Lake District

We left the Lake District until Autumn, as we knew it was considered one of England’s most picturesque areas and we thought it would be really beautiful at this time of the year. We were not disappointed.
From Gorleston it is about a 6 hour drive so Ian picked me up from school and we left as soon as! Including a stop for dinner on the way, we reached our farmstay soon after 10pm which was in Crook, west of Kendal. Ian is always keen to stay at a b/b on a farm if possible and catch up with the farming world over here. The reports vary as to their state of finance, but the most consistent story is they don’t know they are alive with the way most produce is subsidized. However we don’t envy the worry they have had regarding foot and mouth and then blue tongue as well.
We woke up on Saturday morning to fog all around but we were assured it would clear by lunchtime. Relying on the local knowledge, we decided to travel up to Penrith and then west but a little way on route we decided to return as we really couldn’t see the countryside at all. We decided to explore closer to Windermere and hope for a clearer day on Sunday.
Lake Windermere is England’s largest lake and of course it is a bustling tourist centre for the district. Close by is Bowness, which is where we parked and walked by the lakeside, admiring the deciduous trees that provided such a colourful backdrop for our photos!
Further on we visited Ambleside which is nestled amongst the hills and craggy peaks. Its Victorian mansions and grey stone town houses line the cobbled stone streets which help to give it its character. We travelled through Coniston, a quiet, sleepy little town before we came to Hawkshead, with the quaint whitewashed buildings, cobble stoned streets in a countryside setting. This is the centre of the Beatrix Potter tales. It was really interesting visiting the gallery and then Hill Top, which feature in so many of her stories. You could stand at the very window she looked out and see the lane she wrote about in many of her tales plus Mr McGregor’s garden!! At the end of this tour, it was beginning to get dark so we returned to Kendal for dinner before retiring to bed.
Thank goodness the next morning was clearer so we set off up to Keswick, a busy little market town near the shore of Derwent Water and then across to Penrith before once again, heading east to home.