Edith Thomas (Wantee): ‘the scenery, nature itself, meant much more to him than people’.

R. Martakies: ' Kurt Schwitters loved to walk around his adopted Ambleside. He and Edith Thomas would visit their friends. Mr. and Mrs Routledge at Glenside in Old Lake road. Glenside is just a few minutes walk from Lake Windermere where Schwitters watched the steamers and wandered along the beach in search of interesting objects for his collages". (From 'Free Spirits')

Schwitters browsed along the shoreline of Lake Windermere looking for driftwood flotsam and jetsam. He clambered round the riverbeds in search of lumps and slithers of greenstone slate perfectly suited for incorporation into a sculpture.