The Lakes

For Luke’s Dad’s 50^th birthday in July, we booked for the four of us to go glamping in the Lake District this weekend just gone. We stayed at a National Trust campsite called Low Wray, not far from Ambleside, and rented some camping pods for 3 nights.

We arrived on Friday night and, after admiring the views, set up camp, started the fire, cooked a chilli, drank wine, toasted marshmallows and chatted until the sun went down.

Saturday meant donning the walking attire and tackling the hills surrounding Lake Windermere. We walked about 8 miles, up and down the hills, went up to Wray Castle and stopped to talk to the cows in the adjacent fields. For the dogs it meant paddling in the lake, chasing ducks and other winged animals and collecting stones. (Ollie can smell a stone under the water metres away, and won't move until he has dug it up, strange dog).

We went for dinner at a nearby pub on Saturday evening and had an early night. Even the dogs were tired after their long walk and paddles in the lake

We spent Sunday meandering around Ambleside, a lovely little town, stopping for lunch and wine and cake and icecream. We also went down to the pier and watched the world go byAs Sunday night was our last night, we got our gladrags on and headed out to a restaurant that I’d read numerous good reviews about. The Drunken Duck. 

I’ll do an entirely separate post on this another day, but let’s just say the food was amazing. The menu was small, but well thought out, and changes all year round to ensure only seasonal food is used. It wasn’t cheap, but it was well worth it. With full bellies, we went back to the campsite and set up another fire and had a lovely chit chat.

Monday morning we packed up camp and filled the truck to the rafters (literally, there was stuff strapped to the roof - we ALWAYS overpack), and headed out to Hill Top, Beatrix Potter’s house. Another National Trust gem, which has been completely untouched and left like a house, rather than a museum, at Miss Potter’s request. I’d definitely recommend a visit if you’re ever up that way, it’s free to National Trust members (a year’s membership for under 26s is only £26!). She left over 4000 acres of land to the National Trust when she died, and pretty much every single one of her illustrations is a real life depiction of her house, furniture and surroundings. You can read more about it here 

Beatrix Potter's cottage - Hill Top

The gate illustrated in the Tale of Tom Kitten

This was featured in the Tales of Jemima Puddleduck

 A thoroughly enjoyable weekend of spending time with loved ones and making more memories. There is so much to see around the Lakes, that we will definitely be going back next year.

Toronto

I haven't been too great at blogging of late as we have been on holiday for Luke's Dad's 50th birthday, and as we have recently moved house and are yet to get the Internet, I didn't get round to scheduling any posts. Mind you, this is a belated post anyway, as it has taken Luke about 3 months to give me some photos off his camera.

For Luke's 25th birthday last year, I bought us flights to Toronto for April just gone. Both of us love exploring but we usually keep it to Europe so I thought it would be great for us to go further afield.

We were only there for 5 days so we did a lot of researching to make sure we saw and did all we wanted.

I could write for hours about everything we crammed in, but I've tried to be concise :)

> Whilst we were there, the Blue Jays, Toronto's baseball team, were hosting the New York Yankees, so we made sure we got down there. Sadly we lost, but the atmosphere [and the hot dogs] were great.

> Every day started with a massive brunch of pancakes, bacon and maple syrup and lots of freshly brewed coffee [all consumed before I could get to the camera]

Aunties and Uncles - a great retro diner which served amazing pancakes 

You can't go to Toronto without taking a trip out to Niagara Falls... which was started with a helicopter ride...

> Luke insisted on going to the Mill Street brewpub [he loves his ales]. We intended to go for just one drink, but we spent about 4 hours there, having met some lovely girls from Boston [and consuming endless pints and cocktails]...

> And obviously we couldn't miss a trip up the CN tower, coupled with dinner in the 360 restaurant at the top.

Toronto was a lovely place and this trip was only a taster. We definitely intend to go back, having been advised by the locals that with every changing season, the city becomes something different.