A Memorable Day

On Tuesday we had a lovely and most memorable day, helped partly by the beautiful summer weather.

We started in Ambleside, where we picked up some picnic food from the excellent Rattle Ghyll deli. Some good vegetarian savouries and home made salads were popped into a bag and then we were off to Wray Castle, 10 minutes away.

In the evening Sun we chose our picnic spot. We had the place more or less to ourselves and slowly grazed through our food and drink as we took in the view across Windermere.

We then made our way to Hawkshead’s medieval parish church for the evening’s main event: a performance - Sunrise to Sunset - by the Alkyona String Quartet and contralto Jess Dandy. The performance was flawless and included two short pieces by Purcell, Beethoven’s String Quartet No 2 and Mendelssohn’s String Quartet in F minor.

The evening’s centre-piece was Respighi’s Il Tramonto, a setting of Shelley’s poem, The Sunset.

As we soaked up the music we watched the Sun slowly setting through the windows - designed to be clear, rather than stained, so that worshippers could see the amazing view across the roofs of Hawkshead and to the Lakeland hills beyond - truly God’s work.

The performance was rivetting. The Quartet, made up of two violins, a viola and a cello, draws its musicians from across Europe and during an interval the players each introduced us to their very special instruments, including a 1713 Venetian violin and an 18th century Lefebvre cello.

A picnic overlooking Windermere followed by a world class performance in the Lakeland village of Hawkshead on a perfect summer evening. What could be better?