Published at 12:44, Tuesday, 27 January 2009

Sue Allan explores the small town which virtually invented Lake District tourism and has a large capacity to attract people at all times of the week and year. Sensational scenery, climbing and culture, fine food and festivals, traditional shops and customs – Keswick has the lot.

Keswick and derwentwater, aerial photography by Simon Ledingham

Sue Allan explores the small town which virtually invented Lake District tourism and has a large capacity to attract people at all times of the week and year. Sensational scenery, climbing and culture, fine food and festivals, traditional shops and customs – Keswick has the lot.
The grey slate town of Keswick nestles in the most stunning scenery the Lake District has to offer. Skiddaw, Grizedale Pike, Catbells, Causey Pike, Walla Crag are all close by: it’s a setting of great drama and great contrasts, just like the town of Keswick itself.
Above its rooftops is nature at its grandest, yet the streets below are packed with shops, attractions and cafes and always thronged with holiday makers whatever the time of year. The town is a magnet for walkers and climbers, yet conversely also has a thriving cultural scene, particularly in music and the visual arts, is home to Cumbria’s only producing theatre, Theatre by the Lake, and hosts numerous festivals. Its heritage is impeccable too: Lakes poets Robert Southey and Samuel Taylor Coleridge both lived here, it had its own Arts and Crafts movement, and more or less invented Lake District tourism. Quite a pedigree.
Keswick’s history dates back at least 4,000 years, when the stone circle at Castlerigg was built. St Kentigern set up his cross in the forest clearing that became Crosthwaite, where the old parish church of Keswick stands today, in the sixth century, and it’s been a market town since the 13th century. In Elizabethan times the town became a centre for copper mining and later, after the discovery of graphite in a Borrowdale mine, it became a centre for pencil production: Cumberland Pencils are still famous the world over.
The origins of the tourism industry go back to the late 18th century, when writers and poets began to be attracted to Keswick’s relative isolation and natural beauty. After the railway came in 1865, the town became a fashionable tourist destination and many of its attractions date from that time, such as Fitz Park with its specimen trees from around the world, formal gardens and sports facilities, where Keswick Cricket Club flourishes today. The museum on the edge of the park is also a Victorian gem, a real “cabinet of curiosities” with its famous “musical stones” from Skiddaw, 3D map of the Lake District and relics of Southey and novelist Hugh Walpole. It also exhibits works from the Keswick School of Industrial Arts, founded by Canon Hardwicke Rawnsley and his wife Edith. Much influenced by Ruskin, the couple taught local people metal working skills in copper, silver, pewter and brass and erected a school in 1884 in the premises now occupied by Luca’s Italian restaurant, which still has its original motto visible under the balcony: “The loving eye and skilful hand shall work with joy and bless the land.”
Rawnsley was a fearsome and very successful campaigner for open access to the Lakeland fells and one of the founders of the National Trust. He also helped found Keswick School, one of only 35 state boarding schools in the country and regularly in the top 50 schools in national league tables. The original school buildings in Main Street now house the Rawnsley Hall, one of the centres for the Keswick Convention which runs three weeks of bible teaching each summer and attracts thousands of Christians from around the world.
Heading towards the town from there you pass the council offices and then the Post Office, run by Mayor of Keswick Roger Purkiss and his family. Here you’ll find the Lake District Trading Company emporium and upstairs Ben Purkiss takes care of U-Compute computer services and the Kesmail newsletter. Between Kesmail and the redoubtable Keswick Reminder the town is very well served for local community news.
The council offices next door serve the community in other ways: Allerdale Council, Keswick Town Council and Keswick Tourism Association all have offices here, as well as Keswick Area Partnership. Despite appearances to the contrary, Keswick faces many social, economic and environmental challenges, including high numbers of retired residents, restrictive planning policies and large numbers of second homes and holiday lets, and Partnership officer Debbie McGrath explains to me their action plan for the town. Lack of affordable housing is a major issue and one which comes up again and again.
One of the Partnership’s initiatives is the Keswick Business Improvement District (BID), which this year is organising Keswick’s first-ever Christmas Food Market on Friday November 28, from 10am to 7pm. Keswick’s new Christmas lights will be switched on too that evening, provided by both Keswick BID and the town council. The switch-on starts at 6pm, although the lights in the square will not be switched on until 6.50pm in a live link with BBC Look North. Check the time carefully if you’re looking at the Moot Hall clock, which famously has only one hand.
The hall seems to have been in the centre of Keswick life since at least 1276, when a charter was granted for markets on Thursdays and Saturdays. It was rebuilt in 1812 and today is home to the Lake District National Park information centre, although in its time it has been a covered market, a court house, prison and Town Hall.

The name Keswick is thought to derive from “kesewic”, literally a cheese farm, so it’s very fitting really that there’s now a speciality cheese shop. FondEwe Fine Cheeses has been open in Packhorse Court for less than two years, yet is already winning plaudits, and this year was a finalist as “Best new deli” in the national British Cheese Awards. The shop, run by Faith and Brian Watterson, not only stocks cheeses but everything you could possibly want to go with them from crackers to relishes and olives, cheese boards and fondue pots. Faith says they are both passionate about cheese, as well as quality and diversity, and aim to stock as many locally sourced cheeses as possible such as those from Thornby Moor, Cumberland Dairies, Low Sizergh Barn and the Lake District Cheese Company.
Keswick, it must be said, is not short of good food shops: the excellent Booths supermarket manages to appeal to both campers and connoisseurs in its range of foods, then there’s the Good Taste Deli, Bryson’s Bakery and Thomason’s butchers with local pork and venison, and homemade pies. There’s also a range of international cuisine on offer – Chinese, Thai, Indian, Mexican and Italian – and more traditional fare at The George, The Pheasant, Skiddaw Hotel, Morrel’s, The Dog and Gun, Lakeland Pedlar and Mayson’s to mention just a few. Cafés include old favourites the Pillar Coffee Shop and Old Keswickian in Market Place and the Lakeside Tea Gardens. Even the Youth Hostel has a café offering homemade soup and snacks, as well as fine views over Fitz Park. Keswick’s a Fair Trade Town too, so you can rest assured that most of the coffee and tea you drink has been ethically sourced.

Walking up Main Street I’m tempted into Bryson’s Bakers by the delicious smells, and in the traditional teashop upstairs I meet owner Debra Travis. She tells me that the business is in its 61st year and one of the oldest established in Keswick, although she’s just been here since 2006: “I’d always loved the Lake District. We came up for my 30th birthday and had tea here. I remember saying to my husband: ‘Wouldn’t it be lovely if we could change our way of life and run a tea room and shop – something like this. I never thought any more of it until 10 years later when it came up for sale. I had to have it.”
Although a newcomer, Debra values Bryson’s traditional style: “I think it’s important to keep the traditions. We still do a lot by hand – even the plum bread has a hand-moulded top – and I don’t want to change that. We use the same recipes we always have for Borrowdale Tea Bread, Cumbrian Fruit Cake and Lakeland Plum Bread. We are, though, developing new lines such as Lakeland Lemon Loaf and extending our wholesale markets: Booths take our plum bread and our cakes are in Asda.
“We don’t add lots of additives either, even though it means things have a shorter shelf life. I’m confident you can taste the difference.”
Along the street a little way, a slightly newer kid on the block is Needle Sports. Yet another outdoor clothing shop you may think, but no – this shop is for specialist climbers, and was set up by climber Stephen Reid as he felt there was a gap in the market. The “climbing hardware” hanging behind the counter looks pretty scary to me, but Stephen explains: “A lot of technical rock climbing is having the strength and cunning to protect yourself as you’re going up and these things like these nuts and camming devices, called ‘friends’, will jam in cracks if you fall. If you were just a hill walker, we could also kit you out with the right gear, it’s just that our emphasis is more on climbing and expeditions – Alpine stuff. And we only employ climbers, so you could ask any member of staff here to explain this kit.
“We don’t just exist to sell stuff,” he says, rather surprisingly. “Although obviously that’s the reason for starting the business. But we also produce a series of climbing guide books with the Fell and Rock Climbing Club, for which I act as editor. That occupies quite a chunk of my day.”
The internet brings half their business these days so they’re kept really busy packing goods for mail order as well serving in the shop and producing guide books.
“When I started the business I thought I’d have a lot more time to go climbing,” Stephen says, rather wistfully.
I’m sure he manages to escape the shop when the sun shines, although not on a dark winter’s afternoon like today. There are still a lot of people in the streets and the Market Square is busy. The lights of the Tourist Information Centre at the Moot Hall and the shops around are bright and inviting, Ye Olde Friars more so than most as it’s full of seasonal goodies. Jolly chocolate Santas and Advent calendars, traditional marzipan, festive hampers, fudge and mint cake are stacked high amongst biscuits, preserves and handmade chocolates.
Ye Olde Friars has been in the Webster family since 1927, and is now run by John Webster and his wife Gina, together with sons Michael and Richard, who have come back to work for the family business despite being at the moment priced out of the local housing market. It’s one of those places which seem to have been here for ever, yet there’s always something new to attract your eye.
“That’s the theory,” says Michael. “We keep the things that people come back for, such as treacle toffee and fudge, and then try new things.”
“Originally we had a café with just a little counter selling sweets, including local products such as Kendal Mint Cake,”
John tells me. “But by 1970 we needed to extend the season so closed the café and expanded the sweets, biscuits and preserves, working very hard at Christmas, Easter and Valentine’s Day. People have more holidays these days, so now we’re open seven days a week 353 days a year.”
There’s no doubt you can shop till you drop all year round here, but I always feel no trip to Keswick is complete without a visit to George Fisher’s, which is where I head now – resisting the temptations of the Dog and Gun’s homemade Hungarian Goulash and Yates’ bitter en route.
Keswick is awash with outdoor shops, but Fishers is the grand-daddy of them all. George Fisher was team leader of the Keswick Mountain Rescue Team so knew the importance of being properly clad for the fells, and the outdoor shop he opened in 1957 was one of the first in Cumbria. Everything the fell walker, climber, skier or fell runner needs can be found in the spacious premises which occupy the former Abraham brothers photographic shop, as well as chunks of history in the large prints of old Abraham photographs and displays of old climbing equipment. In Abraham’s Café in the gallery above the first floor, I meet
general manager Andy Airey, who has worked here since 1990, the year after George Fisher retired.
“George was the original outdoor clothing retailer, and we’re still doing what he did – selling functional outdoor clothing in a quality environment, backed up with the best customer service. We took the decision years ago not to bother with the budget end of the market, with no discounting and only one sale a year, starting on December 27.
“As well as climbers and skiers and so on we get a lot of families at holiday times,” Andy tells me. “Our junior boot exchange is very popular: if the kids have outgrown boots bought from us, we’ll give you cash back on the next pair, and then sell the old boots on. Boot hire is popular too. George started it: he knew that people going on the fells should be well shod.”
Just like Ben Purkiss and the Webster boys, Andy is another local lad who seems to be priced out of the local housing market: “The biggest problem we have is finding local staff,” he tells me. “I live out near Penrith and the rest of the staff come from Cockermouth, Workington or Whitehaven, because they just can’t afford to live here.”
Despite that, he is enthusiastic about Keswick: “A town of this size wouldn’t normally have facilities such as the Leisure Pool, the cinema, museums or the theatre – which is a fantastic resource. We’re very fortunate. And if we didn’t have visitors at all, the town would be dying.”
He’s right, and this visitor certainly enjoys coming here, particularly for Keswick’s many arts and crafts shops such as the Necessary Angel, Magpie at Mayson’s and, up in St John’s Street, the Viridian Gallery. The Square Orange just opposite is a favourite haunt too, with its speciality coffee menu, authentic stonebaked pizza and live music every Thursday. And if you really want entertainment then just up the street is the Lonsdale Alhambra cinema. Built in 1913, it’s the second oldest cinema in the country and certainly the oldest in Cumbria, and hosts Keswick’s thriving film club. There’s nothing historic about the films it shows though, which are always the latest releases including, this Christmas Madagascar 2 and Helen Mirren’s latest film Inkheart.
Between cinemas, cafés, pubs, museums and attractions such as Cars of the Stars and the mind-boggling Puzzling Place, you can while away many a wet Lake District afternoon. But it’s fair today and although the light’s fading there’s still time for a gentle stroll down to the lake, past Crow Park, the theatre and the now deserted boat landings, where the launches are moored and the rowing boats pulled up on the shore, along the path to Friar’s Crag. It’s the perfect end to a day in Keswick. Ruskin described the view from here as one of the best in Europe, and as you look down the length of Derwentwater, past the familiar outline of Cat Bells towards the “jaws of Borrowdale” you have to admit he had a point.

Published by http://www.cumbrialife.co.uk