Cumbria – Lake District

Episode 1.10
3 March 1983




1  2 3  4 5  6


Contestants Adrienne Lee, American literature and drama lecturer at Trent Polytechnic, and her husband Brian, American literature lecturer at Nottingham University
Start Position Carrock Fell
Clue 1 Where lies the man with coat so grey who woke the fox from his lair in the morning. You’ll find a clue near his head. 1
Leads to Caldbeck – note beside John Peel’s gravestone
Clue 2 Find Jimmy Glaister on the east side of the A591 near Binsey. His hounds will show you the way, but you’ll have to fly to keep up with them and find a collar in the whin. 2
Leads to By A591 near Binsey – dog collar in gorse bush
Re-position to Borrowdale – bridge over River Derwent
Clue 3 Line 1135 of Book Four of The Excursion will tell you what to look for in a house where the author made a garden. 3
Leads to Rydal Mount – shell beside statue of Curious Child in drawing room
Clue 4 Turn slightly left at the round house on Belle Isle and at one of the two houses with 14th century Pele towers there is a bird in a bush which is a bird. 4, 5
Leads to Levens Hall – toy peacock in topiary bird in garden
Result The contestants won the treasure with 7 seconds to spare.


Notes
1 “... with a coat so grey... the fox from his lair in the morning” are the words of a song about John Peel, the famous huntsman, who is buried at the church at Caldbeck.
2 From the air, Annie spots a man with two hounds on the east side of the A591 near Binsey. She lands and asks if he is Jimmy Glaister. He tells her that he is, and that his hounds will show her the way. She takes off again, he releases the hounds, and the helicopter follows them from the air. Eventually they run into a gorse bush (whin). Annie lands again and finds a dog collar in the bush.
3 Line 1135 of Book Four of “The Excursion”, Wordsworth’s longest poem, says “A curious child, who dwelt upon a tract / Of inland ground, applying to his ear / The convolutions of a smooth-lipped shell”. The contestants direct Annie to Rydal Mount, Wordsworth’s home from 1815–1850, and tell her to look for a statue, ‘The Curious Child’, which depicts a child holding a shell to his ear. She finds the clue, a real shell, next to the statue in the drawing room.
4 The helicopter flies south along the length of Lake Windermere, turning slightly east as it passes over the round house on Belle Isle, halfway down the lake. Eventually it arrives at Levens Hall, which was built around a 13th century Pele Tower. Annie lands, runs into the garden and finds the treasure, a toy peacock, in a topiary bird.
5 There were only four clues on this hunt.