Lake District – AmeliasMagazine

Amelia’s Magazine | Holgates Silverdale Holiday Park: an ideal place to stay for a Lake District Holiday

Lake district Holgates Silverdale Holiday Park Swift Chamonix
Last week we headed North for a short break in the Lake District, staying in a luxury holiday home at the Holgates Silverdale Holiday Park on the edge of the South Lakes, where Cumbria borders Lancashire in the Arnside and Silverdale Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty. Since our recent weekend at Pontins Camber Sands I have come to the conclusion that staying in a holiday home or chalet is an ideal way to experience a vacation; providing all the comforts of home, including the peace and quiet that can be so scarce in a hotel. Holgates Silverdale was voted Holiday Park of the Year in the Cumbria Tourism Awards 2014, and it’s not hard to see why.

Lake district Holgates Silverdale Holiday Park view
The view from our holiday home.

Lake district Holgates Silverdale Holiday Park Swift Chamonix interior
The luxurious lounge.

Lake district Holgates Silverdale Holiday Park diner
The spacious kitchen diner.

Lake district Holgates Silverdale Holiday Park
The master bedroom: Snarf is going through a phase of shouting ‘No Photos‘ whenever he sees me with camera in hand, before running off. Makes documentation quite hard!

Our Swift Chamonix Holiday Home was tucked away at the top of the hill, with stunning views out across woodland and on to Morecambe Bay, which is an otherworldly landscape of shifting sands quite unlike anything else I have come across. Inside we had a cosy living room, full size kitchen and dining table, plus two bedrooms and two bathrooms. Outside was a spacious deck which we would like to have used more, but sadly the weather was against us for most of our stay.

Lake district Holgates Silverdale Holiday Park camping pod
Holgates Silverdale is immaculately maintained, with tier upon tier of identically painted mint green holiday homes, most of which have been personalised by their owners with different windows, roofs or doors. A few of these homes are available to rent and there is also the option to pull up with your own camper van, caravan or tent. I was particularly taken by the scenic camping pods which have prime positions overlooking the bay. The park boasts two lovely playgrounds and a large swimming pool with hot tub, sauna and steam room attached. We spent two evenings swimming with Snarf, a reminder that we really must enter the wet stuff more often. Next door the Holgates Silverdale restaurant fed us some unexpectedly delicious food late one evening (I recommend the melt-in-the-mouth lasagne) – all made with local produce.

Lake district Holgates Silverdale Holiday Park Arnside Tower
Arnside Tower: Holgates Silverdale is just behind the trees to the right.

Lake district Holgates Silverdale Holiday Park arnside beach
The view over Morecambe Bay from the shoreline at Arnside.

Jenny Brown's Point
Jenny Brown’s Point, with the iconic chimney in the background.

We spent most of our visit journeying into the Lake District (which takes a bit over half an hour, driving along exceptionally scenic roads) so did not get much time to explore the surrounding area as much as we would have liked to. We passed the crumbling Arnside Tower in differing light each day, and admired the picturesque villages of Arnside and Silverdale from the car. On our last morning (thanks to a tip off on instagram) we drove down a secluded road through lush woodland to take in the blustery views at Jenny Brown’s Point, which features the iconic remains of an ancient copper smelting chimney set against battered rocks and glittering sands. I could easily have spent several hours wandering the shoreline but sadly it was time to head home. I hope we will return to this beautiful part of the world some day soon. In the meantime why not check out my ideas for 5 Great Family Adventures in the Lake District?

Lake district Holgates Silverdale Holiday Park shoreline
I am big: I am very pregnant. Photo by Tim Adey.

We stayed at Holgates Silverdale Holiday Park courtesy of Cumbria Tourism and Holgates. The Swift Chamonix is available to purchase rather than rent.

Written by Amelia Gregory on Friday May 15th, 2015 5:34 pm

Categories ,Arnside, ,Arnside and Silverdale Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty, ,Arnside Tower, ,Camping pod, ,children, ,Cumbria, ,Cumbria Tourism, ,Cumbria Tourism Awards 2014, ,Family, ,Family Holiday, ,Holgates, ,Holgates Silverdale Holiday Park, ,Holiday Park of the Year, ,Jenny Brown’s Point, ,Lake District, ,Lancashire, ,Morecambe Bay, ,Pontins Camber Sands, ,review, ,Silverdale, ,Snarf, ,Snarfle, ,South Lakes, ,Swift Chamonix Holiday Home, ,travel, ,Travels with Snarf

Amelia’s Magazine | 5 Great Things to do with Kids in the Lake District

Lake District Muncaster Castle view
Last week we went on a family vacation to the Lake District, taking in a packed schedule of attractions during our short five day trip. I love being outdoors and walking in particular but have resigned myself to a different style of holiday whilst I have young children (a three year old and another on the way) so it was brilliant to visit so many wonderful places that are family friendly in this gorgeous area of the UK. Here’s some great ideas for things to do with kids on your next visit to Cumbria.

Lake District Windermere Swan boat
Lake district Lake Windermere Swan family
Lake District Windermere row boats

Windermere Lake Cruises
We spent a whole day on Windermere; a wonderful way to experience the drama of the Lake District landscape, even in overcast weather. Our first trip aboard the Swan (a lovely old boat) took place whilst it was still relatively windless and we were able to take in beautiful views from the open top deck, which is a great way to marvel at the extravagant private homes that line the idyllic eastern shore. From Bowness (after a delightful lunch in the quaint St Martin’s Tea Room & Grill) we took a trip around the islands, discovering that the smallest is but a tree stump clinging on above water level. Then we ventured to Ambleside at the northern end of the lake, where we ate ice cream in the wind, before returning all the way home aboard the Swan once more. This was Snarf’s first experience of being on boats and he especially loved watching the skippers turning their huge wooden wheels on the smaller boats.

Lake District Lakeland Motor Museum tableaux

Lakeland Motor Museum
The Lakeland Motor Museum is billed as the perfect rainy day attraction for Lake District visitors and it’s not hard to see why: whilst the Lakes are always stunning the weather can be difficult, and not everyone is happy outside in the wind and the drizzle. The museum is situated a short drive from the Southernmost end of Windermere, and boasts a large selection of vehicles from every era, including a rare DeLorean (the car from Back to the Future), the tiny Peel P50 car and some beautiful iconic bluebird blue examples of the cars and boats driven by speed racing driver and local legends Martin and Donald Campbell. Snarf is a great lover of all things wheel based and greatly enjoyed this packed space. I liked the slightly surreal tableaux with spooky mannequins arranged throughout the museum: so most of my photos appear to be of these!

Lake Distric South Lakes Safari Zoo Rhino
Lake district South Lakes safari park family

South Lakes Safari Zoo tiger - tim adey

South Lakes Safari Zoo
This small but well stocked zoo is only a few decades old, the dream of an eccentric individual called David Gill, and when we visited it was relatively empty, giving us an excellent opportunity to view the animals up close. Our first stop was the interactive enclosure which houses a variety of exotic birds, lemurs and wallabies – making for quite a surreal experience. We particularly loved feeding grapes to the ring tailed lemurs, which have the most endearing personalities, sitting upright with bellies to the sun, or curled into groups with their young. We ate lunch at the Maki Restaurant, then visited some cheeky penguins, watched the tiger being fed from a prime position and helped to feed an elegant giraffe. Aren’t they gorgeous creatures? The extraordinarily strong winds on this exposed site finally got the better of us by late afternoon.

Lake District Ravenglass railway driver

Ravenglass and Eskdale Railway
It took us a long time to drive over to the coastal village of Ravenglass in the Western Lakes, but fortunately the route was one of the most scenic I have ever driven, taking in delightful villages aplenty and stunning views of the peaks on our sunniest day in the Lake District. The Ravenglass narrow gauge railway was first used to transport iron ore, then granite, but has also ferried passengers seven miles through scenic landscapes to Dalegarth for Boot for over 100 years. We were pulled by the gleaming River Irt steam locomotive which is the oldest in residence. At the far end we watched the train on the miniature turntable before hastily grabbing lunch at the station cafe (which sold a great selection of cakes – cakes are taken so much more seriously in the North). By luck we managed to nab a prime position right behind the driver for the downhill return journey, so our train obsessed little boy was able to mimic the driver as he shovelled coal into the engine and pulled the cord to make that inimitable steam engine noise. What a treat!

Lake District Muncaster Castle hawk experience
Muncaster Castle interior
Muncaster Castle haunted room fireplace

Muncaster Castle Patrick Gordon-Duff-Pennington
Muncaster Castle red rhododendron
Muncaster Castle rhododendron
Muncaster Castle
It’s not often that you unexpectedly meet the owner of a huge castle but that is exactly what happened when the charismatic Patrick Gordon-Duff-Pennington blustered into the castle cafe outdoor seating area whilst we enjoyed some ice cream and started talking to us: about rhododendrons (beautiful and many at Muncaster) and the struggles he has had with the authorities on matters rural. The vast landscaped gardens perched on the hillside are an undoubted highlight of any visit to Muncaster Castle, (which is just up the road from Ravenglass), but sadly we were unable to explore as much as we would like with a small and increasingly tired boy in tow. Instead we took the zip wire in the playground and watched a half hour show on the castle lawns from the new Hawk Experience, featuring low flying birds of prey. Then we admired the staggering views across the valley (see the opening image) and took in a short tour of the un-lived in castle rooms, which retain such treasures as Jacobean embroideries and amazing carved fireplaces (particularly spectacular in the ‘haunted’ bedroom). I love the many colours and shapes of the dramatic rhododendron and would love to return to Muncaster Castle in future years.

With many thanks to Cumbria Tourism for arranging our tickets to these attractions. We stayed at the Holgates Silverdale Holiday Park and you can read more about our stay (and further ideas for places to visit in the area) here.

All photography by Amelia Gregory and Tim Adey.

Written by Amelia Gregory on Monday May 18th, 2015 7:31 pm

Categories ,Ambleside, ,Bluebird, ,Bowness, ,Cumbria, ,Cumbria Tourism, ,Dalegarth for Boot, ,David Gill, ,delorean, ,Donald Campbell, ,Hawk Experience, ,Holgates Silverdale Holiday Park, ,Lake District, ,Lakeland Motor Museum, ,Maki Restaurant, ,Martin Campbell, ,Muncaster Castle, ,Patrick Gordon-Duff-Pennington, ,Peel P50, ,Ravenglass, ,Ravenglass and Eskdale Railway, ,Rhododendrons, ,River Irt, ,Snarf, ,South Lakes, ,South Lakes Safari Zoo, ,South Lakes Wild Animal Park, ,St Martin’s Tea Room & Grill, ,Swan, ,Tim Adey, ,Western Lakes, ,Windermere, ,Windermere Lake Cruises

Amelia’s Magazine | A Summer Punch Up at Sutton House: Kotki Dwa Staycations Album Launch Party Review

Kotki Dwa Staycations CD bundle by Sam Glynn

Staycations. A word us Brits are getting more and more used to: when the sun shines, there is honestly just no place like home. Great Britain has been the centre of attention this summer. After all, if it’s good enough for world record holders and a Queen, it’s good enough for us. The beautiful rolling green hills, still blues lakes and near-empty endless beaches. We’re spoilt for these spots, everywhere. So why not celebrate them? Forget the rain and embrace our terrain right? Right. Amelia’s Magazine music favourites, Kotki Dwa, well and truly do. So much so, Staycations is the title of their follow-up album. But wait… Here comes a very interesting tale.

While fans sat patiently waiting for second record news, the boys Alex, Tom and Tristan, were hatching quite the plan. An idea long in the making, came true this summer on 2nd July, the release date of the album. And this plan? To ask the National Trust to be their record label. They gave a firm yes!

Kotki Dwa Cakes by Abi Renshaw
Kotki Dwa rice paper printed jam cupcakes by Abi Renshaw

So we’ve all been to a National Trust property right? Yes? Well there are over two hundred historic houses open to the public. Your folks probably took you to an endless amount as a kid. Visiting these properties seemed like a staple part of growing up. Now I’ve hopefully got you reminiscing, it’s filled you with fond memories hasn’t it. The pristine gardens (with a maze if you were lucky), the delicious dairy ice cream from the café, the views from high above. Kotki Dwa thought the same. Dreamt up by the boys, which must feel like an awfully long time ago now, was this rather genius idea. Once they secured the all-important ‘yes’, the possibilities became endless. They knew exactly that this would open all kinds of (historic and stately) doors – to be inspired by, write about and record in.

A Summer Punch Up on Saturday 14th July was their big night. The album was out there, glowing reviews were flowing from Pitchfork, the Guardian and the BBC. This launch party was set to go off. Plus, the venue was quite special in it’s own right. Many ran through the doors bang on 7pm into Sutton House, Hackney’s oldest house and a National Trust gem. So much so, Alex spilled they wrote a track based on its ghost. Buried deep in Homerton, 80 lucky people got to party in this property, built in 1535 by a prominent courtier of Henry VIII. WOW. The Summer (it was raining) Punch Up started with the twilight punch picnic.

Cucumber triangle sandwiches, scotch eggs, jam filled cupcakes with their Polish name on rice paper (lovely touch and too pretty to eat) and flower cakes fashioned in plant pots with Oreo ‘soil’. Delicious.

Kotki Dwa Summer Punch by Edie OP
The Summer Punch Up cocktails menu by Edie OP

They even had themed cocktails after three of their songs. Outside in the bunting-filled courtyard was an ice cream cart. Pay a donation for a scrummy pot of Taywell and cover it in their home-made Pimms syrup. Yeah!

Supporting Kotki Dwa were two fantastic bands, Glaciers and Niteflights. Each surrounded by Kotki Dwa’s British holiday themed set of picnic hampers, hay bales and a snorkel. Once the twilight picnic had gone down and the dancing to both bands over, it was to be their finest hour. The first quarter of the hall filled with the 80 strong crowd. I’m pretty small in height so was pleased with my wing position right by the grand piano, oohhh. The room was beautiful, with its red walls and high beams. Sticking to songs solely from Staycations, you could just see it in their faces, how happy they were they’d got to here. The idea had become an album, and it was rattling that ghost upstairs no doubt. I very much enjoyed the heavily loud instrumental ending of The Wolf, and the single Poison required some serious dancing. The absolute highlight for me was during the song Staycations. A girl dressed in a crab costume was throwing beach balls into the crowd to lyrics such as ‘you la la like it when we go away’ and ‘didn’t I read that sunshine repairs your sanity’. A fantastic night ending with a disco hosted by DJs Midnight A-Go-Go and NZCA/LINES.

Kotki Dwa King Crab by Dan Morison
King Crab by Dan Morison

Oh to re-live that night all over again, yes please! I did the next best thing, I quizzed singer Alex about how they bagged the National Trust as their label and where you can see them play live this summer: read my interview with Alex Ostrowski here.

Written by Abi Renshaw on Friday August 3rd, 2012 9:43 pm

Categories ,A Summer Punch Up, ,Abi Renshaw, ,Alex Ostrowski, ,Bandcamp, ,BBC, ,Beach balls, ,Box Hill, ,bunting, ,Crab costume, ,Dan Morison, ,Edie OP, ,Geoffrey Taylor, ,Ghost, ,Glaciers, ,Great Britain, ,hackney, ,Halloween video, ,Harpsichord, ,Hattie Newman, ,Homerton, ,Ice Cream, ,Kotki Dwa, ,Lake District, ,Limited edition CDs, ,Lunch EP, ,National Trust, ,Niteflights, ,Picnic hampers, ,Pimm’s, ,Pitchfork, ,Polish, ,Queen, ,Recording, ,Robin’s Clogs, ,Sam Glynn, ,Sam Parr, ,Scotch eggs, ,Staycations, ,Sun shine, ,Sutton House, ,Taywell, ,The Guardian, ,Triangle sandwiches, ,Twilight picnic punch, ,World record holder, ,YCN, ,Yorkshire, ,Yorkshire Dales

Amelia’s Magazine | Kotki Dwa Staycations Album Launch Interview with Alex Ostrowski

Kotki Dwa at Sutton House by Sam Parr
The band at their Sutton House album launch by Sam Parr

Your 5 track EP ‘Lunch‘ came out in November 2011. Before that, It had been a wee while since you put any music out other than your Halloween video and exclusive Amelia’s Mag song for the USB Issue. Did this help you prepare for writing and recording Staycations, plus getting you back into performing live no doubt?

Yes we tend to leave quite big gaps in between our major projects. This time around it gave us the chance to develop our sound in the ways we’d been wanting to. The Lunch EP was kind of a ‘study’ to try out some new ways of doing things, moving forwards from our first album. We’d been working out how to be more economical with our part writing, so that things slotted together more deftly. Hopefully that comes through on the new album.

Great videos have always featured pretty heavily with your singles. I was locked in when I watched Robin’s Clogs! You all look like you have a lot of fun making them. As the three of you are all a creative bunch, this must be a pretty great extension of making music right?

We do love making videos and tend to have a lot of fun making them, perhaps too much sometimes! It’s good having a different outlet for ideas.

Kotki Dwa tied to their cardboard keyboard

Love the new video directed by Hattie Newman for the song Staycations. Plus she just played flute for a track at your gig. Where did you film this?

It was actually directed by Geoffrey Taylor but art directed by Hattie Newman (she worked with Geoffrey on all the styling and made some cool props). We’re pretty good friends the lot of us, so we all mucked in. To make the video we went on a jaunt around Great Britain, trying to take in the jaw dropping sights of the National Trust’s properties around the country, whilst also changing battery packs, avoiding parking tickets and generally trying to make a music video on the fly with only a few warm scotch eggs to fuel us.

Everyone loves a scotch egg. I’m sure many bands are kicking themselves that they didn’t come up with approaching the National Trust. Are they doing exactly as any other record label would?

We approached the National Trust a long time ago with our ideas. They’ve been great sports and have supported us with many of the resources that a record label might sort out — space to record in, help promoting the album etc. Fundamentally the setup has enabled us to operate very independently and do everything exactly how we’ve wanted to, which is good fun and never disappointing.

All the teapots inside Sutton House

So, as you started to formulate a plan to approach the National Trust, how did you do it? I imagine no one had ever asked them to be their record label before. Did they sit and think on it or jump at the chance to be involved? You must have been dying to tell everyone…

It was tempting to tell people about it in the early stages but we kept schtum. We approached the National Trust very carefully and very directly as a band. We knew exactly what we wanted to ask, and we knew exactly what the reasons were for them to say yes, so we explained everything with as much clarity as possible so that they would understand what we were on about. They got it pretty quickly and it took a couple of months to put the plan in place, but we got there!

How did this lightning bolt idea arise? I’d love to think you were just in a castle and thought, hey, imagine recording a track in here!

We wanted to partner with somebody other than a label for the release, because we thought it would throw up some interesting challenges. We’d already decided upon the title of our new album – Staycations – which we chose for its bittersweet connotations. And so, the National Trust sprang to mind because they look after so much of the British outdoors and so many weird & wonderful places for us to record in.

Alex from Kotki Dwa at the making of the video for Staycations

How many places did you visit up and down Great Britain in all? Do you have a favourite one? Did you write the album before or after these visits?

I think we’ve lost count. We’ve been to the Yorkshire Dales, Borrowdale and Upper Wharfedale in the Lake District, Heysham Head on the West Coast, Arnside Knott, Box Hill in Surrey, Pulpit Woods, Pitstone Windmill, plenty of the London properties including Fenton House, 2 Willow Road and Sutton House – the oldest house in Hackney! We really enjoyed visiting Malham Tarn in Yorkshire, where we had a relaxing boat ride.

Any plans to do anything further with them? I guess they’re helping you by stocking it in their NT shops now right? How many did you press?

We’ve just done a launch show at Sutton House, which the National Trust look after. We also put on a special exhibition at YCN on Rivington Street which showed some National Trust bits including some amazing old postcards which show some of the places they still look after today. We have stocked the album in a handful of their shops too which is nice, only fifty special physicals in existence.

Yes I have one. It’s hand bound in cloth with a lyric-postcard set and 4-colour risograph poster. Staycations has had good things written about it by the Guardian and Pitchfork. It couldn’t have gone much better!

It’s very flattering and we’re truly delighted by the response. We’ve been working on this for so long so it’s great to hear that people are enjoying the results. Hopefully if people enjoy the album they’ll buy it via our website!

During the making of Staycations video

Yes, it’s great you are selling it through Bandcamp. You all must be super chuffed with how well it’s all going. Especially as your loyal fans got to snap up just 50 limited edition CDs. Your original artwork or unusual features have been a pretty strong USP for Kotki Dwa. For instance, with the yellow Robin’s Clogs vinyl, I got the CD single, a flower pressed badge and fold out poster with lyrics. You really do think about the whole package, where many bands just don’t. Do you enjoy providing all these touches on the side of your music or is it just as important?

Yeah we enjoy making the whole thing as perfect as we can. We’re a fairly small operation so when we do something we do it wholeheartedly. I work as a designer at YCN so that comes in handy on the packaging front.

For me it makes it more treasured. Plus you obviously want your fans at your gigs to know the lyrics. For instance, with the Staycations MP3 version, I’m shown the lyrics on my iPhone! Don’t think I’ve ever seen this before!

Really? Cool, didn’t know that!

The sold out limited edition Staycations bundle

Well what a nice surprise! The album launch for Staycations: A Summer Punch Up, how did it go?

We had a really great time! We recorded some of the album at Sutton House so it was nice to revisit for a party. We had some great other bands playing too — Glaciers, fronted by brilliant illustrator Nic Burrows, and Niteflights who are an impressive new 4 piece well worth a listen.

Have you had to abide by a load of restrictions, like no noise after 10pm and you have to wear white cotton gloves?

National Trust visiting hours tend to be from 11 until 5 we’ve found, although we’ve bent a few rules like that over the past year! I did have to audition in order to be allowed to borrow one of the Trust’s oldest harpsichords though. Luckily I passed the audition and got to record with it — it’s on the album!

Inside the limited edition Staycations

Oh great! Have you pencilled in a UK tour for this year? Any other events planned like your Polish paper-cutting workshop?

Well we’re playing Midnight A-Go-Go in London on 25th August, which will be fun. Let’s see what else comes up…

You can catch Kotki Dwa playing at Midnight A-Go-Go on Saturday 25th August at The Waiting Room (underneath The Three Crowns) on Stoke Newington High Street. 9pm – 4am and tickets are just £5. Read my review of the Staycations launch at Sutton House here.

Written by Abi Renshaw on Friday August 3rd, 2012 9:50 pm

Amelia’s Magazine | An interview with The Witch and The Robot on the release of new album Fear of Mountains

The Witch and The Robot fear of mountains
They live in the Lake District, drug they’re neighbours with British Sea Power and they make bewitching alternative music that has been labelled psych folk but which really doesn’t fit in any box. New album Fear of Mountains has just been released on digital download and features a series of unique songs inspired by their isolated location and a fabulous mash up of influences. Meet Sam Hunt and Andrew Tomlinson of Cumbrian band The Witch and The Robot (otherwise known as TWATr) for a fabulous insight into some truly creative musical minds. We’re talking everything from Wordsworth to Alex Reid…

The Witch and The Robot Fear of Mountains head
How has living in the Lake District affected your approach to music making?
It pops up everywhere really; we are situationists through necessity rather than design. Growing up in places like the Lakes you have to create your own sense of scene, help a strange amalgam made up of half understood snippets from the radio or read in magazines. We found ourselves on a strange diet of Mo Wax/Warp/Ninjatune, New Romantica/Depeche Mode/Prince and David Bowie/90’s jingly jangly indie and Tupac; unable to appropriate a single scene we made one up ourselves. It’s hard not to reference where you live in songs, if you want to write about yourself, we are conscious of the romantics and the various other assorted lunatics, artists and rum buggers who by and large saw the Lakes as a place to escape the ‘real’ world. Wordsworth on the run from memories of the French Revolution, Josefina de Vasconcellos (who pops up a lot in our songs) on the run from London society, Kurt Swchitters on the run from the war…

The Witch and the Robot by Rachel Higham.

The place is filled with them, hotel staff who are a bit cagey about life before the Lakes, rich artists who see themselves in the mould of the before mentioned Schwitters, loads of people who find it very easy to create their own reality in this rural bubble. Josefina had a view on it that the mountains are both muse and jailer, we quote her on Fear Of Mountains ‘this place can make things seem more than they are’ it heightens emotions I suppose, to quote Lou ‘there is only one good thing about a small town that you know that you gotta get out‘ .. Fear Of Mountains Pt 1 is about getting out….

Witch and Robot by Carne Griffiths.

Are you happy with your acronym? Was it a conscious decision to use TWATr and if so why? And why the little r at the end?
When we decided to call ourselves The Witch and The Robot we were just trying to think of two creatures who would not have met before, the acronym was just a happy accident.. We’ve written a number of stories about how the two met, some of them should be on our blog but as far as the little r – TWAT is a funny word and word that is used a surprising amount in endless context, maybe it’s a Cumbrian thang…

Houdini

Love the video for Houdini, where was it shot and what inspired the treatment?
Why thank you – the video was shot at Wastwater – I think Sally Webster from Coronation Street got it voted ‘Britain’s favorite view’ on a ITV special – it’s England’s deepest lake, as deep as the North Sea and provides much of the water for the cooling process at Sellafield just down the way – I think there was a doctor who killed his wife and flew over Wastwater in light aircraft with her weighted body intending to drop her into the icy depths but missed and she ended up on the side of the mountain.. There’s also the Gnome garden, put at the depth where it starts to get dangerous for divers, Gnomes all happy surrounded by white picket fences, the police removed it, to prevent gnome tourism but it was put back up the next week. We filmed it on a very hot day with all our Star Wars figures and HeMan figures with the intention of tying them all to helium balloons, but you would be surprised at how many balloons you need to make an action figure fly.

The Witch and The Robot Fear of Mountains balloons

How do you write your songs, can you describe the process of how you work together?
We have always written together, it’s a very easy process as we’ve known each other literally all our lives, the thing about TWATr is that we are not really sure anyone else is listening, its what we as a group of friends have always done and will continue to do.

Witch and Robot by Gareth A Hopkins.

And for that matter, how did you meet and start making music?
We all grew up together, in and around Ambleside, I think music making came from the lack of anything else to do.

Hetero

Fear of Mountains is apparently the first of three concept albums in a Rock Opus. What can we expect from the others?
Like David Bowie’s 1. Outside it is our ‘A Non-Linear Gothic Drama Hyper-Cycle‘, also like 1. Outside Andrew thought it would be funny if it was the only one of the trilogy we ever did. I on the other hand have an idea about an album/graphic novel/action film/musical starring Celeb Big Brother winner and former beau of Jordan Alex Reid as a battle hardened William Wordsworth, we’ll just have to wait to see who wins out.

The Witch and The Robot Fear of Mountains

Can you describe your attraction to some of the oddball characters that feature within the music, and what exactly comes across of their personality in particular songs?
Most of the oddball characters are probably us in some way or form, so it’s probably safer just to remain hidden behind abstract lyrics, but as mentioned some real life people do tend to pop up quite a lot – the key one being Josefina de Vasconcellos, a daughter of a Brazilian diplomat, became a bit of a legend in the Lakes. She was a monumental sculptor and Blake-like visionary who specialized in figurative religious art and died at the ripe old age of 101. Religious art has never really be cool – unless you were a sculptor in renaissance, but her work was totally insane, if ever in Edinburgh have a look at The Last Chimera at The Cannongate Kirk on the Royal Mile or Escape To Light overlooking Morecambe Bay at Millom Lifeboat Station. I spent 2 years making a film about her, which in the end wasn’t that good, but was certainly an experience, as someone who struggles to believe the news let alone the presence of a God, it was a fascinating insight into what is faith…

The Witch and The Robot by Barb Royal.

The album can be bought in the Hide & Horn shop in Ambleside – has it since been stocked elsewhere or would you encourage a digital download of the album instead?
We released our first album On Safari on a proper label with distribution and the like and to be honest we’ve seen not a bean, so we thought it was time to scale back and try and do something interesting with the release – when you are in a Z-list psych-folk band I think it would make more of a difference to do something like that than let an un-bought album grow dusty on Rough Trade East’s shelves – also Pete at Hide and Horn could really do with the trade. But I have succumbed to peer pressure (Andrew) and put it on sale digitally as well, if you do get it from Hide and Horn Andrew has made you a lovely picture to go with it.

The Witch and The Robot Fear of Mountains bw

Are there any particular Lake District traditions that you feel the rest of the world should know more about, and why?
At the beginning of Fear Of Mountains pt1 we have recoded a snippet of Ambleside’s Rushbaring – for years we were told that this obviously pagan fertility rite was how they used to change the rushes on the floor of the church – but stiff like that happens everywhere – I once went to 2 or 3 Cumbrian wrestling lessons when I was 12/13 wish Id stayed on as I’d probably be world champion by now. But apart from noticeably excessive daytime drinking I think the wider world is probably better off with the Lakes traditions staying in the hills.

You can hear the whole glorious record here: I recommend you take a listen. Fear of Mountains Pt 1 is out now on digital download and at the Hide & Horn shop.

Written by Amelia Gregory on Tuesday October 4th, 2011 1:22 pm

Categories ,90’s, ,Alex Reid, ,Ambleside, ,Ambleside’s Rushbaring, ,Andrew Tomlinson, ,Barb Royal, ,Blake, ,British Sea Power, ,Carne Griffiths, ,Celeb Big Brother, ,Coronation Street, ,Cumbria, ,David Bowie, ,Depeche Mode, ,DJ Aesthetic Heartbreak, ,Escape To Light, ,Fear of Mountains, ,Fertility, ,French Revolution, ,Gareth A Hopkins, ,Gnome, ,HeMan, ,Hide and Horn, ,Houdini, ,ITV, ,Jordan, ,Josefina de Vasconcellos, ,Kurt Swchitters, ,Lake District, ,Millom Lifeboat Station, ,Mo Wax, ,Morecambe Bay, ,New Romantica, ,Ninjatune, ,On Safari, ,Pagan, ,prince, ,Psych Folk, ,Rachel Higham, ,Rock Opus, ,Rough Trade East, ,Sally Webster, ,Sam Hunt, ,Sellafield, ,Star Wars, ,Stuart Shingler, ,The Last Chimera, ,the witch and the robot, ,Tupac, ,TWATr, ,Warp, ,Wastwater, ,Wordsworth

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