Tuesday June 18, 2019

I am a get up and go kind of person, wake up, shower, breakfast and go. Shelley is a get up, have a coffee, wake up slowly, have a shower and two hours later we leave.   Unless we have a train to catch it can be a very slow start. When I give Shelley a time she is ready to go, if I don’t give her a time she lollygags. That is o.k. because we are on vacation.

This morning was a bit of a lollygag. Awake at 7:00 left the B&B at 9:15 with no breakfast! The B&B provides an instant pot of oatmeal, packaged chocolate croissant and a muesli bar. We wandered down to a nice café and had a good cooked breakfast with a really good cup of coffee. We then wandered down to the piers where all the boats leave and caught the 11:15 ferry across to Hawes landing.

We stopped at Claife Station on the way to Beatrix Potter\’s cottage, to view the lake.

We took the woodland path up to Beatrix Potter’s Hilltop Cottage. It was a 2 mile walk through the countryside, absolutely beautiful.

The guy at the ticket booth last night told us that we would have to walk up the road or we could get the bus to the top. I knew there was a footpath that we could take, at least for part of the way.

It was a lovely walk, we stopped many times to enjoy the scenery. After arriving in the village, Shelley bought her ticket to view inside Beatrix Potter\’s Cottage. It is owned by the National Trust and is left in its original state. I had previously visited the cottage with my Mum and Dad, it was free to wander the grounds. I told Shelley to do the tour but I would wait in the gardens.

As we were walking up the garden path to the entrance of Beatrix Potter\’s cottage we met a family with a young boy of about 5 years old, Edward. When buying the tickets with kids the Trust gives them a sheet of paper so that they can find hidden hedgehogs. There are six hedgehogs to be found. I asked Edward how many he had found – four he told me. I had only spotted one, I asked him if he would tell me where the hedgehogs were or would I have to find them myself. He told me I had to find them myself. I thought that was fair. His grandmother almost had a heart attack. “No Edward, why don’t you ask the lady if she could tell you where she has seen her hedgehog and you can tell her where you have seen your hedgehogs”. I think both Edward and I thought that was an unfair exchange four hedgehogs for one. I told Edward the general area for my hedgehog and he told me there was one by the front door of the house. I eventually found all six hedgehogs with the help of another adult. I was kind enough to tell another young boy where to find the last hedgehog he was looking for. I must be getting soft in my old age.

Shelley thoroughly enjoyed her walk around the cottage and the property.

Today was the first day of really good weather, sunny and warm and not a drop of rain. I even got a little bit of a sunburn. We had a walk around Bowness and had a lovely dinner at the Albert Pub.