Backstory: Deep Roots in the Northern Fells

Map, hand coloured engraving by Augustinus Ryther, 1576

Selection of fossils from the Skiddaw Group

Ancient Beginnings: A Land Shaped by Ice and Time

This landscape has been millions of years in the making. The Skiddaw Slates, some of the oldest rocks in England, were formed over 450 million years ago when this land lay beneath an ancient ocean. Sculpted by glaciers during the last Ice Age, the rugged fells and fast-flowing becks of the northern Lake District were shaped into the landscape we see today—wild, weathered, and enduring.

Stone relief from Maryport, Cumbria; thought to depict Belatucadrus, horned God of the Carvetii tribe of Northern England, whose name means "deer people"

The First People of the Fells

The area around Caldbeck has been inhabited for thousands of years. The Carvetii, an ancient Celtic tribe, lived here in the Iron Age, building roundhouses, farming sheep and cattle, and working with metal. When the Romans arrived in the first century AD, they established forts and roads through Cumbria, leaving traces of their presence in the region. Later, Norse settlers brought their language and traditions, many of which survive in local place names.

Caldbeck Bobbin Mill, approx 1900

Centuries of Change: Farming, Mining, and Industry

By the medieval period, Caldbeck had become a small but industrious village, known for sheep farming and wool production. The fast-running streams powered early mills, and later, in the 19th century, the Caldbeck Bobbin Mill was built, using local timber to produce bobbins for the textile industry. The mill remained in operation until the 1960s, one of the last of its kind in the country. Nearby, mining for lead, copper, and barytes provided work for many local families.

Farming has shaped this landscape for centuries, with sheep roaming the fells and families tending the land through generations. That deep connection to place, seasons, and community still runs through the hills today.

A Notorious Huntsman and an Unexpected Family Connection

In the late 18th century, John Peel, the famed huntsman, spent his childhood on this very farmstead. His life of chasing foxes across the fells inspired the well-known song D'ye Ken John Peel?—a piece of Lakeland folklore.

Generations later, our family arrived here in a different way. In the 1980s, my parents bought the cottage at a local pub auction from the writers Hunter and Margaret Davies. It was a rare opportunity, and they were only able to make the purchase because they had sold their previous home. From the first moment my mother saw it, she had the strange sense that she knew the place. Many years later, we discovered why—we are related by marriage to John Peel and by blood to his wife, Mary. My maternal grandfather was born and raised in Keswick, where his parents owned a shoe shop on the main street.

A Place of Revival, a Landscape to Belong To

The Lake District has long been a place of inspiration, drawing poets, writers, and wanderers in search of both solitude and connection. Wordsworth, who walked these fells, wrote of nature’s power to shape the human spirit: “Nature never did betray the heart that loved her.” Alfred Wainwright, too, found solace in these hills, saying, “There’s no such thing as bad weather, only inappropriate clothing!”

While the past lingers in these walls, this cottage offers to today's fast-paced world a place of sanctuary, simplicity and nurture. The land here has long been shaped by those who have lived and worked with it, from the Carvetii to shepherds, farmers, and miners. That story continues, and while our family does not farm the land, we care deeply for the wildlife and the rhythm of life that moves through these fells.

Through storms and seasons, the cottage and barn have stood steady, offering shelter, warmth, and a place to come back into honest alignment with greater cycles. For those who seek a sense of beauty—whether in stillness or in movement—it is a good place to feel at home in the northern fells.

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