“… a close contender for the title (of ‘the first house that was built in the Lake District for the sake of the beauty of the country’ – ie that was carefully placed to take advantage of the view…) is Belmount, built for the Rev Reginald Braithwaite (1737 – 1809), Vicar of Hawkshead, and complete by mid 1773. The house exploited views over two pieces of water, with little Esthwaite in the foreground and views of Windermere in the distance.”

This is extracted from ‘Patriotism and the Picturesque on the shores of Lake Windermere’, a paper by Karen Lynch… .