Courtesy of www.britainonview.com
Coniston Water in the Lake District, Aerial View
Coniston Water, in the center of the Lake District National Park, was the setting for Arthur Ransome's popular children's book, Swallows and Amazons.
It was also the setting of a 20th century English sports tragedy. In January 1967, land and water speed record holder Donald Campbell, attempting to break his own water speed record in his boat Bluebird, went out of control on the return portion of the circuit, crashed at more than 320 mph, flipped over and sank. The wreckage of Bluebird was not found until March 2001 and Campbell's body was recovered in May of that same year. He is buried in Coniston village, nearby.
A much more gentle way to take to Coniston Water is onboard Gondola, the National Trust's refurbished Victorian steam yacht.