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[hol]low, within which lies Hawes Water. The park has some
fine old trees; and the number and size of the yews in the
grounds will strike the stranger. But lasting injury was
done to the woods by the hurricane of 1839, which broke its
way straight through, levelling every thing in its path. On
the road from Askham to Bampton, the high grounds of Lowther
present on the left a nearly straight line of great
elevation, along which runs the park wall, almost to the
extremity of the promontory. From a distance, it looks the
most enviable position for a park that can be imagined.
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Hawes Water lies about four miles from Askham. It is little
more than three miles long, and about half a-mile broad. One
side is richly wooded; the other nearly bare: and a pair of
bold promontories threaten to cut it in two, in one part,
where the passage is only two or three hundred yards wide.
Round the head of the lake cluster the great mountains of
Harter Fell, High Street, Kidsty Pike and others, leaving
space among the skirts for the exquisite little valley of
Mardale. Those who are able to obtain one of Lord Lonsdale's
boats for the traverse of the lake may think themselves
fortunate; for this is, of course, the most perfect way of
seeing the surroundings of so small a sheet of water: and
all other persons are deprived, by prohibition, of the means
of doing so. There are some good houses on the shores and at
the further end; but the occupants who live on the very
brink are not allowed to keep any sort of boat. His
lordship's boats are said to be procurable for the asking;
but the preliminaries are a hindrance. The walk along the
lake side is, how-
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