Alfred Heaton Cooper (1864 to 1929)

The history of this building is every bit as interesting as its appearance - for it was imported by the famous local artist Alfred Heaton Cooper at the turn of the century.    Ending his London student days, Alfred returned briefly to the north of England, retracing Turner's journey through the famous beauty spots of Yorkshire, before visiting Morocco, and then setting off to the Norwegian fjords to make his living selling landscape pictures to the European tourists who went there in great numbers.

Langdale Pikes
 

 

 

 

 

The Bield, Little Langdale

 He was fascinated by the rural peasant life of the people of the Sogne region. He studied them and their language and eventually wrote and illustrated a guide book to the fjords. He married a local girl and built a studio beside the fjord at Balestrand.  Alfred could not make an adequate living in Norway, and he lived partly there and partly in England, returning with his bride in 1894. He settled first back in Bolton, moving to Southport and finally to the Lake District, where wealthy tourists promised a better livelihood. 

The red roofed log cabin which Alfred had shipped from Norway caused quite a stir when it was first erected in Coniston village as a studio, but his expectations of the wealthy tourists were not fulfilled sufficiently for Alfred to sustain his growing family. More people seemed to be visiting Ambleside than Coniston so the log studio was moved to its present location.

  Autumn Afternoon on the Rothay

Alfred settled to a life of continuous painting.  His wife ran the studio while he tramped the Lakeland fells and valleys, finding scenes which inspired him and which would appeal to visitors.  He would be amazed now to find some of his larger original paintings selling for several thousand pounds, and even more amazed to see thousands of reproduction prints of his work sold every year from the Grasmere gallery which bears his name.

Over the years, this delightfully idiosyncratic cabin has played may different roles.   Besides an artist's studio, it has served as a shop of various kinds and even as tea rooms.  Today the Log Cabin is:
The Log House Restaurant.