(TO THE EDITOR OF THE "SPECTATOR. ") Sin,—You allowed me in
1901 to bring before your readers the scheme for securing for the people of England permanent possession of a tract of land on Derwentwater giving them access to lake shore, to hills commanding views of Skiddaw and Borrowdale, to the right to preserve in its natural wild beauty a certain area there, with freedom of foot to wander over bill and slope. Never shall I forget the help which reached us in consequence of your publishing that letter when the fund seemed at a standstill and we wondered what we could do more. After thak donations reached us not only from Northern towns, from country villages, but from India, South Africa, the Rocky Mountains ; help came not only in large gifts from those who could share their wealth, or were ready to make large sacrifices, but also from the poor, who sent their hardly earned shillings or pounds. In all more than thirteen hundred donors contributed, and Brandlehow was purchased and is a possession for ever. I believe that the help thus sent shows that there are people who realise the great value of such scenes of beauty and rest to our landless people of every class, who will, if they know of it, help us to avail ourselves of a wonderful opportunity which has arisen to secure land on another of the lakes and to dedicate it to the public. The National Trust for Places of Historic Interest and Natural Beauty has now an option of purchase of the whole of Gowbarrow Fell, the glen and ravine through which the Aira flows, Aira Force itself, and a mile of the shore of the lake of Ullswater. The whole comprises nearly 750 acres of fell and glen. Nothing can exceed the beauty both of the land itself and of the views which it commands. It rises from the lake shore to a height of nearly 1,600 ft.; it has fine old trees grown in their natural beauty ; it commands views of lake, islands, and of the head of the lake which Turner has drawn for us. The price is £12,000, or, with two magnificent additional pieces, somewhat more. Can such a priceless posses- sion be lost for want of adequate help ? I believe it will not. But it will, unless all of us who can, help, and help now, to the utmost of our power. The sum is a very large one ; it can only be obtained by numerous gifts from those whobelieve that scenes of such beauty, such peace, such rest, are needed for our town dwellers of every class; who realise how, year by year, they are sought by the rich for mansions surrounded by private grounds, so that more and more the professional man, the artist, and the working man are confined to roads between
hedges. Sometimes I sit and think what it will be to feel that for a mile along this lake in time to come every way- farer may be able to step down to its lovely edge, or from the roads from Dockray and Pooley Bridge turn on to fell and bill and dale and wander where he will ; that neither building nor fence shall bar him from sight of all that beauty. Berms Head cost £500, Ide Hill £1,600, Brandlehow £6,500. Brandle- how cost on an average £60 an acre, as land on Derwent- water is more developed than on Ullswater. This land costs £18 per acre. Brandlehow was 108 acres ; this is 750 acres.
Are we wrong in hoping that the desire of gift will have risen with the knowledge of the blessing of these acquisitions P Are we wrong in believing that many of your readers will really
long to have a share in bequeathing such a gift to England ? I think not ; and I would earnestly ask those who feel such a desire to send, and to send quickly, to Canon Rawnsley, Crosthwaite Vicarage, Keswick, or to me, such sums as they can spare or promises of such sums. Wordsworth wrote on this very land his poem on the daffodils. I hope in the years to come those of us who have helped to preserve and dedicate
to the many, free open fell, cool wooded glen, waterfall, lake, shore, and hillside, may have visions and memories like him who sang:— " Oft, when on my couch I lie
In vacant or in pensive mood, They flash upon that inward eye Which is the bliss of solitude; And then my heart with pleasure fills, And dances with the daffodils."
—I am, Sir, &c., OCTAVIA HILL.
190 Marylebone Road, London.
[Miss Octavia Hill puts eloquently and feelingly the case for adding Gowbarrow Fell to the National Gallery of Natural Pictures which it is the privilege and honour of the National Trust to preserve for the nation for ever. We have urged the claims of this truly national proposal elsewhere, and will only add here that we have never recommended a pro- posal of this kind with more satisfaction. Here is a sub- scription which can have no drawbacks. No one can be pauperised or have his independence weakened by being made free of the beauties of Gowbarrow Fell and Ullswater.—En.
Spectator.]
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