha Mary Clay (1878-1961) was born locally, and would later make a name for herself as a writer and historian – her works include a book on Hermits and Anchorites, published in 1914. Alongside her neatly lettered name is inscribed ‘Birthday 16’, so she must have visited in August 1894 just as she was celebrating her 16th birthday.

Two of the few men whose names feature are William Wordsworth (not the poet, but his son, or possibly grandson), and the writer and Inspector of Schools, Matthew Arnold (1822-1888) who was the son of Thomas, Headmaster of Rugby School.  The writer Harriet Martineau (1802-1876) was at Eller How in 1864, and a stone was later added to the tower to commemorate her visit.

The Boyles had one son, Harry (1863-1937), and on his birthday in 1869 he planted a maple sapling in the middle of the tower. As the structure continued to rise the tree grew within it until, eventually, it spread ‘its branches above the uppermost platform of the tower, thus forming a natural green roof over the seat where one can sit and dream, unobserved, like a bird in its nest.’ Red squirrels became quite tame in the garden, and would come to the foot of the tower to be fed.

Unfortunately the Boyle family’s fortunes waxed and waned, and the house was occasionally let whilst they lived elsewhere for reasons of economy. In 1886 the ‘charming detached Villa Residence’ was advertised as available to lease at a ‘moderate’ rent. The advertisement described the ‘tastefully laid out’ grounds and the ‘Observatory’ which gave a ‘magnificent view’ of the vast expanse of Windermere.

After the death of Henry and Eleanor Eller How passed to their son Harry and his wife Clara, née Asch. Harry continued to care for the grounds until his death in 1937, his wife despairing of his ancient patched clothes, which led to visitors mistaking him for the gardener. The Boyles had no children and the house was sold after Clara’s death in 1966.

The gardens at Eller How, which also feature a rustic summerhouse, were ‘rediscovered’ as part of the Channel 4 series Lost Gardens in 1999, when the then owners, Frances and Jim Philbrook, were restoring the gardens. The current owners keep the beautiful gardens and grounds in the best of order.

Eller How is a private residence but you can see the tower from Sweden Bridge Lane: it’s a bracing uphill walk from Ambleside, but you can then turn and appreciate the magnificent panorama of town and lake that Boyle and his guests would have enjoyed from the top of the tower.

Some of the information here is taken from Clara Boyle’s book about her husband’s life, A Servant of Empire: A Memoir of Harry Boyle, published in 1938. Clara deserves her own biography: she was a Jew from close to the Polish-German border who worked to bring refugees out of Germany in the 1930s. In Britain she was active in numerous local charities, and worked to ensure folk dance traditions did not die out. As well as writing a book about her husband’s life, she also wrote German Days […] by a Polish Girl, an account of the customs and traditions of her childhood, published in 1919, and she frequently corresponded with the Editor of the Manchester Guardian.

Finally, a brief detour back to Anne Jemima Clough (also commemorated on the tower) who lived at Eller How before the Boyles. This wonderful ceramic plaque marks her birthplace in Liverpool – a serendipitous find when flâneusing in that city.

Charlotte Mason (1842-1923), whose inscribed brick is dated in the 1890s (it is today partially obscured by ivy) was a pioneer in the field of home education whose methods are still practised today. Visit this exhibition at the lovely Armitt museum in Ambleside to learn more about her. It is on show until December 2023 https://www.armitt.com/learning-through-the-natural-world/

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The grandly-named ‘Temple of Naval Heroes’ stands at the end of a narrow causeway that leads from the grounds of Storrs Hall out into the water, offering magnificent views up and down the lake. The temple was constructed by Sir John Legard of Storrs Hall as an ornament to the new house he had built in the last years of the eighteenth century, and as an expression of his patriotism, Sir John being ‘passionately attached to his country’. The octagonal building carries plaques celebrating four great naval victors in the ongoing war against the French– Admirals Howe, St Vincent, Duncan and Nelson.

Legard had travelled extensively in Europe in his younger years but suffered ill-health later in life, including a weakness in his legs which left him unable to walk. Determined to enjoy an outdoor life, he retired to the shores of Windermere where he could indulge his love of sailing. Sir John was instrumental in establishing an annual regatta on Windermere in 1801, carrying on the tradition established on Derwentwater in the previous century. In his appositely named yacht, The Victory, Sir John triumphed over other local landowners, and it is likely that when he dedicated his summerhouse to the admirals he was playfully reminding his neighbours that his prowess on the lake matched that of the Royal Navy at sea. 

Sir John’s health continued to deteriorate and he left Storrs only a couple of years later but subsequent owners continued to appreciate the diminutive temple. It must have been something of a squeeze when on 2 May 1805 Jessy Harden of Brathay Hall and ten friends ‘breakfasted in the Temple of the Heroes’. Harden also joined another excursion to the temple later that month; a party that was immortalised in print after one of the revellers wrote a 14-page mock-heroic poem describing the day:

A Pic Nic I sing, of the very first rate,
A moderniz’d party, a new-fangl’d fete.

By the middle of the twentieth century the grade II* listed ‘little gazebo’ had succumbed to the ‘wear and tear of wind and water (and perhaps hooligans)’ and was looking rather sad. An appeal in 1962 raised £1,253, enough to cover the costs of restoration with a small surplus for maintenance. The owners of Storrs Hall, by now a hotel, handed the building to the National Trust in 1965 and visitors can walk through the hotel grounds and out to the temple.

There’s more Storrs Hall info here https://www.storrshall.com

Born 200 years ago this month, on 8 February 1819, John Ruskin was a polymath; an artist, writer and critic who believed that culture should be available to all, not just the elite. As a new exhibition in London beautifully illustrates, Ruskin had strong opinions on most subjects. As he thought the architecture of Palladio ‘virtueless and despicable’, and the Houses of Parliament ‘effeminate and effortless’, we can probably assume that garden ornaments such as classical temples and gothic towers would not be his ‘thing’.

As a precocious child, however, one caught his attention:

Belle-view is a summer house on a crag high above Windermere. It was constructed in the last years of the 18th century as a picnic spot and belvedere on an outcrop of rock that was already established as one of the key viewing points, or stations, around the lake. From its high vantage point there were views up and down the whole length of the lake, and clambering up the slope produced that frisson of fear beloved of early tourists. Designed by John Carr of York, it became one of the essential sights on a tour of the Cumberland and Westmorland lakes – although until the 1960s county boundary changes it was actually in Lancashire.

In the first years of the 19th century Belle-view passed into the ownership of John Christian Curwen of Belle Isle, the largest island on Windermere. His quirky round mansion, likened to a tea canister, was another ‘must see’ and visitors were allowed to land and see the pleasure grounds which covered the island. Curwen extended the summer house, which was an eye-catcher from his island home, and decorated the upper room with prints of picturesque scenes and windows edged with coloured glass (downstairs was a parlour and apartments for servants). The Station, as it now became known, was used for picnic excursions and as a grandstand for watching regattas held on the lake.

Ruskin visited the Lakes on a number of occasions en route to his father’s homeland of Scotland. In 1830, aged 11, he described The Station in his diary, recording its distinctive glazing:

‘It is a large tower in which is a large apartment with various painted windows. The people tell you that on looking through the light blue it represents the appearance of winter. The green represents spring the yellow summer the purple a thunderstorm and the orange autumn. Each window of this place presented a different prospect of the lake and all were equally beautiful.’

High-minded as he was, the boy was not above being moved by a dog of ‘very wise and venerable appearance […] we all gave him a pat which he was graciously pleased to acknowledge with a wag of his tail.’

The London exhibition John Ruskin: The Power of Seeing at Two Temple Place on the Thames, next to Middle Temple was held in 2019. Writing in the Financial Times art-critic Jackie Wullschläger described the building as a folly. Whilst perhaps stretching the definition, Two Temple Place is certainly an unusual structure. It was built in the early 1890s as an estate office for the super-rich American William Waldorf Astor, and was designed by John Loughborough Pearson in a wonderfully ornate style which is impossible to categorise. Betjeman thought it ‘a little masterpiece’ and Pevsner a ‘perfect gem’. What is very clear, inside and out, is that Astor’s architect acted according to instructions and built ‘a perfect building irrespective of cost’.

The Station, sadly ruinous and with the original painted windows long gone, is now in the care of the National Trust who have consolidated the structure. The trust has built a viewing platform on the first floor and is clearing the slopes to reopen the views and allow visitors to understand how the building was designed to function. Coloured glass has recently been reintroduced as shown above https://www.nationaltrust.org.uk/claife-viewing-station-and-windermere-west-shore