Derwent Island on Derwentwater in the Lake District National Park, Cumbria

© Chris Warren/Stock Phot

Languid life on the Lakes

Surrounded by spectacular fells (hills, mountains and uplands) and rolling farmlands, Derwentwater is one of 16 lakes - and many more bodies of water – found in the Lake District. Rounder and broader in shape than many of the others, it is home to several small islands like this one.

Our homepage image looks out across the water to the boat house on Derwent Island, one of several buildings that a wealthy eccentric named Joseph Pocklington had built after buying the island in 1778. The main building, Derwent Island House, is set out of view further back.

The estate once included a stone fort with a cannon, which was often fired to incite mock 'raids' on the island during the regattas that Pocklington hosted each year on the lake. Critics of old, among them the poet and Lakes resident William Wordsworth, denounced Pocklington's additions as eyesores but today’s visitors line up to see the Italianate estate, on the five days a year it's open to the public.