UKC

Anyone know if the Rannerdale Bluebells are out yet?

In reply to navigator:

Don't know, but I know the story!

In reply to butteredfrog:

Not yet, will be in the next few days

In reply to navigator:

They weren't on Sunday, haven't been since.

In reply to navigator:

Anyone been there this weekend?

In reply to navigator:

Don't know, but there are carpets of them in Langdale, looks stunning

In reply to navigator:
There are quite a few at Rannerdale at the moment but still quite small and not fully out. Many people were out enjoying them on Monday.

In reply to navigator:

I came down from Whiteless Pike and over Rannerdale Knotts on Sunday and saw no sign whatsoever of any Bluebells.

In reply to butteredfrog:


Is it this story? Cumbria was populated by the original Celtic Cumbrians and Norse settlers. The Normans didn't take over Cumbria (Cumberland and Westmorland) for decades after 1066. That much is known to be true. During one of their attempts to take over Cumbria a Norman army was ambushed by a combined force of Celtic and Norse fighters and massacred in Rannerdale. That is also known to be true. The victors then claimed that the bluebells at Rannerdale were so prolific because they grew on the blood of dead Normans. So those flowers have been there for centuries it seems.

In reply to navigator:

There's loads of them about there now, and also just before Lanthwaite.

In reply to Gael Force:

And also below the path up to Scarth Gap from Buttermere.

In reply to mockerkin:

The story about the battle with the Normans at Rannerdale was written in 1929 by Nicholas Size, who was the landlord of the Victoria Hotel (now called the Bridge Hotel) in Buttermere.

The valley that runs up behind Rannerdale Knotts is known locally as "the Secret Valley" and was supposed to be the site of England's last stand against the Normans. Whether the story is true, no-one seems to know. The Rannerdale bluebells are unusual in that that they grow on the open fellside. Whether that is because they are indeed growing on the blood of the defeated army, or is because a woodland originally stood where the bluebells now grow, remains a mystery.