Gummer's How is a hill in the southern part of the
Lake District
The Lake District, also known as ''the Lakes'' or ''Lakeland'', is a mountainous region and National parks of the United Kingdom, national park in Cumbria, North West England. It is famous for its landscape, including its lakes, coast, and mou ...
, on the eastern shore of
Windermere
Windermere (historically Winder Mere) is a ribbon lake in Cumbria, England, and part of the Lake District. It is the largest lake in England by length, area, and volume, but considerably smaller than the List of lakes and lochs of the United Ki ...
, near its southern end. How, derived from the
Old Norse
Old Norse, also referred to as Old Nordic or Old Scandinavian, was a stage of development of North Germanic languages, North Germanic dialects before their final divergence into separate Nordic languages. Old Norse was spoken by inhabitants ...
word ''
haugr'', is a common local term for a hill or mound.
Although a relatively small hill (321 metres above sea level) by the standards of the Lake District, it is the highest of the foothills in the area and commands excellent views, particularly along Windermere (the summit looks out over the magnificent Town Head House estate towards the lake), but also across to the Coniston
fell
A fell (from Old Norse ''fell'', ''fjall'', "mountain"Falk and Torp (2006:161).) is a high and barren landscape feature, such as a mountain or Moorland, moor-covered hill. The term is most often employed in Fennoscandia, Iceland, the Isle of M ...
s and the central fells, as well as the broad panorama of
Morecambe Bay
Morecambe Bay is an estuary in north-west England, just to the south of the Lake District National Park. It is the largest expanse of intertidal mudflats and sand in the United Kingdom, covering a total area of . In 1974, the second largest ga ...
. There is an
OS trig point
A triangulation station, also known as a trigonometrical point, and sometimes informally as a trig, is a fixed surveying station, used in geodetic surveying and other surveying projects in its vicinity.
The station is usually set up by a map ...
on the summit.
The walk to the summit is usually from the road at Astley's Plantation car park, itself at over 200 metres above sea level, and only 700 metres from the summit. Although short and easy by most standards, and popular with families, it has many of the characteristics of a walk in the higher Lakeland fells, with some (short) steep slopes, rocks to negotiate, and
rowan
The rowans ( or ) or mountain-ashes are shrubs or trees in the genus ''Sorbus'' of the rose family, Rosaceae. They are native throughout the cool temperate regions of the Northern Hemisphere, with the highest species diversity in the Himalaya ...
,
bracken
Bracken (''Pteridium'') is a genus of large, coarse ferns in the family (biology), family Dennstaedtiaceae. Ferns (Pteridophyta) are vascular plants that undergo alternation of generations, having both large plants that produce spores and small ...
and
heather. The lower slopes are forested, but the upper portion is
moorland
Moorland or moor is a type of Habitat (ecology), habitat found in upland (geology), upland areas in temperate grasslands, savannas, and shrublands and the biomes of montane grasslands and shrublands, characterised by low-growing vegetation on So ...
.
Gummer's How is the subject of a chapter of
Wainwright's book ''
The Outlying Fells of Lakeland
''The Outlying Fells of Lakeland'' is a 1974 book written by Alfred Wainwright dealing with hills in and around the Lake District of England. It differs from Wainwright's ''Pictorial Guide to the Lakeland Fells, Pictorial Guides'' in that each ...
''. He describes it as "an old man's mountain", and says of it: "And when ancient legs can no longer climb it know ye that the sad day has come to hung up the boots for ever and take to slippers".
Simon Jenkins
Sir Simon David Jenkins FLSW (born 10 June 1943) is a British author, a newspaper columnist and editor. He was editor of the ''Evening Standard'' from 1976 to 1978 and of ''The Times'' from 1990 to 1992.
Jenkins chaired the National Trust f ...
rates the Windermere panorama of the Lake District,
Pennines
The Pennines (), also known as the Pennine Chain or Pennine Hills, are a range of highland, uplands mainly located in Northern England. Commonly described as the "Vertebral column, backbone of England" because of its length and position, the ra ...
and Morecambe Bay as one of the top ten in England.
References
External links
Lake Windermere from Gummers Howe
{{Marilyns N Eng
Marilyns of England
Fells of the Lake District
Staveley-in-Cartmel