This is a very enjoyable light-hearted exploration of the Lake District by this Cumbrian author (whose biography of Wordsworth I read last year), covering the places, people and traditions that have made up this beautiful corner of England, especially since it first became well known to outsiders as a place to visit for leisure in the 1770s. Davies loves this area, where he has lived for much of his life, though he is no diehard opponent of change as some others are, commenting that "the warning of Lakeland being ruined has been around for 200 years, when Wordsworth was moaning about white-washed houses and all the larches and fir trees being planted.....It is a living place, not a museum." A pleasurable read on my return from holidaying there, with some interesting references to pursue on my next visit. ( )

Beautrix Potter was famous children's book author and this is a visual experience of the landscape from where she came. Very nice color photography is what makes this folio size book really nice. ( )