About 12 miles (19km) due east of Kendal is England’s Book Town of Sedbergh. Although it’s been part of Cumbria since 1974, it also lies within the Yorkshire Dales National Park, with a lovely setting close to the Howgill Fells.
South of Sedbergh, a delightful little run along the A683 leads to Kirkby Lonsdale. On the way the route by-passes Barbon from where a minor road goes through Barbondale into Dentdale and then on to the pretty village of Dent.
Perched above the River Lune, Kirkby Lonsdale is full of attractive stone buildings and is fortunate in having a good range of small, independent shops.
In the 19th century JMW Turner and John Ruskin visited the town and were enchanted by the view across the river and fields to Middleton Fell and the village of Casterton.
Turner painted the scene in the 1820s and 50 years later Ruskin described it as ‘one of the loveliest in England, therefore in the world’. It’s known as Ruskin’s View.
