Back to England

The Lakes district was the first stop back in England on the north west coast. Magical place for walkers and lovers of scenery with it's lakes, mountains, forests and lush rock walled paddocks. A mix of black and white and even grey sheep whilst a little unusual completed the relaxed scene.

Boats on Derwent water

A stop at the Cumberland pencil company museum was high on the to see list. This is where the world famous Derwent pencils are made. I'm sure their range has expanded since Santa brought me my first tin of 12 as they now have water colour pencils, pastel pencils, lead pencils in all different kinds of lead (or graphite as it is now), metallic pencils, skin colour pencils etc etc etc! They also did a secret world war 2 pencil (unbeknown to the Germans) with compass, map and eraser all secretly enclosed! Very nifty! It was also home of the largest pencil which was awarded a Guiness world record in 2001 weighing in at 450 odd kg with 100 odd kg of yellow pencil in it!!

Big Pencil - sharpened with a chainsaw!

They usually have an hours free tuition after the museum but for some reason it wasn't on at the moment?!? On the upside we did get a free lead pencil each with our £3 admission! Will add it to the pencil collection started on ANZAC day.

Pencil delivery van

Next was the Beatrix potter gallery with a selection of her original water colours and then her "Hill Top" home and property (as it was the day she died!). Bought a lovely complete works of the Peter Rabbit tales book with all 23 of her illustrated stories. It's funny how seeing/reading things like her stories brings back memories; I'd forgotten exactly what mum used to read us and when I read the book A Very Fierce Bad Rabbit it all came rushing back to me! They were also offering a free kids cooking apron with purchases of 2 or more books so we bought Peter Rabbit and got the free apron too -  super cute as Manda would say!

Hill Top garden which Beatrix drew pictures of in Peter Rabbit - now maintained by the National Trust

If the children can eventually cook gingerbread as well as Sarah Nelson does/did (she's now dead!) the apron will have been well worthwhile! The amazing Sarah Nelson's Grasmere gingerbread shop has always made the same gingerbread from her original 150 year old recipe. It was a little difficult to find but thankfully her reputation and popularity means you can ask just about anyone, local or not, and they're likely to point you in the right direction. Once there the experience was literally short and sweet; the cute little green shop with neat ivy and green picket fence had a bit of a line so we queued for a few minutes before a baptism by fire - there were 2 frantic ladies neatly dressed in traditional clothing (white bonnet included) filling plastic bags with old fashioned wrapped gingerbread parcels. Each parcel wrapped in blue and white paper with brown string as I imagine it was 150 years ago. We quickly asked for what we were after, paid, quick photo and gone in about the time it took to type this sentence! The inside of the shop was no more than 5 square meters - tiny! We couldn't resist but to try some and it was SO good... Softish in the middle with a crumbly outside and little bits of ginger inside.... £4.50 for 12 pieces and £2.50 for 6. This gingerbread is the kind you won't forget in a hurry and certainly won't find anywhere else. Scrumptious! Poet William Wordsworth's grave was close by so we checked it out too. It was like all graves.

Having been doing the main tourist things here in the Lake district it was now about time I got out and did some walking! The 3-4 hour walk to Latrigg hilltop with its sweeping views back over Keswick, Derwent water and to the looming mountains behind was done at a jog in an hour. Perhaps not the wisest idea running down a steep wet grassy hill in joggers as I ended up on my bum for the best part of 50m but otherwise a pleasant excursion! Don't think Manda even missed me!

Some of the surrounding countryside (taken at Beatrix Potters actually!)

Derwent Water (lake here near Keswick and a feature of the NP) incredibly picturesque; Peter Rabbit and friends story books do it justice and It's certainly the sort of place you could well imagine an artist with their water colour paints/Derwent pencils in a cute country garden or by the hills. Not a wonder really that Beatrix Potter did so well by combining the two to such good effect!

Manda at Beatrix Potter Gallery where many of her original pictures are housed

Oh and the people in room 5 here at the lovely Abacourt B&B have the loudest giggity we've ever heard! It was quite embarrassing for them at breakfast, that's for sure!