Fell country caverns: Country diary, 16 November 1920

16 November 1970 These manmade cathedral-like caves are now so disguised by nature they are part of the landscape

LAKE DISTRICT: One of the most exciting corners of the fell country is the hummocky area of low, craggy hills and scattered woodlands in the shadow of Wetherlam, just south of the Brathay. Here is a tangled countryside of trees and tarns, of old farmhouses with rickety spinning galleries, long deserted quarries, tunnels and shafts, and the most tremendous manmade holes in the district. There are vaulted caverns big as cathedrals and underground passages through the fells - hacked out by men hundreds of years ago and now so disguised by nature they are part of the landscape. You can step out of a wood of birch and blackthorn and find yourself on the brink of a manmade cliff, or crawl through some dark tunnel and discover an underground lake that has never seen the sun.

Related: Lake District heritage at risk as thrill-seekers chew up' idyllic trails