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Boot is a beautiful little village just north of the Eskdale valley road. Parking here being next to impossible, most motorised visitors park in the car park at Dalegarth station a short distance away.
The village of Boot, to all who visit, is a delightful spot,with its restored corn mill, a packhorse bridge, church, shop/post office, art/craft gallery and, of course, its traditional inns. (In fact there is a choice of five both in Boot and nearby Eskdale).
This is magnificent walking country visitors may take a leisurely stroll across the lane to the waterfalls of the tumbling Whillan beck and on level ground to the stepping stones of the River Esk. Eskdale descends from the highest and wildest mountains in the district to the sands of Ravenglass in a swift transition from grandeur to beauty. "The finest of all valleys for those whose special joy is to travel on foot and a paradise for artists" (Wainwright).
Within walking distance are Scafell Pike, Englands highest mountain, its steepest mountain road, Hardknott Pass, and its deepest lake ,the dramatic Wastwater. There is also the well preserved Hardknott Roman Fort, and the 60 foot Stanley Force. High on the Birker Fell above is wild and lonely Devoke Water (the Lake District's largest tarn) surrounded by heather moors, with Bronze Age cairns around its shores.
Beyond a short range of cottages, and over a pack-horse bridge will be found Eskdale Mill, an ancient corn mill on the Whillan Beck which operated from the sixteenth century until the 1920's. Milling has been a feature of the Eskdale valley life since the 12th century. The first documented evidence of Eskdale Mill itself dates from 1578, when brothers Henry and Robert Vicars were the tenants paying an annual rent of 8 shillings! (40p in todays currency).
The mill continued to grind cereals until the early 1920's when a dynamo was installed for the last miller Edward Bibby who died in 1924. The upper wheel of the mill continued to make electricity until 1955 when mains power came to the valley.
Inside the mill today will be found a quite informative exhibition with display stands and old photographs, and the atmosphere is well re-created even to the point of cobwebs and a moth-eaten bowler hat on a chair.
A delightful wooded area to the rear of the mill is well worth a visit. Impressive waterfalls provide a powerful head of water to feed ponds and sluices, necessary to power two huge water wheels. A wonderful setting for a picnic.
Boot is in fact a railway terminus, The Ravenglass and Eskdale Railway winds its way from Ravenglass on the coast to Dalegarth Station, close by a seven mile journey completed in 40 minutes by miniature train.
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