They have been less evident in the garden although we have had two reports since April of sightings. So it was great to get an email today from Lee, who is staying at The Larches this week, attaching the photo here of a red squirrel on the breakfast terrace.

He writes: “Your letter arrived about 10 minutes before the red squirrel! This was our first sighting, hazel nuts have been opened each day and I was hoping it was red and not grey! I have attached a picture, it’s not great as it was a little rushed! It was taken from the upstairs bedroom window at 09.27.”

POSTSCRIPT
Shortly after posting this blog, we got another email from Lee, attaching this second great photo of the acrobatic squirrel at the feeding box and commenting:

The squirrel came back at around 12 o’clock …. It appeared to be hiding quite a lot of the nuts in the garden and eating one or two. It was a real treat to watch. I’m glad it was raining, if it wasn’t, we would have gone out and missed it!

These are the first photos we’ve had of the red squirrel for over a year, so thanks to Lee for sending them.

Living and working in the same spot since 1902, they trace their antecedents back to John Harris, a Tyneside basket weaver who settled in the area in the 1850s, working initially as a forester and timber merchant. By the 1860s he had started the fairground business with his sons, buying one of their early steam roundabouts from a Tewksbury manufacturer in 1890.

Now run by five brothers and two sisters, the business involves transporting equipment and running their fairground in villages and towns all over this area of rolling downs, meadows and woodland. They also hire out individual items for weddings and special events. Volunteers, who love the laughter and excitement of the fairground scene join in regularly to help with the swing boats, roundabouts, gallopers and side shows.

Hard to classify, fun to be with and dining mostly together, the family extending across generations is like some utopian example of the Arts and Crafts movement – a time capsule that has refused to die. Living close to nature, they are above all immensely practical, turning their hands to any job.

They’re experts too at recycling, throwing little away and collecting useful items over the years. “Just put it under the hedge – you never know when it will come in handy”, says Rob, one of the brothers when I asked what they did with old gear. (See photo of field opposite they have recently acquired.) It reminded me of the MOMA Waste not installation we saw in New York last year.

The Scammel trucks for towing the equipment are ex WW2 stock, so you can’t just pick up the phone for a new spare part. A replacement for an axle on one was found from a hedged machine. Another truck was re-fitted with an old Rolls Royce engine (See photo at the top).

With a little imagination there’s not much they can’t find a useful home for. An old shop display model now keeps watch in a large greenhouse where the tent canvases are dried after a downpour. An old galloper (below) has been put out to grass – for the time being – on an empty landing. Objets trouvés like the old cow advert (below) reflect a simpler rural economy.

Can this real life example of Cameron’s Big Society idea – with up to 70 people actively involved in a small community based business – survive in an increasingly competitive and slick leisure field? The work is hard and seasonal and depends on hours of unpaid labour. Time only with tell. But if you have a chance, try out the Gallopers or the Paratroopers at their next Fun Fair. You won’t be disappointed with the experience or the friendliness of the Harris fairground.

It may sound like a Gardeners’ Question Time but it was a real question – until today when I met up with the Brookmans who have given me a new lead. “Why not try a tepee of bamboo sticks and grow your green beans up them?”, said Ali. It looks a great solution to judge from the photo opposite of Anna as she picks some beans for our Sunday lunch.

Today’s blog post represents a bit of a milestone – it’s the 50th entry since we started! We’ve not quite met the deadline we set of a posting every week, but we haven’t been too far short.

Like everyone else in the blogosphere we’d like people to read our posts, whether or not they want to stay at The Larches or visit the Belvedere. We like feedback as it helps us respond and find out what people are interested in.

The blog is intended to provide local news and colour, help build awareness about the environment, provide practical advice on fellside gardening and link you to events and issues affecting other areas and countries.

If you are reading this blog now or have done before and have:
• Enjoyed hearing about news from Cumbria
• Learnt about green and sustainability issues
• Got good ideas of Lake District walks or activities
• Been interested in our History of Belvederes section
• Used the foreign newspapers section in our virtual café
• Had your own children find things of interest on the website
• Checked out our Rooftop Buildings of the World photo gallery
• Liked our recommendations given for cafés, restaurants & shops

…then you can help us! There are three simple things you can do:
1. Email the address of the blog and website to a friend
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3. Get put on our email list for whenever we post a blog – just email us with the words: “Subscribe lakelandbelvedere.com”

We take for granted our sophisticated municipal services, but in the Berber villages, connected only by mule tracks and in cities like Fez, Meknes and Marrakech with their overcrowding, narrow alleys and limited resources, it’s hard to produce more than primitive refuse collection and recycling systems (See photo opposite in Marrakech).

Infrastructure and road schemes are helping to grow the economy fast and to address sub-regional disparities but they can be double edged. They have enabled fish caught in Essaouira to be distributed quickly to the north and abroad (Photo); and encourage industrial activity. But in coastal Safi intensive phosphate processing is hungry for water and has brought heavy atmospheric pollution.

Addressing global warming, pollution and resources depletion is complicated so generating public awareness is crucial. This is happening here with the UK’s 10:10 campaign to reduce carbon emissions by 10% by the end of 2010 (see Guardian Halfway report, “So far, so good” 10 July 2010).

But in developing countries this is a far harder task. In sun-soaked Morocco the Government’s commitment to provide electricity supply for all by 2010 (not actually fulfilled) seems if anything to have dampened enthusiasm for harnessing solar energy.

While trekking I only saw three small photovoltaic (PV) cell panels in use; whilst in Marrakech a rooftop snapshot from my riad showed one PV cell panel outnumbered by 18 satellite TV dishes. (See photo below of PV panel on Lepiney Refuge at 3000 m near Toubkal summit – © Athol Lester; and of Marrakech rooftops.)

Water too is a critical issue. Blessed with rainfall brought by Atlantic winds hitting the Atlas mountains, Morocco has a long history of capturing water for irrigation (see Photo right), but the growth of industry and tourism is increasing demand inexorably. Yet water seems to be treated as an endless supply and no attempt is made in hotels or elsewhere to encourage careful use and conservation.

I was outside the auction room, looking at items in the galleries when I was attracted by the sound of rapid repetitive bidding. It reminded me of Wednesday night’s Wimbledon match when John Isner from the US after 11 hours defeated the Frenchman Nicolas Mahut in the final set by 70-68 games – a record length in the history of tennis, which has hit the headlines.

It wasn’t that long for Lot No 31, but it had everyone talking. The bidder sitting at the back was a svelte dark haired woman with a tall companion. She was definitely not a Cumbrian farmer’s wife. Did that metropolitan look suggest a French aristocratic provenance? After all our own Queen Elizabeth is said to have the world’s finest Sevres collection. “She’s a Parisian” someone whispered. On the grapevine I heard they’d come over from France the day before to look at Lot 31.

Her opponent bidding remotely via the telephone remained unknown – ‘Incognito’ we’ll call him – and wouldn’t give up on this bone. Both of the bidders thought they had smelled a good dish and proved willing to fight it out. The bidding started with lower increments, but after a while moved to £100s.

At the front the auctioneer’s face moved sideways and then forward like a pecking bird, inviting another £100 bid to the increasing amazement of the audience of farmers, locals, dealers and holiday makers. Up to £1,000.. £2,000.. £3,000.. £4,000.. £5,000 they soared. Surely this must stop.

‘Another bid?’ came the question to the man in green at the end of the telephone. Pause. A nodded head indicated ‘Yes’ and so it went on – £5,000, £6,000 reaching £7,000. How long could this continue? Put us and the bidders out of our agony please! Now it’s £7,200. The Parisian ups the stakes – “£7,400″. Incognito hesitates but goes to £7,600. Is the end near? The Parisian is back quick as a flash, “£7,800″.

The auctioneer turns once more, but that head by the phone is motionless then shakes a definite “No”. Incognito has seen the writing on the wall. This time the French are not going to fail at the last hurdle. “Going at £7,800″ and the hammer drops.

The price is almost exactly 100 times more than the highest expected. The prize a missing piece from a dining set of King Louis XVI, made just a few years before the Revolution, when the French monarchy was to disappear for ever.

“Surely someone at Mitchells should be a bit embarrassed”, I murmur as I pay at the desk for my 19th century Chinese plate of a watery scene with cherry blossom. “On no – that’s what happens”, I’m told. “If it’s more valuable than anticipated, it just gets picked up at auction by people in the know”. “Oh yes”, I’m thinking, I wouldn’t be so sure. The moral of all this? If you see there’s a good sale on at Mitchells, get along there. It’s good to support businesses in Cockermouth and you could be in for some fun!

To join the select group of successful BGR completers, you have to cover on foot a journey of 66 miles involving 26,000 feet of ascent and of descent whilst climbing 42 Lakeland peaks in under 24 hours. It’s a tough test of endurance.

Yesterday I was out on the Langdale fells with our friend Raj and Ahmed, one of his support runners, fine tuning the route for Raj’s attempt on the BGR this coming weekend. Raj is raising money for the National Ankylosing Spondylitis Society, a charity supporting sufferers from this rare and debilitating disease. If you wish to support the charity you can donate by clicking here on the Just Giving site.

Apart from being super fit for the BGR, runners need to have the terrain and bearings hard wired into their brains. Smart route finding – cutting four or five minutes off each peak covered – can bring you three hours saved on your overall time.

We had a great scramble up via Gimmer Crag to Pike of Stickle (see photo above of Raj with the Pike on the right) and discovered a new line to Rossett Pike, saving 15 minutes on Raj’s last visit. This augurs well for the weekend and the 18 hours’ target time for the Round.

The pictures below catch the flavour of the day. On the left two possible routes are proposed and on the right the intrepid couple head off through the cloud with Ruby to climb Bow Fell.

POSTSCRIPT
Raj had an excellent day, but had to finish at Wasdale, about two-thirds of the full Bob Graham Round. By then he had covered 41 miles and climbed just under 18,000 feet. He’s learnt a lot from the experience and plans to make a second attempt on 4th June 2011.

Last November the floods delivered a hammer blow to this old market town as the converging rivers Derwent and Cocker broke their banks and brought water levels up to 8 feet deep in some of the streets.

Families were made homeless and businesses closed. Without insurance and with foundations made unstable, some shops still remain boarded up. Some have a very uncertain future.

But Cockermouth is a ‘can-do’ town. Shops like the marvellous ironmongers, J B Banks in Market Place were open again within a fortnight, as Vanessa Graham described to me, as she stood beside the 4½ feet water level marker in the shop (See above).

Last weekend a festival parade turned the streets into a riot of colour and fun and showed the world that the town is still very much alive and making a brave new start. Make sure you go there – there’s plenty to do and see!

Under 24 hour observation by RSPB volunteers, the nesting site in Dodd Wood, only a mile distant from us, is just visible from the Belvedere with a good pair of binoculars. There’s a good webcam too and much more on the award winning Osprey Watch site.

The ospreys are good news for local shops, hotels and small businesses as they attract visitors to the area, still recovering from last November’s floods. But they are not the only show in the valley.

There are other birds of prey which are fascinating to watch. Peregrines and sparrow hawks are frequently about and yesterday, walking with friends on Coledale Common below Barrow, I looked up to see 20 metre ahead of me, a kestrel hover in the wind, stoop down on a small vole and carry it off still squeaking to a nearby rock.

An hour later a buzzard was wheeling in huge circles high above Braithwaite Lodge and the nearby plantation, as we descended to the village. If you want some good bird watching, the Derwent valley and the northern lakes take a lot of beating.

It all seems a long way from the flooded rivers five months ago (see my 23rd November blog posting,), which brought misery and heartache as families became homeless, bridges and footpaths were smashed and hundreds of small businesses were brought to their knees.

The good news is that substantial repair work has been done. At Little Braithwaite, the smashed side of the beck has been rebuilt with huge rocks and a massive bank of earth behind (see photo), while at High Hill in Keswick the Greta river has now a raised concrete containing wall with 6 inches thick facing stones.

The bad news here – according to one of the stone masons I spoke to – is that this is not high enough and it will have to be increased in height at least a further 10 inches when there is more money available. Oh yes and at Little Braithwaite there’s a problem too. The road bridge – which crossed behind the hedge in the middle photo – was swept away and will not be replaced before next year. You’ve probably guessed the reason by now!