A wander through Cumbria's ancient landscape

IRTON CORPSE ROAD: Download my leaflet detailing the corpse road leading from Irton Hall to Irton Church

• Map of paths around Keswick: This link will take you to Bing Maps where I have marked paths and locations that I mentioned in my talk. N.B. You can change Bing maps via the menu on the top right of the map to show Ordnance Survey maps.

• Lorton Postman's Path: A 90-minute walk through the Lorton valley, following the route taken in the past by the rural postman.

• Newlands Corpse Road: Allow three hours for this walk (there and back) from Newlands church to Crosthwaite Church, Keswick. It follows the most likely route of the corpse road used up until 1863. There is limited parking at Newlands so you may prefer to walk it in reverse (from Crosthwaite church to Newlands).

• Aughertree Corpse Road, Uldale: An easy and charming 90-minute walk incorporating the Aughertree corpse road. It is a circular route including a stop at Mae's Tearoom or the Snooty Fox pub.

• Springs of Living Waters is the book detailing Cumbria's holy wells written by Fr John Musther.

• You'll also find some more walks on my blog, Letters from the Lake District.

A LAKE DISTRICT CHRISTMAS: An anthology of stories, poems, ballads, traditions and memories of Christmas in the Lake District and rural Cumbria in days gone by. Please support your local shop if you wish to buy one but it is also available online from Inspired By Lakeland.

Corpse Roads of Cumbria:  Corpse roads were the paths used in medieval times  to carry the dead from  remote parishes to the 'mother church'. This could be a distance of just a couple of miles or as many as twenty.  As parishes won the right to bury their dead locally, corpse roads became redundant but many of the paths still survive along with coffin rests, wayside crosses  or chapels of ease that marked the route. This book details 15 or so corpse roads in Cumbria and tells the story behind them, along with some of the superstitions and traditions that surrounded funerals in the past. Corpse Roads of Cumbria is £10 from bookshops or online  suppliers.

Get Lost.  Parson’s Passage, Bloody Bones Lane, Ticklebelly Alley, Lovers Lonning, Giggle Alley... Cumbria has some wonderful paths but not all of them appear on maps; many are only known to local villagers. Get Lost details where these ancient tracks can be found and reveals the stories behind them. Available for £10 from your local bookshop or online suppliers.

Cumbrian Notebook: This was previously called my Hodgepodge but has now been retitled My Cumbrian Notebook. It details things of interest I have come across on my travels in Cumbria - folklore, ancient paths, boggles (ghosts), legends etc. Handwritten, hand-drawn and handbound (see pictures at top of page). Price £13 + £2 postage from me. See more details here.