High Borrowdale, Westmorland
"Today there's only one farm in the dale, the lonely farm track, fine woodlands at one end, the meandering Borrow Beck with its splendid pools, two bridges, and the steep fellsides soaring up on either side. Even five hundred years ago it must have looked much the same - except for the bridges" Harry Griffin, 1975
Where is High Borrowdale?
Friends of the Lake District land at the farmstead of High Borrowdale is situated 8.5 miles north of Kendal, to the east of the Lake District National Park boundary. The holding is 44 hectares (108 acres) in size, and includes a derelict farmhouse and attached barn, a cow shed, and a field barn, together with fishing rights over part of Borrow Beck and rights for two ponies on the adjacent Bretherdale and Roundthwaite Common. The valley is of high landscape value, and Wainwright once wrote that "Although it is the most beautiful valley in Westmorland outside the Lake District this is not generally known and it has few visitors".
Our ownership of High Borrowdale
We bought High Borrowdale in October 2002 because we saw the potential for landscape and access enhancement. The property will also give FLD experience of practical land management, agricultural management, Common Rights, and of submitting grant applications, and this experience can feed back into our policy work.
History of High Borrowdale
'Borrowdale' means the dale of the (Roman) fort, which may reflect the presence of the Roman garrison and fort at nearby Low Borrowbridge. With the help of a volunteer we have traced the history of High Borrowdale back to 1180 when it was granted to the monks of Byland Abbey by William de Lancaster. Until the 1700s, Borrowdale was part of the Manor of Tebay, owned by the Wharton family. Annual rents were around £1. Inventories upon the death of inhabitants show that tenants existed on a sheep and cattle farming system, with some poultry and growing of oats, barley and potatoes. Candles were made from mutton and bacon fat with the pith of a rush for wick. We have discovered the original names for many of the fields, e.g. Horse Parrock, Sheep Folds, Moss Bottom, Wane Ash and Cowpasture.
In 1655 the Holme family lived in the valley, and various descendants of the Holme family owned or lived at High Borrowdale until 1925. In 1925 the property was left to Walter Annandale Johnson Milner, a tea planter from South India. He has a series of tenants until he sold the farm to the predecessors of friends of the Lake District, the Downham family.
We have spoken with two people who as young children were brought up at High Borrowdale, Elsie Ellwood nee Mitchell, and Mrs Scott, nee Robinson. They told us that their respective parents were the tenants, and they had cattle and sheep. They went to school near Kendal, so had to walk out of the valley to the A6 every day. They had no vehicle, only a horse and cart. Groceries were bought from Kendal and dropped off at the A6, the family had to transport them down the valley from there. There was no electricity, but the house had running water.
Full history of High Borrowdale
Summary history of High Borrowdale
Geology, wildlife and ecology
The geology of High Borrowdale dates back to Silurian times, and as can be seen from the bluffs, the valley was created by glaciation. Many of the deposits are boulder clay, rock and gravel, and sandstone boulders are visible in Borrow Beck.
We commissioned an ecological survey soon after we bought the land. This showed typical species of semi-improved grassland, rush flushes, gorse and hawthorn. We will repeat the surveys regularly so that we can document how the ecology has become more diverse and rich if our management plans work!
There is a wealth of wildlife at High Borrowdale. There are sightings of buzzards, kestrels, common sandpiper, a tawny owl which has used the cow shed, swallows, wrens, stonechats, wheatear, goldcrest, and spotted flycatcher to name a few. The valley also has red and roe deer, and brown/sea trout and salmon in the beck.
What are our plans for managing the land?
Our long term vision for High Borrowdale is to maintain, enhance and diversify the special qualities of the landscape, increase opportunities for the public to enjoy this property, and demonstrate Friends of the Lake District are making a direct contribution to the Cumbrian landscape. We have a long term Management Plan and a five year Action Plan for High Borrowdale. Most of our work will be undertaken in the first five years, and will be largely reconstruction and enhancement work.
The buildings
We have four buildings, all of which have needed repair work. Wainwright referred to the farmhouse as "once a farmhouse of distinction in a beautiful situation.... Now a derelict ruin in a beautiful situation". When we bought the land, the farmhouse was totally derelict and only two walls remained standing to eaves level. The attached barn had no walls at all. The cow shed had been altered and had a metal roof, and the field barn had lost its roof and part of the walls. We submitted all the buildings into the Lake District Environmentally Sensitive Areas Scheme which gave us a grant towards the cost of repairing the buildings. We have totally repaired and re roofed the cow shed and the field barn, putting them back to their original state as far as possible. They are now fully watertight and fit for use for storage or agricultural purposes. The house and attached barn have been stabilised and we have tried to retain as much of their original character as possible.
New native woodlands
The more upland western half of our land is known as the 'allotment' and contains rough grazing and sporadic hawthorn trees. With the help of funding from the Forestry Commission, we are trying to establish a new native woodland to enhance the landscape and encourage more biodiversity. However, rather than planting the whole of the allotment, we planted native species on the lower slopes and up the gills in early 2004. The rest will be left to regenerate naturally. Before planting could take place, we had to repair nearly two kilometres of wall, and then fence the area to protect it from deer.
Further up the valley towards Tebay, the character of the valley changes, with wooded gills and riverbanks. To mirror some of this and help create a woodland wildlife corridor and protect the land being eroded at times of flooding, we have planted a strip of native woodland adjacent to the river.
New upland hay meadow
The lower land nearest the farmhouse is more lowland in character, and includes the fields running down to the river. We have entered all this land into the Lake District Environmentally Sensitive Areas scheme so that it will be managed to benefit the environment for ten years, for example by limiting grazing levels. We have let this land to an adjacent farmer via a grazing licence, and are working hard with help from English Nature to turn some of the lower fields back into an upland hay meadow. Upland hay meadows have largely died out in this part of Cumbria due to the land being managed for intensive grassland and too many fertilisers being applied. The re-establishment of hay meadow will be very exciting, but also very challenging. We have used seed specially collected from a nearby upland hay meadow which is a Site of Special Scientific Interest. Once established, we will adopt a management regime to suit hay meadows. This will include cutting the grass later than normal, around August time, and having periods of heavy grazing by sheep and/or cows. It will be a very long process, but perhaps in twenty years or so, we can enjoy the sight of meadows which a riot of colour of spring and summer flowers again.
Under the Environmentally Sensitive Area scheme, we have worked hard to repair another 2km of wall on the rest of the property, replaced the metal gates with traditional wooden ones, re-planted an area of hedge near the field barn and planted a group of trees behind the farmhouse to replace the existing group of trees there when they eventually die.
Click here to see before and after photos of work carried out at High Borrowdale
High Borrowdale management objectives
Access
High Borrowdale can be accessed from Hucks Bridge at Shap via two bridleways (GR 551040 and 553037 Outdoor Leisure 7 series), or from the Tebay end via one bridleway (GR608015 Explorer OL19). The two routes join on our land near the bridge which crosses Borrow Beck. We have dedicated all the land as open access land under the Countryside and Rights of Way Act 2000 - this means the public are free to enjoy all of the property. There are many walks which can be done in the valley, and it is mentioned in one of Wainwright's books. The service bus number 106 runs from Kendal to Penrith via Shap.
