One day last week I hiked with my sons to Moss Force waterfall in Cumbria.  Near the top of the falls, we turned to look back along the Newlands Valley towards Keswick.   It was a rare sunny day in the Lake District and it’s hard to imagine a more beautiful view than the one of the wide valley we saw that afternoon.  No picture, especially one taken using a mobile phone, can do justice to the valley, but this at least gives some impression of it.

The Newlands Valley isn’t the gentle, rolling landscape that persists in most people’s imaginations of the “typical” English countryside.  This is a dramatic, sparsely populated place, closer in style to the Scottish highlands.  It’s tempting to think that extraordinary, wild places of this kind can or will survive without us, but the truth is that their enduring beauty owes something to careful stewardship, not just by individual farmers and local authorities, but also to organizations such as the National Trust and English Heritage.  Time and time again during the wonderful few days I spent in Cumbria, I realized how precious such places are and how much effort and investment continues to be needed to make sure that they’re enjoyed by (and protected for) my sons, their children, and future generations.