WHEN Sue Edwards needs to pop out for a pint of milk, she faces a huge walk or dangerous drive to the nearest shop.
The 49-year-old lives in Britain’s most remote home, with his dog Jura for company and barely any electricity, let alone loads of tech.
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Skiddaw House sits at 1,550ft in the heart of the Lake District Credits: Delivered
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Sue Edwards has been living there and running the hostel for the past two and a half yearsCredit: Matt Howell
Skiddaw House is 5.5 km from the nearest road
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The house is 3.5 miles from the nearest road and, if Sue must drive, it must be a 4×4
She holds the keys to Skiddaw House, 1,550ft in the heart of the Lake District.
She is 3.5 miles from the nearest road and, if she must drive, she must drive a 4×4 — and only when the weather hasn’t made the ground impassable.
The hostel is completely off-grid, using solar panels to generate electricity and a nearby spring for drinking water.
Sue, who has never heard of Love Island, has been living and running a hostel there for the past two and a half years, with just 10MB of wifi data per month.
“I’m currently watching the TV series 24 on DVD,” he tells me by the campfire outside.
“I don’t have enough data for Netflix.
“But it suits me.
‘The Complete Expedition’
“I like to be away from technology.
“I have WhatsApp and the ability to communicate digitally, although people will send me a little gif or a video and I’ll say, ‘Please stop! They’re trolling me on the internet’.”
Sue opens Skiddaw House as a hostel every weekend in the summer and uses her day off every Tuesday to stock up on groceries for the week.
Inside an offline ‘hobbit house’ built in a self-made village
While most cars can’t get close to the house, Sue has fitted her vehicle with “grabs”, special tires that can handle mud, snow and sand.
But with a long, steep and rocky 50-minute drive down the hill to her nearest Aldi in Cockermouth, it’s quite an expedition to get the essentials.
She says, “In the beginning, there would be times when I’d come home and realize I’d forgotten the trash bags or something, but now I’ve dedicated the shop to fine art.”
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Go for a walk in the vast landscape of the Lake District with Jura the dog for company
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Skiddaw House was built around 1829 as a guard house and grouse shooting base
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Now a hostel, it is completely off the grid, using solar panels to generate electricity
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Sue gets by with just 10 MB of wifi data per month
Despite the low mileage, Sue’s car has been punctured three more times in nearly three years — and help is hard to come by because her nearest neighbors at Dash Farm are a 25-minute drive away and cell phone reception is spotty.
She says: “Honestly, it’s a pain, especially if it’s happening on the other side of the door.
“There’s no signal there, so then I have to run back up here to get a signal or run to the board.
“Then there’s the mechanic who looks after the generators, Dave, who will come and look at it.
“I tried to do it myself and I can’t even get the lug nuts off the wheel.”
Sue grew up in Lincolnshire, the daughter of a farmer, but never wanted to follow in his footsteps.
“Ironically, I remember when I was 14 or 15 I decided it was too lonely a life,” she says with a laugh.
After three years as a PE teacher in Slough, Sue started working in hostels and was based in one in Portishead, Somerset, when Skiddaw House fell into her lap.
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Sue’s only concern when taking over the hostel was whether she would be able to do everything herself
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The building was originally divided into two dwellings — one for the gamekeeper and his family, and the other for the shepherd’s family.
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A shepherd once lived in a house alone for 12 years, with only his goats, a cat and five dogs for company
The previous managers had a baby and their lease was up so they put the word out on social media and Sue got in touch.
She says, “I was at a point where I thought, ‘I’d like to climb a hill.'”
Her only concern was whether she would manage everything on her own.
It took me a long time to realize that I quite enjoy the location.
Sue Edwards
She explains: “I wasn’t worried about living alone.
“You just have to go and find a contractor sometimes.
“Can one person do everything?
“But the ex-couple ran it for six years together, and both said they’d do it again on their own.
“So that was enough for me.
“I like it.
“I mean, I just love it.
“It’s a privilege.”
Skiddaw House was built around 1829 as a guard hut and grouse shooting base for George Wyndham, 3rd Earl of Egremont.
The building was originally divided into two dwellings — one for the gamekeeper and his family, and the other for the shepherd’s family.
This joint use continued until 1957 when the Leconfield Estate was broken up and Skiddaw House, with its associated pastures, sold to a local farmer.
The two families staying there left, but the shepherd, Pearson Dalton, stayed to work for the farmer.
He lived in the house for 12 years, and his company was only goats, a cat and five dogs.
And while Sue says she couldn’t do what Pearson did, “as appealing as it sounds to live like a hermit,” she insists she’s never lonely.
She says, “It’s actually very nice.
“In the middle of the day I usually get time off and can go for a run, or if it’s a wet day, read, and then I’m back at 5pm to open and welcome guests.
‘Mid-life crisis’
“It took me a long time to realize that I quite enjoy the location.
“I like the purpose of it, living up here and having a remote place to live and always have guests.”
With winter approaching, Sue closes the hostel, leaving the property available for private hire.
With Jura in tow, Sue goes to York, where she has her own apartment.
She spends her time meeting friends for coffee, but really just wants to catch up on the Netflix shows she didn’t get to see.
But on-demand TV isn’t enough to get Sue off the hill just yet.
He adds: “I’ve got two and a half years left on my lease and maybe at the end of that I’ll think, ‘You know what? I just want to go somewhere and get a cheesecake on the way or have more contact.
“Maybe in ten years, with a midlife crisis, I’ll let you know.
“For now, I couldn’t imagine being anywhere else.”
Sun managed to get to Skiddaw House, in a brand new Dacia Duster. Find out more at dacia.co.uk
Categories: Optical Illusion
Source: HIS Education