I have been visiting England since my twenties and have been hearing and reading about the Lake district, but had never actually visited it. few years back an educator and I had hit a cord together and we became friends. Every year since then we agree on a date and either I am busy or she is busy. This year however I made sure that I will go there and have a good three day tour of the place. The national park is so pretty, with hills, trees, shrubs, old houses, narrow roads, famous writer, children book writers (Potter the writer of Peter Rabbit) and of course the lakes.
I arrived on Tuesday to Kendal (where my friend lives), we went home and I settled in. My friend made this lovely Meal at home followed by a lot of talking and catching up to do. I haven’t seen my friend Viv for such a long time and we did have lots of news to share.
The next day we did a boat trip on Lake Windermere, a very relaxing trip looking at the various houses and mansions scattered around the lake. Then we drove through the lakes to ‘Eltermere hotel’ for lunch in the garden. The best part though is walking around Hawkshead village which is made famous by the tales of Peter Rabbit ( several stories written by Beatrice Potter, a very famous author for children books). The important thing about Beatrice Potter is that she donated her property to the city and now people flock to it from around the world just to see the place she wrote her books in. Of course we didn’t see that place as it was closed for some repairs. I saw lots of Japanese people in Hawkshead as apparently its their favourite. Pity I didn’t buy any Peter Rabbit souvenirs, which means I have to go back again sometime.
Knowing me, I cannot have a full holiday, thus I wanted to see a school, so we went on the ferry across Windermere, meeting the principal of Windermere School and toured around it. It was a long day so we stayed home for our dinner. Viv made her famous Meal soufflé, (I am still waiting for the recipe dear).
On the third day and after Viv had finished her Dr’s visit, we drove to Keswick, then down Borrowdale to ‘Lodore Hotel’ for lunch. Weather was not that great with lots of rain, which cleared after lunch so we drove up Honister Pass to Honister Slate mine (which was purchased by the late Mark Weir RIP, who died in a helicopter crash). The mine tour was great and we learnt a lot as we had this really talkative and interesting tour guide. I guess its best to have people like him working as tour guides, as you end up learning lots of things that you wouldn’t care to learn about otherwise.
Dinner that nigh was at a very old building, the restaurant is called ‘The New Moon’. a very relaxing time indeed.
