You know that if after three and a half years people keep asking you the same question over and over again, "Have you been to the Lake District yes?", it means you really should go to the Lake District. That's how it was for us. We have explored so much of the UK but somehow the Lake District (or the Lakes) was always left for later. We knew we for sure had to go up there but other plans always took precedence. This time, we made sure that nothing could change our Memorial Day plans. It was 2016 after all! Our last Memorial Day in England.
So, on Friday late afternoon, we started our four hour drive north. We expected lots of traffic as it was also a long weekend for the British, but somehow we lucked out. By 9 pm or so we were in our cute cottage near Troutbeck in the Lake District.
So let me quickly tell you about the Lake District. The Lake District National Park is almost the same as the Lake District, but not exactly. The Park was designated as a park in 1951 with an area of 885 square miles. It's interesting that all the land in England that is higher than 3000 ft lies within the Lake District National Park, including England's highest peak Scafell Pike. Just remember we are talking ENGLAND here, not including Scotland or Wales or N.Ireland. This national park is the most frequently visited one in the UK with almost 16 million visitors each year. The British LOVE the Lakes. And so did we. But let's start from the beginning.
We got up bright and early, had our breakfast in our cottage (that actually used to be a barn;), and set off on the day to explore as much of the lakes as possible. The days were long, the weather was supposed to be sunny, we knew we were in for a treat. But not the kind of treat the kids wanted. They wanted a real treat. We drove to Grasmere, one of the most popular villages in the Lake District, about 20 minutes from us. One of the famous places in the village is this tiny shop where the original gingerbread was first made. You can read more of its history on the website, but basically, in the middle of the 19th century, Sarah Nelson made this concoction of this spicy-sweet treat and became famous ever since:). Yes, we did buy some (although I don't really like gingerbread) and it was yummy.
Grasmere also became famous when William Wordsworth, a famous English poet around 1799-1806 decided to live here. And apparently he used to dine with Sir Walter Scott (when I was a teenager, Quentin Durwand was one of my favorite books ever:)) at the local coaching inn "The Swan". Sounds pretty cool, right?:) So we walked around this garden in the middle of the village, dedicated to William Wordsworh.
"He loved this place".
Our literary adventures didn't end here. After Grasmere, just as it was starting to get super busy at 10:30 am, we drove towards Beatrix Potter's house called Hill Top.
It was a National Trust site, lucky for us, so it was free. But the entrance to the house was on a timed basis, so we had to wait for almost an hour before it was time to go in. We walked over to the nearby playground to let the kids play for a bit...and for Robert to think hard about his wonderful life.
These crazy children. I think Alex is trying to reach and grab something he'd dropped.
All around Hill Top property you can find buildings that inspired Beatrix Potter beautiful stories (not only Peter Rabbit ones).
And this is the scenery that inspired Beatrix Potter and made her love the Lake District so much.
The boys ran through the tiny cabbage patch just like Peter Rabbit.
And here is Mark who had also been reading the stories by Beatrix Potter and was amazed we were visiting her house.
Never too old for good old fashioned stories.
While waiting for our entrance time. This is the outside of this cozy cottage.
The house itself was tiny with unique decor. You couldn't imagine someone famous living in it though. We went through the whole house in 10 minutes but stopped in one of the rooms where a guide was telling a group of visitors a very detailed life story of Beatrix Potter. It was very interesting. All Mark was interested though was finishing the small book about the kittens that Beatrix Potter wrote. It was just crazy to see that she actually created her characters from what she saw around the house!
Overall, I am glad we made this short detour from our planned route and visited Hill Top. And now we were half way done with our day and still had so much to see!
To Be Continued...
Lyana.
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