If you
mention the Lake District in the UK, everyone, and I mean everyone, will know
exactly where you are talking about. And
it’s likely they’ve been there. The Lake District National Park encompasses a huge mountainous area (that is mountainous is UK terms, not Rocky
Mountain terms – not as tall, but still impressive) in the north and west of
England that is famous for it’s…well, I’ll give you one guess...
It’s lakes
of course. Truly, there is so much more
to this beautiful part of England than just it’s lakes though. The breathtaking scenery not only includes
the gorgeous blue lakes nestled snuggly between the huge dramatic hills, but
also consists of lush green forests with waterfalls and quaint English
villages. There is a lot to see and do
in the Lake District so it’s no wonder it’s the most visited of all the
national parks in England. And that is
why we spent a long enjoyable weekend back in September in the lovely Lake
District.
We stayed
in the town of Ambleside, which sits just north of the largest natural lake in
England, Windermere. After checking into our B&B, we had a little time to waste before finding some dinner so
we set out on foot wandering the streets filled with shops and headed out
towards the edge of town where we found a vibrantly green forested ravine with
a lovely little creek trickling down it.
We followed the trail into the ravine and ended up high above the stream
where it dropped dramatically down a series of small waterfalls.
The lush forest was enchanting with little footbridges
passing back and worth over the water below, the perfect place for not one...
not
two...
but many photo opts.
Every now and
then we came upon an old tree stump with coins embedded into its wood.
Strange is seemed, but after we passed a
couple, we figured maybe it was good luck to add your own coin to the
stump???
After our
walk, we found a cozy little restaurant just up the street from our B&B called Matthew's Bistro and
ended up having one of the best meals I’ve had in England.
It was chicken, potatoes and vegetables with
an amazing sauce, nothing complex or crazy, just simple and delicious. I’m sure there was dessert too, but I can’t
recall what it was exactly. This was a
great start to our weekend in the Lake District.
Saturday we
woke to rain. Not just a little rain,
but pouring rain. As we sat in the cozy
parlor of the B&B sipping our hot coffee, enjoying breakfast and gazing a
little sadly out the huge bay window as the rain splattered on the ground outside, we came
up with plan B for the morning. While
the main attraction of the Lake District is clearly to enjoy the great outdoors
(and that was plan A), there are things to be done and seen inside as well and
one of them happens to involve Beatrice Potter - you know the author who
created the likes of Peter Rabbit, Benjamin Bunny, and Jemima Puddle-duck just
to name a few. As a child, Beatrice
Potter’s family spent time in the Lake District and she loved it so much that
as an adult she ended up moving there permanently, purchasing a place called
Hill Top Farm with the earnings from her adorable children’s tales. As she made more and more money from the sale
of her charming and creative books featuring animals as the main characters,
she bought more and more land in the Lake District to keep it from
development. When she died, she left
most of this land to the National Trust and is credited in large part for
preserving much of the land that now makes up the Lake District National Park.
You can
tour her home at Hill Top Farm and the gardens that surround it. It’s old
and chilly and dark inside, looking today much like it did when Beatrice Potter
lived here. It’s nice enough though,
nothing fancy, but from what I learned about Beatrice Potter, that is just how
she was. You can still see the mouse and
rat holes in the walls, as apparently she had quite a problem with these
rodents when she first moved in. Yikes,
right! Well, for most people anyway, but
for Beatrice, her rodent battle just fueled her imagination even more, and
those little rascals became the inspiration for some of her beloved animal
tales.
We had a lot of fun learning
about Beatrice Potter, seeing one of her homes and discovering the 24 animals
tales she not only wrote but also illustrated during her lifetime (did you know
she published that many stories?). It's not hard to figure out why she chose the Lake District as her home.
The land surrounding her farm is beautiful and peaceful. And
it was the perfect way to spend a rainy morning in the Lake District.
By noon the
rain clouds had past and the day turned brighter. We took advantage of the turn in the weather
to finally spend some time outside. We
found a beautiful trail along the lake of Windermere and spent the afternoon
passing in and out of the forest and getting some amazing views of the
lake.
We also had a bit of a scare
during our peaceful hike. The trail we
followed was nice and wide, not paved and not gravel either, but compact and
easy to walk and bike on. We were on a
wooded part of the trail, about half way up a decent sized hill with a tall muddy
embankment on one side of us and on the other, the tree covered hillside
dropped quickly and steeply towards the lake.
I’m not sure what I noticed first, the father running full speed down
the hill on the trail towards us, or the little boy, maybe 3 or 4 years old, who
was speeding down the hill several feet in front of him, clearly out of control
and unable to stop on one of those little scooter bikes – you know the one that
looks just like a bicycle but doesn’t have pedals. The look of bewilderment on his tiny little
face is etched into my memory - something like, “I think this is suppose to be
fun but something is clearly not right about this situation and I have no idea
how to fix it. HEEEEELP!!!” And several steps behind them both comes mom,
running as fast and she can while pushing a baby in a stroller. It would have been a comical sight except
that is was very clear that this little boy had somehow gotten out of the grasp
of his father and while he was keeping his balance on the little bike quite
well, he was careening down the hill faster and faster and faster, totally and utterly out
of control, unable to stop.
Ellie, Leah
and I were right in his path. I knew he
was going to hit us if we didn’t move so I shoved the girls into the muddy
embankment on our left as the other side of the trail wasn’t an option – the
hill dropped steeply down to the lake and there was no place to stand. And then I realized what I really needed to
do - I needed to try and stop this little guy or he was going to get seriously
hurt. But, how do you stop a little boy
who is coming straight at you, racing down a hill out of control on a bicycle
without hurting him and you? This kid
was flying and he still had a lot of hill to go before he reached the bottom.
Well my
friends, I didn’t have to worry long because as I was standing in the middle of
the trail trying to figure out how best to grab him off his bike as he flew
past without seriously injuring him, the front wheels started to wobble and down
he went, face first onto the trail (thank goodness for bike helmets) right in front of me. His parents finally caught up to him and immediately
scooped him up. He was more whimpering
than crying. He didn’t appear to be
hurt. I think he was simply shocked and
glad his “bike ride” was over. But the
funny thing is that both of his parents just stood there looking at me. Now, I’m thinking, “Why the heck are you looking
at me? Your kid just did a major face
plant in the ground while going high speed down a hill. Aren’t you more concerned about him?” And then it dawned on me. I was standing there a few feet away from
them, my hand covering my wide-open mouth with a complete look of shock and
horror on my face at what I had just witnessed and I bet they felt like the
worst parents ever.
Five
minutes later as we continued our walk, my heart had finally stopped racing,
the little boy was fine, and I just had to giggle at the look on the parents
face as they looked at me. I know they
felt awful, but it was an accident and in the end, he was okay. And, I know this will sound strange, but
since I know he is okay I can say it – I am glad he wiped out because trust me
when I say that was the best possible way for him to stop given the
circumstances. This could have ended
much worse and now we have our own tale to tell from the Lake District, even if
it’s not as cute as Beatrice Potter’s tales.
The rest of our walk was much less eventful, but very beautiful, so I
leave you today with more photos from Windermere and our first day in the Lake District.
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