Right then, so where did I get to yesterday, ah yes, our first full day. Ok then, so while we driving on Sunday we passed this country house called Dalemain and mum and I being country house fanatics wanted to stop by and have a look. Peter and the children didn’t share our enthusiasm!

So Monday came along, and began wonderfully with a long walk with Bailey and Pru and a meander around the tiny village of Greystoke, taking in the craft fair in the church along the way. Whilst out walking a car pulled over and invited us to the dog show at the castle. Well, I had already decided that mum and I would visit Dalemain early today, and so we left Peter and the children in the cottage watching the quiet man, while we went off to find the country house. It was little nearer to Ullswater than I remembered it, but still not monstrously far. First we went into the great hall which was now a café and had a lovely little feast of soup, cream teas and ginger cake, so full and happy we went into the house. The guides were so helpful, and the house was filled with beautiful portraits of previous (and current) owners. For me I was taking in all the design features… did you know the Georgians had a bright pink paint for walls? No me either, that was an eye opener. And the rich wallpapers with huge peacocks on them were pretty amazing too! The Tudor portion of the house was a little eerie and depressive, dark wood panelling and what looked like lonely childrens rooms!

En route home, we finally managed to get a telephone signal yey! Peter had taken the dogs to the dog show and my precious little Bailey had won a second prize in the puppy class.

After a hearty salad prepared by mum for us all, we got the walking boots and hiking trousers on, and set off for Aira Force the beautiful waterfall we had planned on taking photographs at. I must say, now having the photographs we took, it was well worth the visit! The day was drawing to a close and it was overcast as we scaled the rocky terrain to the waterfall and river. Weary from taking monstrous amounts of pictures and with the light fading, we all head back to the car, but not without another drama. After miss Prudence decided to take a detour and the children and Peter chased after her, we all returned wet and in low spirits to the car.

Our first full day in the Lake District was a Sunday! Having passed signs for the beautiful Ullswater the day before, we decided to head for there.

Driving through the Cumbrian countryside was breathtaking… believe it or not this was the first time I had ever been to the Lake District. Everywhere was green and lush, and there were mountains and beautiful skies (it was sunny) when we finally arrived at a small town called Pooley Bridge, on Ullswater lake. We parked up the cars and it really was hard to believe we were still in England, the buildings, the weather, the trees, the hills, the lake… was this Austria we were in?

The tourist office was most helpful in guiding us to ‘easy’ walks, so having had a nice bit of food and a quick look in the shops, we head off to the lakeside, armed with our trusty canon EOS camera’s and everyone in tow.

My it was breezy by that lake, but so beautiful… and it was good to walk through the campsite too because we got to see what a typical campsite looks like… impressive I must say. The skies over the cool lake were imposing and the boats bobbing up and down… as we started out along a pathless road, we decided this wasn’t going to be safe to do with the dogs and the children… so we left mum, the children and the dogs at a café while Peter and I head back for the cars. The skies opened and ice cold rain poored out on Peter and I and I huddled under a tree to try to protect my kit while I got it back into a bag. We soldiered on past the rippling lake, got to the cars and set off up to pick mum and children up… who were toasty in a nice little tea hut… hmmmph, I think we may have drawn the short straws here lol!

Anyway, we decided to drive further up and see if we could get to Howtown in the cars. The roads in most places were only just wide enough for 2 cars to pass, and so it was a feat to try to manoeuvre the car between another car and dry stone walls… thank god I had persuaded SweetP not the bring the new car. Slowly we drove on and on, getting past 4x4s, camper vans and run down little fiestas…. Until we came to a very precarious looking road… twisting and turning into the distance at a gradient of what looked to me and my panicking passengers of 180 degrees… we carried on, my car didn’t like it, it chugged, stalled and generally protested as SweetP’s zoomed on into the distance. Giving up, I managed to perform a 3 point turn in the most scary of places and drove back to the bottom of the hill.

Once SweetP managed to join us we went walking out along hill land (thank god for walking boots) were this was the breathtaking view we were faced with!



Wow, what a beautiful place!

Well if any of you have stopped by SweetP’s blog and checked out his pretty spanking pictures, then you will know that we are back from our holiday to the Lake District.

We left last Saturday, heading off in 2 cars with 2 children, 2 dogs and one mum… and of course us, up the M6 for what we thought would be a really long journey… thankfully it wasn’t… although it was fraught with dog drama. First there was Bailey… he was in the back of my car with Peter’s daughter… like a good responsible pet owner, I had correctly harnessed him into the car using a dog car harness of the appropriate size… half way up the M6 toll road I had to haul ass to the hard shoulder amid yelps of pain and barking… his leg had become twisted in the harness and he was in pain… we finally managed to untangle him, undamaged, and decided so long as he was lying on the back seat we weren’t going to put the harness on him again. The second canine crisis was with Pru… we got out of the car at a service station and the poor old girl was holding up a paw, as if lame! It was pretty obvious she was in pain and couldn’t walk on it! Again, caused by Peter’s responsible use of a dog harness. So there was another pooch travelling the remainder of the journey harnessless.

Finally we arrived at the lovely little 3 bedroomed cottage in the village of Greystoke (yes that’s where Tarzan was from) and Peter the children and Pru went straight off to the local vet to sort her paw out. He confirmed she had hurt a shoulder because of the harness… damn things… needless to say we didn’t use those again!

Finally when we had all settled in for the evening, we went to the local village pub, the boot and shoe… and had a hearty Cumbrian feast. We needed it after that journey!

It’s Friday afternoon and I’m bored… I’ve just finished my smoked salmon and cream cheese sandwiches. I wonder who invented salmon and cream cheese sandwiches. I mean we know that the Earl of sandwich invented… well the sandwich, but who thought, mmmm I know what would taste lovely, a nice slice of salmon with cream cheese! Hmmm, well whoever it was I’d like to shake their hand, what a lovely feast! Actually having just finished those now, with a cup of tea, it’s more like afternoon tea than lunch isn’t it? Here’s a useless fact, did you know that afternoon tea was invented because there was this lady (like a proper lady) who used to frequently faint in the afternoons, so they decided she should take time to eat a sandwich and have a cup of tea… and that cured her fainting spells and thus afternoon tea was borne… although afternoon tea at the Ritz for £40 a head came somewhat later I should imagine. I’d like to have afternoon tea at the Ritz… I always say that but I never get there! :o( Hmmm, I’m so full of useless information aren’t I?

My photographs for sale

I finally had a brainwave (I know it took a while) and thought I would try to sell some of my photography… where better to start than ebay? So if you want it, you know where to go:

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=120024724742&ssPageName=ADME:L:LCA:UK:31

Take a look ménage, I’ll keep you informed on whether I sell any… in fact if I do I might even try to sell some more on there, that would be cool!

So next week (well tomorrow really) Sweet P and I head off to the lake district so you won’t hear from me until I get back… with lots of photographs lol!