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Published: August 30th 2010
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At Lancashire with Judith and Ken
L - R: Me, Judith, Mum, Phoebe and Ken As Mum had finished her contract work in Scotland, we met her back at Aunt Sybil's to get ready for our Tour of Scotland. In the course of our planning I had suggested that as The Lakes region was on the way, why not drop in for a night or two? No one seemed complain so we made way for Cumbria and The Lakes district. The trip was broken up by a visit to Judith and her husband Ken who live in Lancashire. Judith is the Lancastrian 'hostess with the mostest' and when we arrived asked with gusto “could you murder a coffee?” I didn't know quite how to respond, but felt the right answer was probably yes, although wasn't too sure about murdering coffees or what that involved. Mum was much quicker on the uptake and later explained it had something to do with the expression “I'd kill for a coffee”. After “murdering” (ahem, drinking) a coffee she then treated us to a delicious buffet lunch plus berries and cream for desert. She also showed us the pigeons that frequent her backyard by way of much encouragement from Judith. It is rumoured that she once buttered six loaves of bread
Typical Windemere Street
This actually a two-lane street! for the neighbour to give to the pigeons while Judith and Ken were away. Ken also let slip that once he saw Judith making scones and said with delight that scones was just what he felt like. She replied with “well don't think they're for you”. One can only guess where they ended up, and I'd say those pigeons are probably the best looked after in all of England.
The Lakes offered some beautiful scenery as expected, but our delight was worn down rather quickly once we got to Windemere. It's the kind of place that might be nice when no one is around with it's quaint tea shops and lovely stone cut buildings, but when it's August and EVERONE IN ENGLAND wants to go to The Lakes it is none too pleasant really. Suddenly Windemere's villagey narrow streets become traffic hellholes and parking a vehicle requires a 2 mile hike back to the intended destination. Even the shops get on your nerves with their polka-dot tea pots and cross-stitch love heart cushions. Everything seemed to be in a slightly minature version to the point where it came across not as 'cute' but incredibly 'twee' , in fact it
Typical Lakes Photo
Just walking along and you stumble across a mansion. was 'twee' on steroids and it was giving me (and the travelling party) a headache. A quick departure from The Lakes and fast track to Scotland was requested by all.
Before we were to leave though, I did insist on a mini-pilgrimage to Hill Top, Beatrix Potter's farm. It didn't start very well with the pouring rain in the morning and about five minutes down a heavily trafficked country lane (which is Cumbria's poor excuse for a road), my Mum and Phoebe started whining from their back seats in the van. By the time we arrived it was pelting down so we donned our rain jackets to race to the house only to discover it was closed every Friday for “restoration works” or some rubbish like that. We headed for the gift shop to buy a few books and knick-knacks, however everyone else on the pilgrimage trail had the same idea so we all crammed into the tiny shop in our wet rain jackets and muddy shoes. We made another dash for the van and Mum declared strongly that we should leave The Lakes ASAP. She later informed me that if I ever doubted that people loved me in
Road into a Valley
ok look, I never said it wasn't beautiful. the future I should think of the time when she, Nick and Phoebe all made the journey to Hill Top in the rain, on a bad road, just to squeeze into a tiny shop to buy overpriced, rabbit themed paraphernalia. Now that is LOVE!
But The Lakes was not going to loosen it's claustrphobic grip on us just yet.....on they way out we found that the indicators on the van are no longer working. Lentil....you have such bad timing! After a prolonged drive through yet again more traffic in Windemere we finally find one N. Blezzard, professional Auto-Electrician and Grumpy Old Man who made no promises but tells us to come back in an hour. We spend the hour eating split pea soup and commiserating over the rain and the fact that we are still in Windemere. We go back to Mr Blezzard who complains about Lentil's wiring (I was waiting for Phoebe to chime in with “you'll hurt Lentil's feelings”) and charges us 15 pounds.
With Lentil is good to go, we hightail it out of The Lakes and head for grotty, unattractive Glasgow.....something I was in need of after the ultra-manicured, cutesy twee Lakes region.
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birgit
non-member comment
bad luck, bad timing , folks.alex,i do fully understand you though, i would have insisted on seeing potter´s house as well as the shop.tell lentil she´d better behave,car mechanics charge horrendous prices in austria.off to the vet soon, our poor hamster cannot open his left eye anymore.love, b.