23 Jun 2012 01:52:28
Eight million tourists visit the Lake District National Park each year. Yet this miniature version of the Alps has not always been seen as an ideal refuge from "the pressures of city life". Thompson's study shows that the Lake District is "an imaginative construction". Even the name is relatively recent. Its growth in popularity paralleled the rapid rise of the first great industrial city – Manchester, just 75 miles away. In 1727, Defoe was dismissive of the area: its hills were "all barren and wild, of no use or advantage either to man or beast". But as intellectuals, such as Rousseau, popularised the idea of walking in nature (and especially mountains), the sensibility changed and the Lake District was born. The first guidebook to the Lakes (Thomas West's) appeared in 1778. But it was Wordsworth who popularised a Romantic vision of his native landscape. Turner and Constable soon followed, portraying it as a "northern Arcadia". Thompson weaves together social and cultural history to create an evocative and beautifully illustrated narrative.
