Moving to the Howgill Fells

A few weeks ago, Harvey, Oslo and I made the move from our little cottage on the edge of the Peak District into the Howgill Fells of Cumbria. Here, we are surrounded by rolling hills and beautiful villages; the Yorkshire Dales are just a short drive away with their stunning dales and valleys, and the craggy more mountainous landscape of the Lake District is just half an hour in the other direction. Daffodils blow gently in the wind and the trickle of the river just down the road makes me almost tempted to dive into its crystal clear waters. We awake to the birds chirping outside our windows and Oslo can run free in some local fields (away from the bleeting lambs!). Behind our house is a fell with the perfect sunset picnic spot, and there is a woodland just down the road brimming with wild garlic. As I write this, I am sat in out back garden which looks over the hills. The wind is blooming freezing but the sun is on my face and all is well. I feel very lucky to be here and so excited for all there is to come.

I’m sure many of you reading this already watch my videos on YouTube and follow me on Instagram, but in case you missed out on why we moved, I will briefly explain. The owners of the cottage we had rented for a year and a half decided to sell-up as we entered the third lockdown. We fortunately had a 6 month notice period due to COVID though cut it fine on eventually leaving while we figured out our next move! We initially thought we may try to buy the cottage, as we’d loved living there for the past year and a half. However the valuation of the property put it well above what we felt it was worth, based on renovations we would want to do to the property. So when we realised we would definitely be leaving, we were faced with the difficult yet fortunate position of deciding where to move…

Harvey is fully freelance and has spent the last 20 or so years going where the wind blows him, having lived and worked in New Zealand, Norway, Canada, Scotland and long periods in his homeland of Devon. I had already handed my notice in at work and was eager to make the move to a full-time freelance Author and YouTuber. This gave me the perfect opportunity to pursue that passion. And so, neither of us had any ties, except for family who I ideally didn’t want to move too far away from (my mum and sisters all live in different parts of West Yorkshire at the moment).

We considered staying in the Peak District, or moving a little further north to West Yorkshire. We also considered migrating even further north to Scotland or west to Wales. So how did we end up in Cumbria? Harvey secured some work with a friend building Shepherd’s Huts in the Lake District, and simultaneously I knew that my next guidebook would be to the Lake District. I already knew that it would be expensive to live in the Lakes, unless we moved somewhere like Kendal but I didn’t want to live in a large town. So we started looking around the Western side of the Yorkshire Dale National Park on the other side of the M6. A couple of years ago, I visited the Howgill Fells with my little sister and the place stuck in my mind as being beautiful, quiet, with some exceptional walks, lovely villages and beautiful landscapes. You can see the video from that little adventure here!

We went to look at a few places in the Dales before we settled on moving to the Howgills. An old mill-worker’s cottage had been catching my eye online for a while, though I thought it might be too small for us with all our outdoor gear and the need for a home office and stock room for my walking books and our growing online store. But we decided to go see it anyway, put in an application the next day, got accepted and were given a move in date in two weeks time. I can’t deny that I was a little nervous, mostly for the house rather than the area. I worried about how we’d fit all our stuff into this tiny cottage, whether it would feel dark and closed in, whether we’d like the area. My fears all but disappeared after less than a week living here; once all the boxes had been dispersed, we’d met practically all the neighbours and found a whole host of wonderful walks and beautiful views right from our front door.

Definitely something else that I also really love about living here is having a small town with local amenities just a short 10 minute walk away. My car actually ran out of battery when we first moved here as I found no need to drive anywhere! I was enjoying walking to the post office every other day to take the parcels for our store, and walking to the veg shop, zero waste store, butcher and lovely cafe for everything else I needed. Oslo could even come with me and so was getting three walks a day, which he loved! Harvey was working really long hours when we first moved and was pretty exhausted when he got home in the evenings, but we managed to get out on some beautiful evening wanders together so he too could get to know our area, and fall in love with it as I had,

Over the last few weeks, we have had some beautiful sunny days which really shows off this area at its best. We have been on some stunning local drives, taken the back roads through gorgeous valleys, walked over fells, down rivers and alongside waterfalls. I’ve also been on a few hikes in the Lakes as I start to work on my next book, but I’ll share those photos at another point! Harvey, Oslo and I are all so excited to keep exploring our new home and taking advantage of all it has to offer.

I’m really keen to get a gravel bike so we can go on some bike rides, taking some of the by-ways and bridleways off the beaten track. I might also be brave and go for some wild swims when the temperatures warm up a bit! We have found so many local swim spots with the clearest water and beautiful picnic sites to set-up camp for the day on the riverside. There really is an abundance to explore here, and we feel very lucky to be able to explore somewhere new just as we come out of lockdown.

We loved our time in the Peak District, and it will always hold a special place in my heart as the location of my first walking guidebook and also the place I fell in love with hill-walking. We are excited to go back there and catch up with friends when we are allowed, but for now we have a new area to get to know and make home.

Thank you for all your support and see you soon!

Athena x