To know a place for the first time is to read into its landscape the story of its past.
To be able to decipher a landscape, to follow the journey of its rivers and streams, the growth of its woodlands and the personal effects behind its facades, first, we must thumb through the pages of its literary landscape. Into this, we weave the comings and goings of communities that embroider this landscape into a seamless tapestry.
Having lived in Cumbria nearly all my life, I knew that landscape intimately, and not only in a navigational sense. Amidst a place we truly know, we walk with calmness and surefootedness absent in unfamiliar places. The landscape opens up before us, not just in contours, but in pages, a literary landscape.