A tawny owl screeches nearby in the dark and her mate replies, hooting eerily from the forest below. A white dome floats in the gloaming above a plain black doorway outlined with red light, like a portal to another dimension. I’m in Grizedale Forest, far from any light-polluting cities, to visit the Lake District’s first public observatory and planetarium, which opened in May.
Grizedale Observatory offers immersive films in the planetarium and three-hour stargazing events that go on late into the night. There are sessions on astrophotography and, on moonless nights, dark sky astronomy with the chance to see “a glittering tapestry of stars, galaxies, nebulae and star clusters”. Its director, Gary Fildes, is a veteran in the field, having founded and led three UK observatories over two decades. The goal at Grizedale, he says, is to create “an immersive, year-round astronomy and science destination that brings the beauty of the Lake District skies to visitors”.
The observatory’s regular evenings form part of Cumbria’s annual dark skies festival in late October and November. The festival offers owl- and bat-spotting walks and chances to swim or canoe after dark. But the observatory does more than dip a toe in the cosmic lake – it’s a permanent centre for studying the stars. A group of 60 schoolkids is arriving in the morning.
I’m here for an Aurora Night, timed to coincide with a period of high solar activity, but the heavens are stubbornly blanketed with cloud. The first drops of rain are falling as we head into Mission Control, with its little cafe tables,hand-painted otherworldly mural, inflatable alien and row of model rockets, built to scale by the observatory’s manager, Ben Marshall, a spaceflight obsessive.
A couple of hours later, we’re all staring up in wonder at a bejewelled night sky with shooting stars – thanks to the centre’s planetarium. An illustrated talk about auroras in the Stargazers’ Lounge combines detailed explanations with a sense of cosmic wonder. In the Meteorite Lab next door, there are microscopes and little space rocks – including actual pieces of the moon and Mars.
After hot drinks in Mission Control, Gary leads us through torrential rain to the new cedar-smelling observatory he helped build. He shows us extraordinary photos of the spiralling Andromeda galaxy and the dark Horsehead nebula, silhouetted against a glowing red dust and gas cloud, all taken by the robotic telescope in the retractable custom-built dome. For nights when the weather won’t cooperate, Grizedale gives out a free clear-sky pass so visitors can come back and stargaze another time.
The observatory’s team are clearly enthusiasts. Gary has been fascinated by the night sky “ever since I was a kid growing up in Sunderland, standing in the back garden and looking up, wondering what all those stars were”. His life story is remarkable. He tells me: “I was a bricklayer for years, but that curiosity about the universe never really went away. Eventually, I decided to take a massive leap and follow that passion properly – and it changed my life. I built Kielder Observatory in Northumberland from scratch, then Grassholme Observatory in Teesdale, and now I’m working in Saudi Arabia developing the Al-Ula Manara Space Observatory, one of the most exciting astronomy projects in the world.”
Gary describes how one observatory visitor wept when she first saw Saturn through a telescope, explaining that her father used to draw planets in a wartime air raid shelter and ringed Saturn was her favourite. “For me, astronomy isn’t just about science and telescopes,” says Gary. “It’s about people. It’s about perspective, wonder, and realising that we’re all part of something far bigger.”
No buses run to Grizedale Forest, but getting here without a car has been surprisingly easy. After an early start from Essex into London, the train up to Oxenholme takes less than three hours, racing past the Chilterns woods and Midlands canals to the cloud-capped Cumbrian fells. The branch line to Windermere is a 20-minute ride through tussocky fields of Herdwick sheep and slate-roofed, whitewashed villages. Finally, bus 505 from outside Windermere station loops round the lake and winds through hilly beech woods to reach the village of Hawkshead by lunchtime.
There are various ways of getting from Hawkshead to the observatory, about 3 miles south: by bike, taxi or on foot. I decide to walk there over the fells near Esthwaite Water and back via Hawkshead Moor. There are streams to hop and boggy hills to climb, but the views are worth it. Home to the UK’s first forest sculpture park, Grizedale has a huge collection of site-specific art. With a map of the walking trails, I follow one waterlogged path to see Andy Goldsworthy’s sinuous dry-stone wall, Taking a Wall for a Walk. Created in 1990, it’s dressed in thick moss and hidden among dense fir trees. There’s no sound other than rushing water and the calls of tiny, pine-loving goldcrests.
Forestry England lets out a little cabin next door to the observatory, and I’m sleeping there tonight. It’s a real log cabin, immaculately clean, with walls of thick pine trunks, tartan wool curtains and furry blankets. Umbrellas stand by the cabin door, on hand for the changeable Cumbrian weather. On a nocturnal trip to the loo, up a leaf-covered slope, I see a handful of stars finally winking through a gap in the clouds.
Heading back towards Hawkshead the next day, I find one of Grizedale’s newer works of art. On a grassy promontory between two waterfalls, Saad Qureshi’s Flight (2021) involves what looks like stained glass on steel filigree, creating iridescent dragonfly wings. Overnight rain has made the tumbling becks spectacular. Robert Bryce Muir’s powerful metal warriors struggle, roped together, in the trees nearby. Squelching through fields, I detour to Esthwaite, Hawkshead’s wildlife-rich lake. Redwings startle from berry-laden bushes and a cormorant skims over the water. Two swans fly overhead, their whirring wings loud in the quiet valley.
I’m staying tonight in the cosy, 17th-century King’s Arms, which reopened in August after an exquisitely tasteful refurb. My room, with its gnarled oak beams and cushioned bay window overlooking the village square, is all dusky rose and moss green, with elegant watercolours and floral fabrics. Downstairs, there’s a log-burner and local real ales in the slate-floored bar, and elegant plates in the dining room (the jalapeño jam alongside my onion bhaji is garnished with a purple pansy).
With its choice of pubs and cafes, picnic-ready delis, a well-stocked outdoor shop and a cake-filled honesty stall, fell-ringed Hawkshead is a walkers’ paradise. The former Beatrix Potter gallery (which was once her husband’s office) reopened in August as the National Trust’s first stand-alone secondhand bookshop. There’s a craft fair in the village hall and local ghost walks (£8 adults, £6 under-12s, usually on Wednesdays and Sundays).
The original Grasmere Gingerbread shop started in the mid-19th century, next to the quiet riverside churchyard where William Wordsworth lies buried. Now, 170 years later, a sister shop has appeared on Hawkshead’s pretty village square. There’s a plan to produce star-shaped cakes in support of the observatory. I stock up with chutneys from Hawkshead Relish and fresh gingerbread to take home tomorrow. Above the square, the cloudy skies are clearing and the stars are coming out.
Entrance to Grizedale Observatory is £13 adults, £8 concessions, £35 families; three-hour stargazing is £30 adults, £25 concessions, £89 families. Accommodation was provided by the King’s Arms in Hawkshead (doubles from £112.50) and the Cabin in Grizedale (from £117 a night, airbnb.co.uk). Transport was provided by Avanti West Coast (London to Oxenholme from about £35 one-way) and Stagecoach. Further information at visitlakedistrict.com