Spring has Sprung

Spring is a wonderful time in the Lake District when the bare winter landscape is replaced with a wonderful blossoming of colour. With the days getting longer and the weather getting warmer and dryer, it’s time for more and longer adventures outdoors.

Spring also brings the lambing season, an important time for the farmers. You must make sure your dog is on the lead at all times when walking through fields with livestock in them.

A particularly enjoyable springtime walk that I love to do with Willow is to walk from Rydal to Grasmere. You can take a step back in time and retrace the steps of William Wordsworth, one of the Lake Districts most famous poets. His poem ‘Daffodils’ captures the spirit of the season. At the start of the walk there’s a wonderful place known as Dora’s Field, which can be found behind the church in Rydal. It is full of beautiful daffodils and you can imagine Wordsworth himself being inspired to write.

The walk from Rydal to Grasmere is an easy and fun route, along the way you can take in the lovely views of Rydal water. It actually takes you along the old coffin route used to transport coffins from the church at Rydal to Grasmere in years gone by. However today it is a bit more cheerful as a lovely low-level walk to share with your dog.

It may be short but the path takes you from open countryside through to tranquil woodland, as well as passing the rugged streams cascading down the hillside. This mixture of terrain, from hard-packed gravel through to some interesting rooty sections means the dogs love it!

It takes around an hour each way between Rydal and Grasmere. However there are many places to stop and enjoy the view, not to mention the opportunity to re-fuel in the plentiful cafes of Grasmere. This trail is quieter early in the morning or later on in the day.

The end of a walk wouldn’t be complete without letting Willow have a bit of fun in the water.

Jess is a small business owner based in the Lake District who has been helping us trial our brand new Mountain Paws range. She and her Border Collie, Willow, are blogging about their idyllic outdoor life in the Lake District and the things they discover on their adventures. Read on to find out more and look out for Jess' blogs on MountainPaws.co.uk in future.

For more of Jess and Willow's adventures, follow Jess on Instagram @thelittlelakedistrictdogwalker or visit her website thelittlelakedistrictdogwalker. For regular updates on our latest blogs as well as special offers and other news, sign up to our Mountain Paws newsletter using the sign-up box in the footer.