News and Special Offers
The extreme cold during January and February seems to have given everything outside the chance to rest completely and the garden is coming alive with great intensity. And with our English and Walking course in April having to be postponed because of the ash cloud from Iceland we had a wonderful opportunity to get on top of the garden. We planted lots of salad crops, flowers, beans onions and potatoes.....and Wojtek finished the new summer house in the orchard complete with hammocks. It's a great place to watch the sunsets over the lake! There are new born lambs in the field behind and Canada geese on the lake. Take a look at what's been happening in the area with some wonderful footage from cumbrialive.
There are 3 major festivals happening in the area if you're thinking about coming this summer. The first is the International Summer Music Festival throughout the Lake District. This brings artists from all over the world to perform classical concerts in local halls, theatres and churches. It's from July 31 until August 14. Please click here for full details. Over the weekend of July 31 - August 2 is Kendal Calling, one of the most exciting contemporary music festivals in the country. This is just half an hour from Nab Cottage. The final possibility is one of the most creative and exciting street theatre festivals I've been to. Last year the 2 highlights were a French company who'd installed a sublime fire garden in the local park and a Belgium theatre/circus production. It's back and bigger this year from September 2 - 5. See mintfest for full details.
De Quincey, famous for his writing, for being a drug addict, and for his relationship with Wordsworth and Coleridge, lived here at Nab Cottage for almost 10 years. He died 150 years ago and a new biography on de Quincey by Robert Morrison has recently been published and is reviewed by Grevel Lindop. For more on the Romantic Poets and Nab Cottage see Rydal
The Lake District has won a major tourism award by being named the best holiday destination in the UK at a national awards ceremony. The result of the public vote was announced at the British Travel Awards held in London in November 2008. This is the largest travel awards programme in the UK. Although just 40 miles long and 23 miles across, the Lake District is home to some of the most stunning countryside in the world including all of England's highest mountains and longest lakes, as well as award-winning accommodation and places to eat. Visit The Lakes
There are train transfers from Manchester and Liverpool running to Windermere station. Click here for timetables.
New initiatives in the area include a scheme to encourage visitors to reduce their dependancy on cars and a major tree planting campaign in the north Lakes where over 10,000 indiginous alder, ash and oak trees will result in 3 new woodland areas. Click here for more details on local environmental initiatives. At Nab Cottage we have embedded systems to reduce, reuse or recycle in all areas of the school; from buying whatever we can as locally as possible, to creating works of art from 'rubbish'. During 2009 our students were involved in clearing the invasion of Himalayan Balsam; this vigorous plant, introduced into Britain in 1839, was threatening to take over the entire river valley. In 2010 we would like to establish links with 'fix the fells', a local group of volunteers working to maintain the footpaths across the area.
During the summer of 2009 we introduced the Transformation game onto our courses. This is a highly effective tool for personal growth, involving elements of coaching and reflection and offers great insights into our behaviours, our limiting structures and our possibilities. It was developed at Findhorn, a Spiritual Community, Education Centre, and Ecovillage in Scotland with whom we have had close links for many years. Findhorn also offers an English Language Training programme. For details of the Transformation game click here, and for information about Findhorn click here.
For all information about our local village - what there is to do, where you can go, local transport links, local history, walks, weather forecasts and more, please click here.
For more information about English schools in the UK see here and Worldwide please click here. For translation work click here.
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