Holeslack Barn, celebrating women farmers
At Holeslack, the barn doors are open to invite us in. Today it's an exhibition space celebrating women farmers on National Trust farms in the Lake District. Daughters of the soil, it's called. Visitors engage with this exhibition. older visitors. It's an opportunity to discover the barn interior too. I love Sizergh's natural beauty, not what a friend calls Disneyland when a sequence of inescapable display boards distracts from banks of snowdrops- the highlight of the season for many visitors. Within the shelter of the barns at Holeslack and at Sizergh, exhibitions can share important messages about conservation. Along the trail, display boards aimed at children are ignored today.
Down to earth does attract one young child, Nature not stuff he can't read. He's squealing with delight as his mother holds his hands and dips him into a muddy hole in the grass. His back is plastered, head to toe, and he's loving it. His parents are all for it too. Mud, glorious mud. Parents with small children are frequent at Sizergh. And older folk. Where are the in-betweens?
Down to earth does attract one young child, Nature not stuff he can't read. He's squealing with delight as his mother holds his hands and dips him into a muddy hole in the grass. His back is plastered, head to toe, and he's loving it. His parents are all for it too. Mud, glorious mud. Parents with small children are frequent at Sizergh. And older folk. Where are the in-betweens?
Soil matters, that's an important message. A single succinct notice in the kitchen garden is to the point. Visitors explore the kitchen garden and the herbaceous borders to pick up tips, to emulate what the brilliant Head Gardener achieves in tending the soil, in growing fruit and vegetable, in her beautiful planting schemes with flowers to attract pollinators.
The National Trust has ample sheltered space in which to advertise books for sale in the shop and food in the cafe. So please keep big bold advertising close to shop, cafe and car park - the busiest places. There's a big double barn at SIzergh Castle and now the Holeslack barn works well as a discreet exhibition space. I returned to Sizergh today specifically to consider how an important project can be promoted to engage visitors without impacting adversely on Nature, without losing the sense of being out in the countryside.
Today, from Scout Scar escarpment, there's snow on the fell-tops. The first lambs appear in a field close to Holeslack farmstead. Aconites flower amongst the snowdrops.
The picture I did not take, which will live in my mind's-eye, is that small child being dunked in sloppy mud and the thrill it gave to him and his parents. The National Trust needs to capture that down-to-earth excitement and somehow keep it alive as the child grows to maturity.
The National Trust has ample sheltered space in which to advertise books for sale in the shop and food in the cafe. So please keep big bold advertising close to shop, cafe and car park - the busiest places. There's a big double barn at SIzergh Castle and now the Holeslack barn works well as a discreet exhibition space. I returned to Sizergh today specifically to consider how an important project can be promoted to engage visitors without impacting adversely on Nature, without losing the sense of being out in the countryside.
Today, from Scout Scar escarpment, there's snow on the fell-tops. The first lambs appear in a field close to Holeslack farmstead. Aconites flower amongst the snowdrops.
The picture I did not take, which will live in my mind's-eye, is that small child being dunked in sloppy mud and the thrill it gave to him and his parents. The National Trust needs to capture that down-to-earth excitement and somehow keep it alive as the child grows to maturity.
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