I love going on trips on a whim. If you have been hanging around my blog since it started, you would probably remember our misadventure to the lake district back in 2008. It was such a memorable trip that I had stayed clear of the place since then - too much haunting memories lol
See what happened was that.. it rained relentlessly over the weekend we were there and we ended up BBQ'ing in the rain, and had no accommodation for the night. Gasp - yes, no accommodation and so we had to make do with the MPV we rented. All 7 of us squeezed in the car and spent the night in a park smelling like BBQ ourselves. You can read more here:
http://belindagoeslondon.blogspot.co.uk/2008/08/our-lake-district-misadventure.html
So a mental note I made to myself was that I needed to go back someday, WITH accommodation this time round, nevermind the BBQ. Also, you have to know that it rains ever so much in the lake district that you do wonder why people complain so much about London's weather. So in a way, we were
not that unlucky on that fateful weekend.
With the bank holiday Monday approaching, I was on the phone at work to K last Tuesday and asked casually "should we go somewhere for the bank holiday dear?" And very casually back he answered "oh yeah why not? Hmm Lake District?" Once bitten, twice shy. Immediately I checked the weather forecast and wow it was looking good for the weekend! Woohoo, "this is it then - finally I can see the true beauty of the place!" I thought to myself. K loves weekend trips too, and even though he has been there 4 times, he still didn't mind bringing me there. *beaming Bel*
Having a car here is very convenient, although I do admit I am the luckier of the two because K always has to be the driver since I have not obtained my driver's licence. (Ahem.. yes working on it...)
We started the drive out at 730am on Saturday morning. The journey took about 5h ("Oh like going to Malacca", my aunt commented via whatsapp.) It was a pretty smooth drive thankfully. We figured most people would have left on Friday evening. It was a stretch of stunning views for the whole 3 days, and the B&B owner commented "It is a very special weekend here in the Lake District!" Whooa, made me feel so loved. Hallelujah!
We made Grasmere our base, and K found a B&B right overlooking Lake Grasmere, a 5min walk to Grasmere village. It was by a main road so it was quite noisy, but other than that, with the price we paid, we couldn't really complain. It was clean and - I am sorry to compare again - a luxury compared to an MPV for the night back in 2008! We reached the town of Windermere first, and stopped to have a quick lunch. We drove around this very touristy place and K suggested doing the 1.5h cruise along Lake Windermere. Not a bad suggestion and so we did that, followed by visiting (again) the World of Beatrix Potter. We were there 5 years ago but I still wanted to go back as I am recently back on a bunny craze. Wished Cindy was there and we both could go "aww" at the bunny stuff.. K was the least interested and said he would go find a spot in the garden to have a quick snooze.
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| Walked around myself while K snoozed somewhere in the garden |
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| Windermere |
We reached our B&B around evening time and upon checking in, we were recommended this cafe/restaurant in the village, beside the village school named after Wordsworth. Interesting fact: the owner asked if we planned to walk to the village (15-20min walk) because he would then pass us torch lights because it is not lighted from the village to our B&B. "ermm no we will drive then, thank you."
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| Everyday we woke up to a peaceful serene view of the lake from our window. Amazing. |
We had no fixed itinerary actually, in fact we barely planned. K knew the area okay-ish and we thought we would just drive around, stop and then move again. The next day, we visited a few lakes surrounded by mountains. Beautiful, beautiful sights all around, marvelled at the beauty of God's creation yet again. I love seeing sheep all dotted on the green pastures, seriously brought to my mind Psalm 23. All these meek little lambs.. they are so scared of humans. When we advanced toward them they run away with their woolly tails wagging behind them! We tried disturbing some actually hehe
With the B&B's recommendation, we decided to head up north towards the village of Keswick and that would enable us to drive past 2 lakes: Thirlmere and Derwent Water. We stopped by along the way to take pictures every now and then. We reached Keswick around noon and we decided to have Thai for lunch. (Needed a rice fix..)
The third lake which was my favourite of the day was Buttermere. What a name - you kind of know it would be awesome already, going by the name. It's not easy to get to, as we had to take mostly a single size lane road meant as a dual road for 7 miles. It was kinda scary actually, narrow mountain roads.
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| To get to Lake Buttermere we had to drive past winding roads which are two-way. Very stressful. If there is an oncoming vehicle you somehow need to slow down and pray you both pass by each other safely. |
The name Buttermere brought us to the topic - if we could name our own cottage in the future, I would name it Buttercup Cottage. haha random topic I know. I want an Enid Blyton inspired name. When we arrived, it was so serene and surrounded by mountains on the opposite side. The sun was still shining and we saw families swimming in the lake. It was really syncing with nature.
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| Buttermere |
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| Buttermere again |
On the way back we both felt a little hungry and K commented it would be nice to have a cup of tea (so English
lah) and I said I think I saw one up on the mountain where we drove past earlier. Lo and behold, there it was - New House Farm Tea Room. Time for tea and scones then!
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| Having tea in a converted farm, in the old milking room |
Dinner we decided to drive 10min to the bigger village, Ambleside.
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| Ambleside |
On Monday, we checked out after breakfast and again with the recommendation of the B&B owner, we drove towards the village Hawkshead. This is near Sawry, where Beatrix Potter had her cottage and was inspired to write all her cutesy animal stories. There we saw the lake (Esthwaite Water) and we stumbled upon this woodland walk called "Beatrix Potter Nature Trail". We went into the woods - for me Enid Blyton come alive - I was half expecting growing toadstools and seeing brownies and fairies. And bunnies no less. For K, he loves the Elven forest feel of the woods. See, two very different ideas here. There were signs along the trail explaining what animals you can spot here. And guess what, suddenly very quickly we saw a grey bunny hopping away in front of us very quickly!
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| Typical roads we drove on with views of mountains and lakes |
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| Parked our car by one of the roads and we climbed into this area to walk up a slope |
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| View from the slope |
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| Keswick for lunch (pronounced as "Kesick") |
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| My best friends, K says |
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| Resting sheep... |
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| lol see the same sheep stretching its hind legs?! |
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| The stunning Derwent Water near Keswick |
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| Lake Grasmere |
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| Panoramic view of Lake Grasmere |
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| Chilling by Esthwaite Water |
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| with a cup of hot chocolate |
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| Last chilling session before heading back to London |
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| Super HAPPY |
A very special weekend at the Lake District indeed!
This post is dedicated to C. Wihardja :) If you are reading this Cyn, it is time for you to head back to the Lake District too! But do check the weather before going and remember to book accommodation! :)
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