Lakeland Postcards

Hello! As you can see - I'm back! Back from a really lovely week in such beautiful countryside, and more daffodils than I have ever seen before...We had sunny walks almost every day (will show you the rain pix too!)..

This was our sweet little cottage, near Ambleside, down a long windy lane with a farm gate at the end that you had to open and close to go in and out....you could go for lovely walks straight from the cottage...

These are four pictures I took at Hill Top, Beatrix Potter's house, where we've been many times over the years. I love to see the garden too. The vegetable patch looked pretty, the flower garden still quite bare but in the summer it's filled with blooms....there is a sheep pen too, and this little lamb was my favourite of all the (many) lambs I photographed this week, with its perfect little lamby face and pink ears....

 Beatrix Potter has always interested me, first because I loved her books, especially the illustrations, then because I found her journals and letters interesting to read and re read, and then because I discovered it was thanks to her that so much of the Lake District was protected from developers - she bought up lots of land and farms and bequeathed it all to the National Trust when she died...I can see why she chose to live at Near Sawrey - it's such a pretty, picturesque spot. We had a lovely sunny walk there after visitng Hill Top.

Now I have to be honest...this was the Lake District so it DID rain...for two days...and here are some rainy pictures, first the cloud and mist rolling in off the fells, then the Grasmere Gingerbread Shop with rain swilling down on it, and then a view of the dark cloudy rainy sky...and the final one of puddles...yes, plenty of puddles everywhere...muddy boots plodding down the lanes, wellies splashing through puddles...

Apart from wet walks, you can always stay out of the rain for a while and read, or knit...I finished off the blue cardi while I was away, and here it is having the buttons sewn on..the quilt is the one that came with us on this trip - this one doesn't have a very pretty name, it's just the Floating Four Patch Quilt....

Or you can go to a tea room out of the rain - mmm we always enjoy doing that, in fact we go when it's not raining too. This is our very favourite place for afternoon tea, Jumping Jenny at Brantwood, Coniston. It has wonderful food and a lovely location looking over Coniston Water - well worth a visit.... we specially like going there in the autumn, when there is mist and wood smoke and it's sooo atmospheric...

Some treats to bring home for the family...we had lots of Kendal Mint Cake this week, it completely took over from the mini eggs for me...the Grasmere Gingerbread is famous and legendary with a secret recipe and I must say I've never tasted any like it any where else...

                                                        Beside the lake, beneath the trees,
                                                       Fluttering and dancing in the breeze.

A little bit of Wordsworth there which I thought of when I saw the daffys at Ullswater Lake, I like those lines more than the more famous ones now....

So, now I'm home again and lots of things to do, including some new Christmas designs (yes really) and lots of lovely blogs to catch up with reading! Thanks so much for your sweet comments on my last post and kind wishes for my little break. I do feel refreshed and will be back with another post very soon. Have a wonderful week, with sunshine, spring blossoms and happy days. xxxxx