The Quiet Side of the Lake

What to do on our last day always a quandary so we decided to head off to the quiet side of Lake Windermere. We headed for Wray Castle which is a National Trust property. It's not a proper castle as it was built in a mock gothic style in1840 by a wannabe castle owner a Liverpuddlian surgeon as his retirement home for just him and his wife. So this is what a couple would build as their 'retirement cottage' in the 19th century.

We chose this for a few reasons...one because I remember visiting a gardens near a big house somewhere in this area 30 years ago ....

this was not it! I don't think I will ever find out where it was now.

Secondly because there was a leisurely 4 mile walk lakeside that we thought would be nice on our last day.  The walk was ok it was leisurely but they had done there damndest and just turned it into a gravel drive so that it was suitable for everyone unfortunately it made it a bit mundane after Inglestone.

What didn't help was me putting my foot in a gravelled pothole (possibly the only one) and spraining my ankle only minor but annoying none the less.

It was so warm today I wore me sun hat! But wished I had worn my shorts too!

The woods looked very woodlandy

The National Trust at work putting up extra signage.

I couldn't resist this little boat it reminded me of pop and his little dinghy.

As you can see we had yet another blue sky day

This was all followed up by a very late lunch in Hawkshead at the Sun Cottage Cafe interestingly on our return I spotted reviews on Tripadvisor a few of which were horrendous. Well we had a really nice lunch sat outside with the best chips I have had in centuries (chicken and leek pie with veg and chips and bill had cod and chips and mushy peas also great).

So this was the last day of the Skippity hoppity sixitty holiday and it has been a stonker. 12/10 on the Annatastic scale. And finally a photo of our weeks domicile.

Not enough rain then!

Following yesterday's fairly relaxing day we decided to get a little more active and headed off to do Ingleton Falls walk. This isn't a long walk, it's about 4.5 miles, but the whole loop of the walk involves scrambling over rocks and tree roots, walking up near vertical inclines of steps knowing full well that any vertical uphill part will entail another near vertical downhill swiftly followed by....now see if you can guess....yep another vertical uphill bit. It's a lovely walk and took us a lot longer than it should because of my continual need for photos.

This is one of the walks that when it says 2.5 to 4 hours is accurate. We have been on 2 hour walks that took us just over the hour but this one needed that time.

We met a very nice but unfortunate couple at the beginning of the walk both struggling with the initial incline and the steps, I don't think they got very far as it got harder not easier.

This has some impressive falls when there has been enough rain but today only some nice little falls.

The views as we went were stunning

We ended up in the lovely little village of Ingleton and had a lush lunch in the Wheatsheaf.

Back to Kirkby Lonsdale for the afternoon and had a walk along the River Lune slower than the last one as we had free parking as we had gone to Devils Bridge instead of into town. Lovely stroll and then up more blinking steps (Radical Steps) where we were delayed by a mouse who just sat in the middle step and started back at us!

Had a lovely Ice Cream form the little sweet shop in the market and then went down Jingling lane back to the car.

This is Devils Bridge from Saturday when it was less sunny.

Skippity Hoppity Sixxity

So 60 has arrived and I have had a wondeful day with the person I like mostest well after Charlie and Tiggy anyway. The presents hidden in the wardrobe had, apparently, been moved as soon as I started door rattling and they were in the empty cupboard in the kitchen!

This morning this appeared in the kitchen

A very chocolaty chocolate cake.

We have had a lovely day out in the lakes Holker Hall and Gardens because Holker Hall has the most amazing wood panelling then some  wandering around the hillsides to end up on a Coniston cruise on the Steam Yacht Gondola and a chat with some lovely people.

Just had dinner in the Albion at Arnside and bought Mackies Ice Cream on the way home and scoffed lots of Chocolate Cake and Ice Cream!

Over the Hills and Far away

We decided to have a very lazy day today and just drive one of my favourite routes. We went into the lakes and drove through Hardknott Pass closely followed by Wrynose Pass we ended up in Ambleside which was horribly busy so even though we had paid for an hours parking we bought an icecream and had a half hour stroll then escaped.

It was a very cloudy day with patches of Blue Sky. It is the sort of weather that makes the Lakeland mountains absolutely stunning.

And the only peaceful bit of Ambleside

Knots,Quarries and Not where we should be

Following a conversation with the lady volunteer in Kirkby Lonsdale yesterday we decided on a local walk today.

The conversation had been roughly along these lines...

Me Are there any nice short walks nearby?

Her Where are you staying?

Me Arnside we are just here for a day.

Her But why have you come here there are loads of walks in Arnside?

Me Erm we have come out for the day and would like a local walk here before we head back!

Her but you didn't need to come here there are lots of walks at Arnside

This sadly has happened to me before. Once I took a vase into a curtain shop as it showed the colours I wanted in Curtain Fabric. I asked if they had any fabrics that matched the colours in the vase and the assistant said Dear you would find it much easier to buy a new vase!

So today we stayed local and I managed to download a rout map for a 5 mile walk around Arnside.

So armed with ipad which had directions and map downloaded we set off on our 5 mile walk.

The walk was far longer than anticipated due to a large portion of it being vertically up plus being so impressed at stuff that we didn't check the directions. The views from the Knott were fantastic even on a cloudy day. We have promised ourselves a return visit one sunny afternoon as it is only a mile and a bit, albeit vertically, from our digs.

This is a view of the Kent Estuary and you can see the viaduct across from Arnside to Grange over Sands that's Shap in the far distance though you wouldn't know it.

The guides said that some of the ancient woodland was over 1000 years old. There were some young trees and then there were guys like these 

This is Arnside Knott from the other side so we have walked up it down it round it and are going back in a circle.

We lost our track twice once we stopped to chat with a bloke and his huge dog and as he walked on I was so overawed by how fit he was I missed a turn.

We arrived later out of the woods at a railway crossing which was unfortunate as the railway was on our right and should have been on our left and there was just woods and track and we should have been in a field with footbridges!

We met a couple with mountain bikes and asked them if they knew where they were. I had my ipad map and the Guy said 'Not a clue sorry but perhaps the fact that this is a quarry might help?'

I gazed at my map showing the railway and the huge quarry right under my nose which was beside the railway line and not where we should be. Luckily we back tracked and found yet another sharp turn we should have spotted

Here we are back on the field with footbridges and some lovely sheep

It was a great walk and took us back through Arnside at lunchtime so we had Sunday lunch in the Heron Cafe.

It was too early to slob out back at our digs so we drove down the road to Levens Hall and had a stroll around their famous topiary Gardens.

While I was researching where we had been today I was gutted to find out that our visit to Hutton Roof yesterday had brought us a spitting distance away from the limestone pavements I had been looking for but we hadn't got a local map and the info in the digs seems to be all aimed at kids attractions which I find very odd as the Coach House is the last place you would bring kids even the DVD drawer is kids films. Added to that the lady I spoke to in Kirkby Lonsdale knew nothing of Hutton Roof or Park wood which was where the lovely limestone pavements were near.

So I believe the owners of the Coach House must be just a little bit bonkers...ultra modern fittings in a Coach House Conversion, nearly white carpets, Crystal glassware and Kids amusements leaflets, unsuitable for kids but no info on proper walks in the local area,

Yes we could have researched the area more but normally our cottages are jam packed with local info.

Onions,Art and Limestone Pavements

Had a glorious day for our first full day but decided to have an easy day. We knew Saturday would be busy most days but noticed that Sizergh Castle was shut but grounds open and there were artists in residence.

No photos of the artists but I saw some lovely ladies who were lace making and then met a printmaker with some very nice squashed seaweed prints really I was intrigued and then a lady who did ink and watercolour.

The gardens were beautiful in the sunshine we had a really nice stroll round the grounds and I made several new friends hopefully this first little guy will be lucky.

This is a chicken I had a chat to she was not in the chicken place so I think she was a little bit naughty.

And finally I found a National Trust Gardener that was happy to let me pose with him for a picture

The amazing big onions in the Vegetable Garden 

We decided to drive to Kirkby Lonsdale for lunch and had a scrummy meal in Number 44 then a walk by the River Lune past Devils Bridge and then back up through all the old mill houses and spotted one for sale ooh tempting ...NOT

We finally spent the last part of the afternoon looking for a nature reserve we couldn't find and ended up at some limestone pavements of historic interest at Hutton Roof. I later discovered that the Nature Reserve was only accessible from here but didn't seem to be signposted that well.

And another photo of me cos that is what this holiday is all about!

Nearer to Narnia

Ok I can see head scratching at the title so you need an explanation!

It goes like this all my Birthday surprises for my 60th on Tuesday , when I say all I am here assuming it's more than a card and the watch I have already picked out, are hidden in the Wardrobe in the spare room of the Coach House. I have been told that I am not allowed in the wardrobe before then, not even to look. Well one of my favourite books is the Lion,the witch and the wardrobe and so Bill catching me sneaking in and rattling the door has named Tuesday Narnia day. He remembered my love of Narnia and I love the magical idea of going through a wardrobe and being in a different magical place.

So bring on Narnia but no Ice Queens just talking animals please. When I was little Daddy used to read to me and I remember him having a lovely copy of The Voyage of the Dawn Treader with colour plates and I was intrigued by Caractacus the Crab.

It is interesting to discover things about myself at this stage. The Coach House is over modernised the kitchen has no life and soul. It has made me realise that I am happy with a little more rustic and homely than modern open clean lines etc.

The glass and chrome dining table is just not comfortable to my eye and is not the groovy modern place to eat breakfast I had assumed. Give me wooden furniture and comfy chairs anyday.

Arriving at Arnside

Right then so here we are on my Birthday celebration Holiday. We get free wifi so whoo hoo bring it on I am going to write a rubbishy blog about the holiday.

Here we are Day 1 in the posh Coach House Conversion at Arnside Cumbria. So posh that they have cream, yes cream, carpet in the hall stairs landing etc and you get free slippers to walk on it and a please remove your shoes sign.

Good journey up the motorway including a very nice lunch at the Fox and Hounds at Holmes Chapel just off j18 of the M6. We find it is much nicer to plan a zip off and back on at the next junction lunch we often do this rather than use a service area and we are rarely let down.

Greeted with a card welcoming us a bottle of wine in the fridge and luscious French Pastries in a tin.