DISCOVER THE STORY OF LAKELAND

Take a magical history tour of the mysterious stone circles, dramatic castles, historic quarries and grand country houses of the Lake District with Susie White

- Susie White

A Neolithic ring of 38 monoliths, Castlerigg Stone Circle has stood for 4,500 years, surrounded by the fells of Skiddaw and Blencathra to the north and High Rigg and Clough Head to the south

For many, it is the classic view of the Lake District: a narrow road winding through Great Langdale's glacial valley, white-painted cottages with slate roofs and sheep grazing in beck-side fields. Ahead, the soft blue outline of Crinkle Crags; to the right, the craggy peaks of the Langdale Pikes. John Ruskin described this valley as “the loveliest rock scenery, chased with silver waterfalls, that lever set foot or heart upon”.

The Lake District is a landscape formed by geology, altered by human occupation, and Great Langdale is a microcosm of this multi-layered history. High up above the precipitous scree slopes of Pike O’Stickle is a Neolithic stone axe factory where greenstone, a hard volcanic rock, was quarried. In a field close to the road is an example of prehistoric rock art. Concentric rings and cup marks are carved across the face of a huge boulder, one of a pair known to climbers as the Langdale Boulders.

Romans and Norse settlers, agriculture, mining and quarrying have all left their mark on Great and Little Langdale. A high road links the two and runs past the beautiful mountain pool known as Blea Tarn, which Wordsworth described in The Excursion; the Romantic poets were the catalyst for Lake District tourism. Nowadays, the Langdale valleys are busy with visitors and walkers, there are campsites surrounded by dramatic scenery and the Sticklebarn is a hydro powered pub using modern technology to harness the water tumbling down the hillside.