Hows and Knotts

In 2017 the English Lake District was awarded World Heritage status by UNESCO as a “cultural landscape” of global significance; a landscape gifted by Nature and modified by the activities of humankind to create a very distinctive and special place.

The famous English landscape painter John Constable once said “We see nothing truly until we understand it”. This suggests that gaining some understanding of why Lake District landscapes look as beautiful as they do will enable us see them more clearly and have our enjoyment of them enriched.

To provide a beginning to this understanding is what this book is all about. Readers are taken to 22 prominent viewpoints around the World Heritage Site, all with an historical, Norse-derived name of ‘how’ or ‘knott’. Then, whether sitting on a rock at the viewpoint or sitting in an armchair at home (with an online panorama to assist), the guide relates the historical story of the view - how the key features came about and how they may change in the future in response to new environmental challenges.

After reading this book, readers will have enjoyed the beauties and story of the Lake District’s acclaimed landscapes, and quite probably will not look at them again in quite the same way.