Gurning, pencils, flowers – it’s what makes Cumbria famous
Last updated 12:04, Thursday, 04 September 2008
Lead pencils, gurning and daffodils – that’s what Cumbria is best known for, according to a new guide chronicling the quirky and the quaint in English counties.
The County Guide – published yesterday in Country Life magazine – highlights the best and worst in England’s 40 counties.
It singles out Wordsworth’s daffodils as the best thing about Cumbria, saying they ‘evoke the tranquility and beauty of the Lake District’,
The worst thing is said to be Torpenhow Hill, near Wigton – confusing because it’s pronounced ‘Tre-penna’ and because ‘tor’, ‘pen,’ and ‘how’ all mean hill, taking the literal translation to Hillhillhill hill!
Mark Hedges, editor of Country Life, said: “Mention an English county, and its associated images float into the mind. Dorset – Durdle Door, Lyme Regis and Tess of the D’Urbervilles. Cumbria means daffodils, Wordsworth and Mrs Tiggywinkle.
“Our guide is not intended to be a competition, rather a celebration – and a revelation – of everything England does best.”
The 52-page supplement also contains little-known facts about each of the counties, with Cumbria’s entries including the discovery of a huge seam of graphite near Keswick in 1500, leading to the making of the first lead pencils.
The county motto is apparently ‘I Shall Lift Up Mine Eyes Unto The Hills’, and the Royal Navy’s first commissioned submarine is revealed to have been built and launched in secret at Barrow in 1901.
Events singled out for mention are Keswick Jazz Festival, Egremont Crab Fair and the World Gurning Championships, and the Biggest Liar Competition.
Culinary delights include Cumberland sausages, Kendal mint cake, rum butter and char fish.
Places recommended to visit are Muncaster Castle, Wreay Church ( based on a Roman basilica when it was built in the early 1840s) and John Ruskin’s house.
No-one was available from Cumbria Tourism to comment on the guide.
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