Home
Preamble
Index
Areas
Dales
Hills
Lakes
Places
Reserves
Rivers
Structures
Villages
References
Me
Saunterings: Walking in North-West England
Saunterings is a set of reflections based upon walks around the counties of Cumbria, Lancashire and
North Yorkshire in North-West England
(as defined in the Preamble).
Here is a list of all Saunterings so far.
Guaranteed ad-free, AI-free and free!
If you'd like to give a comment, correction or update (all are very welcome) or to
be notified by email when a new item is posted - please send an email to johnselfdrakkar@gmail.com.
256. Cartmel Hospitality and the Hampsfell Hospice
“Everyone loves Cartmel” is the first sentence of a description of the village
of Cartmel in The Cumbria Village Book (CFWI, 1991):
Everyone loves Cartmel. Beside its traditionally hospitable
and welcoming atmosphere, its outstanding features are the magnificent priory
church founded about 1190 by William Marshal, the Regent of England, the
steeplechase race course - and the food!
However, this catalogue
was compiled from submissions by local Women’s Institutes. It may be that
Cartmel WI’s opinion is a Trumpian “everyone loves me”.
After parking by the racecourse and then partaking of a cappuccino and scone, we
headed to Cartmel Priory to hear Schubert and Ravel. We had therefore immediately
sampled the three things that the book identifies as the basis for this love of Cartmel.
Left: Cartmel market square; Right:
The River Eea in Cartmel.
I don't think that the racecourse really has much to do with it. While a novelty for
Cumbria, it is a small course with most of the facilities temporary apart from a not-very-grand
grandstand (and the racetrack itself, of course). It can, however, attract crowds
of up to 20,000 people. Nowadays there are nine race-days each year, which means
that most of the time it serves as a convenient car-park.
Cartmel’s hospitality is more to the point. The little market square has
two pubs, one hotel, and two cafés (and there is (at least) one pub, two restaurants and
a tea shop nearby). Cartmel’s claim to have invented sticky toffee
pudding is disputed. It seems that a local shop was the first (in 1989) to develop
a take-home version (although this business has since transferred to Flookburgh).
Up
a side road in Cartmel is the famous L’Enclume, which opened in 2002 and has become
the only restaurant in Cumbria to be awarded three Michelin stars. On this occasion
we forewent the £125 per person lunch. There's also now a L'Enclume offshoot (Rogan and Co), where it's
only £95 per person for the 'short menu' for lunch.
After mentioning those two it is only fair that I name our hospitable hosts:
Coffee & Stays and Cartmel Coffee, which were perfectly adequate for our needs.
I am sure that Cartmel Priory has a prior claim to be the basis for
Cartmel’s reputation. This remarkable 12th century edifice, probably Cumbria’s
most impressive ecclesiastical building after Carlisle Cathedral (which I have
never visited), set standards of civility and refinement and also attracted
trade to the region. After the concert, while Ruth chatted to every member of the
audience, I had time to wander around, admiring various features that I don’t have
the expertise to appreciate fully, although I did notice the misericords which I
am pleased to read are considered to be of exceptional quality.
Cartmel Priory
Suitably enculturated, we then set off to tackle Hampsfell, the modest (222 metres
high) limestone hill to the east of Cartmel. A light drizzle was a little inhibiting
and when it became less light we sheltered by a barn wondering whether to call it an
adequate day’s outing. But we persevered and were rewarded with sunshine, although
dark clouds stayed over the higher hills to the north, west and east.
At the top of Hampsfell is a strange structure called the ‘Hospice’. It was
built in the 19th century to provide sanctuary for anyone in distress on the fell. I don’t
know why Hampsfell was particularly liable to cause anyone up here distress. Inside
the hospice poems of a religious tone are displayed on the walls, which is the last
thing I’d need if in distress. Anyway, it is a fine viewpoint, with on a clear
day (which this wasn’t) sights of many Lakeland tops, plus Pennine hills, a glistening
Morecambe Bay, and nearby the green Cartmel valley.
Left: The Hampsfell Hospice; Right:
From the Hampsfell Hospice, looking east towards Arnside.
From the Hampsfell Hospice, looking west towards Cartmel (the white structures in
the fields of Cartmel are the remains of the Cartmel Show, a traditional agricultural show,
that had been held the day before our visit)
From the top we walked south for a mile or so over Fell End, mainly to get a better
view over Morecambe Bay. We then dropped down to take a public footpath through
the golf course but we failed to find it. We did find many stiles over the wall
into the golf course but they were all labelled “Private. Golfers only”. I assume
that they were for golfers who had hit their balls off the golf course. It would
have been helpful if the signs could have directed us towards the public footpath – but
then golfers pay a lot of money for their private land and don’t want walkers on it,
laughing at them hitting their balls off the course.
It was frustrating and if I were alone then I might well have trespassed
onto the golf course. Ruth kept me on the path of righteousness, as always, and we dutifully
continued all the way round to reach the path that we had taken up the fell. We wandered back
past the Priory, through the market square to the racecourse, thinking that Cartmel
is indeed a fine place, rather hidden away here just outside the National Park. It
is an attraction for people of taste, seeking an outing from traditional Lakeland. It
is inevitable, I suppose, but a shame nonetheless that almost everything in the
village is oriented towards serving those visitors. There is, I sense, a self-satisfied
air about the place, perhaps reflected in the belief that everyone must love it.
A look back to Hampsfell
Date: August 6th 2026
Start: SD377787, Cartmel racecourse car-park (Map: OL7)
Route: E through Cartmel, N, E – Pit Farm – E – ridge on
Hampsfell – N – Hampsfell Hospice – S past Fell End – golf course – W, N, W – Pit Farm – W – Cartmel
Distance: 5 miles; Ascent: 230 metres
Home
Preamble
Index
Areas
Dales
Hills
Lakes
Places
Reserves
Rivers
Structures
Villages
References
Me
© John Self, 2018-
Top photo: Rainbow over Kisdon in Swaledale;
Bottom photo: Ullswater