A Weekend in the Lakes

We drove to Manchester on Friday and met Carly coming home from work. We had managed to find a B & B for the Saturday night overlooking Ullswater so spent a restful Friday evening just chatting and catching up with Carly.
Saturday saw us driving to the Lake District and after catching the ferry across Windermere we headed for ‘Hill Top’, the farm that Beatrix Potter bought and lived in for some time until her death when she bequeathed it to the National Trust. So popular is the property with visitors that a timed entry system is in force so after getting our allocated tickets for just over an hour away we found a little park just down the road to have a picnic lunch in.



Hilltop Farm

What a delightful old farmhouse Hill Top is. All items of furniture, pictures etc are exactly as they were when Beatrix lived there; it was one of her wishes that it all remained that way. At different places around the house you can see areas that appeared in some of the illustrations in her books, still recognisable. After the visit and a coffee at the hotel next door we headed off to find our B&B.
‘High Barton’ at Watermillock is built on the side of the valley overlooking Ullswater.


View from High Barton over Ullswater

We found it without too much difficulty and as we got out of the car Pauline (owner) gave us a wave and came to greet us before giving us a tour of the accommodation. There are only two letting rooms but they are superb with everything you need for a comfortable night. Both have lovely views across fields and over the lake. After a welcoming scone and jam with coffee and a chat we decided to go for a meal to a pub recommended by Pauline at Dacre, just up the road. The Horse and Farrier is an 18th century pub that has quite a varied menu, unfortunately a lot of which was not available. We eventually selected something each that was and after the meal we had a walk across to Dacre Castle nearby.



Poor spelling at Dacre school
Next morning saw us, after a wonderful breakfast (so much choice) taking a walk to Aira Force, a well known waterfall nearby which, due to the lack of rain was not as spectacular as it must be at times. After that we meandered through the Lakeland scenery, eventually heading back to Manchester where we stayed at Carly’s again before heading home on Monday morning when Carly left for work.



Ullswater on a still evening

What a lovely weekend !