Story
Beyond Beauty
Wasdale may be best known for its extremes—England’s deepest lake, Wastwater, and its highest mountain, Scafell Pike. Though it’s one of Lakeland’s most remote valleys, it draws crowds that are mostly summit-bound. But there is another Wasdale: the quieter one of the valley floor, where a handful of Herdwick shepherds live and work, just as their predecessors have since the 1600s.
Tucked behind the Inn is Row Head Farm, where a packhorse bridge crosses Mosedale Beck—the gateway to the high hefts on Pillar and Kirk Fell. It’s late November, the days are shortening fast, and the shepherds’ year is beginning once more. The ewes have been gathered from the fells and returned to the in-bye pastures surrounding the farm. Now, the tups await their turn—soon to be paired with their allotted ewes, ready for duty as the Herdwick breeding cycle commences, just as it always has in this timeless dale.
A National Trust Property | Photo Permissions kindly granted | Picture © Ian Lawson
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