GREAT BRITAIN AND IRELAND - Clean Breaks: 500 New Ways to See the World - page 27

of spending the day strolling along the woodland
path around Lake Buttermere and enjoying the
views of Fleetwith Pike and Haystacks. After a
day in the fresh air, amble back to Southwaite for
a hot bath and - arranged by the owner - a local
pasty and traditional Cumbrian beer.
The eco cottages are the vision of owner
Marna Mcmillin, whose day-job is to help run a
company that funds community-owned renewable
energy schemes. Her aim is to provide luxury
accommodation in traditional Cumbrian farm
buildings but with an environmentally sensitive
design. So although the cottages are made with
local stone and slate roofs supported by high
beams, the walls have super-thick insulation,
there are solar thermal panels for water heating,
a bio-digester to deal with waste water and an
innovative ground-source heating system beneath
the slate and oak floors.
The grounds of the cottages are being
landscaped with trees, organic fruit beds and
wild-flower meadows. It's sufficiently far away
from the crowds at Cockermouth and if you're
there out of season you'll feel like you have the
Lakes to yourself.

032 autumN iN the lake
diStRiCt at Southwaite GReeN

Most of the ten million annual visitors to the
Lake District come in the summer. But go in the
autumn and you'll enjoy the fabulous combination
of heritage, lakes and fells when it's a more mellow
place: the air is fresher, mist hangs low over the
water and the thick forests are iridescent with the
colours of the season.
Southwaite Green is a collection of four self-
catering eco cottages in the heart of the eastern
lakes, 40min from Wordsworth's birthplace
in Cockermouth and near some of the best
walking country in the Lakes. The cottages
overlook Lamplugh Fells and are near to the
dramatic Western Lakes of Crummock Water
and Buttermere, from where you can walk over
the high, narrow ridge at Whiteless Pike to the
beautiful Derwent Water, bordered by woods and
towering crags, and known locally as the “Queen
of the Lakes”. From Derwent Water you can catch
a ferry to Keswick, where there's a bus back to
Cockermouth, or you can take the easier option

Wooden jetty on Derwent Water

Need to know
Southwaite Green
donates ten percent of its
profits to Action Aid and
Third World Organics,
and there's a ten percent
discount if you arrive
by public transport. The
nearest train station is
Penrith, from where you
can catch the X4/X5 bus
service to Cockermouth;
the owner will pick you
up there by arrangement.
For more on the cottages,
rates and sites of local
interest see W www.
southwaitegreen.co.uk;
T [phone].