UK Trip: Lake District. Windermere. Beatrix Potter. Castlerigg stone circle.

Lake District

Decided to switch our plans and check out a day early from Bakewell, heading the 2.5 hrs north once we managed to finish breakfast and get going. 

Boat ride on Windermere (10.5 miles long, ~1mi wide, 220ft deep), left from Ambleside.

The weather got very British, so our boat ride was a pretty wet hour. I’d probably leave it out if I did it again, but it was nice to mix things up from the car. 

[Beatrix Potter House] 

After that, a sprint north to Beatrix Potter’s Hill Top House. Definitely worth a look. Bought from the proceeds of Peter Rabbit, lovely garden and very cozy spaces. Each room had the little books as well as displays showing sketches corresponding to things you could see – fireplace, chair, her favorite tea pot. 

The two bad mice (really, mischievous more than anything, and with a kind of overcompensation for said mischief at the end) was a special exhibit. The doll house in it was based on a real one belonging to the niece of her publisher – who eventually proposed and sadly died two weeks later. The doll house had been restored recently for this exhibit. 

In honor of this, 9 felt mice were hidden all over the house. We found them all, with a little help. :) 

She bought up a lot of land and farms and left it with very strict conservationist instructions to the National Trust. Through that, the biggest/most impactful donor in the Lake District region. There was a room with photos of her walking in advanced age, and video of e.g. Moss Eccles Tarn, one of the parcels of land she’d donated. 

It's not easy to capture in a few pictures, but it was a really cozy house and arranged as she'd left it. It gives you the sense that a lovely person has invited you over for tea and has just stepped out to get some biscuits or scones or something and will be right back. 

Inspired by the Moss Eccles film, we asked how hard it was to reach -- a bit too hard given our constraints, so we instead saw Tarn hows (lower left in the left collage) then another sprint towards "Surprise View" (middle right, another 'pictures don't show you it really' kind of place) which we reached over the tiny Ashness bridge (big upper left). 

Wrapped up at the Castlerigg stone circle (center lower) in the collage. Really just absolutely lovely. Surrounded on all sides by peaks, lots of stones, it felt really magical. 

Lower right is a view from Kirby Lonsdale, where we stayed overnight, called "Ruskin's view". Painted by Turner. Reminds me of the Saarschleife in Germany. 

We stayed at the Snooty Fox. A little loud, but Sundays closes at 11pm. Nice breakfast, great cappuccino. 

Not pictured: Keswick (feels like where people really stay longer, has a laundromat and a public toilet). 

I definitely need to come back it was just exactly the kind of scenery I like being out in, and I can live with the weather as long as I pack for it. Som tips for future: honester pass. buttermere. Valley with two lakes and great hiking hills.

Next: Day 3 of 3 of the Bespoke Tour by Mark Sweeney of "Live for the Hills", Yorkshire Dales (huge waterfall, sweeping landscapes, All Creatures Great and Small, Bronte Parsonage, ended in York)