A whistle stop of a week in the Lakes

This week I’ve used the last of my 2020 leave which I carried over into 2021 and rather appropriately they have been spent on a rearranged 2020 holiday. We’ve been in a cottage near Cartmel which we should have been in after a family wedding at the end of May. The family wedding didn’t happen thanks to Covid and has been rearranged for next May instead, and we postponed our holiday by a year and a week adjusting it away from the bank holiday weekend and towards our wedding anniversary. It’s a week we tend to go away, and have done in the majority of the previous fourteen years, pandemics permitting.

It’s a long drive though from South London. But worth it. We packed a lot in to our four night stay, and I’ll be sharing more I’m sure, but in the meantime here’s a quick run through of our week - hang on to your hats.

THAT FIRST CUPPA AFTER A LONG DRIVE

OUR VIEW FROM THE COTTAGE

After that first cuppa we set out on foot to get our bearings. Walking through the country lanes to the the nearest village, wondering what would greet us around the corner, unlike the sheep you climbed the wall for a better view. As you do.

ERM, A SHEEP ON A WALL

For our first full day we headed off to Levens Hall as the gardens and its topiary had been recommended. The hall wasn’t open but I was intrigued by the different designs of the windows - each on this side of the hall was different.

The gardens were full of topiary and colour and it was good to explore the different zones before heading on towards Sizergh Castle.

The ‘battlement’ style walls were to become a feature of this trip, these at Sizergh were the first we saw. The gardens were extensive and warm, and I’ve many photos.

Our other mission was to stock up with some supplies. The fall back plan was to head to the Sainsbury’s in Kendal but we didn’t need that as the Sizergh Barn Farm Shop had everything we needed. It was here that we bought some raw milk from a vending machine - quite an experience, and to be honest it tasted great even though it was whole milk rather than our usual semi-skimmed. I’d definitely buy it again, and not just for the novelty factor.

The forecast for the next day was less promising so we invoked our first museum visit. We booked online for the Lakeland Motor Museum which also has the exhibition dedicated to Malcom and Donald Campbell’s record breaking attempts, memorabilia and machines. But there was much more there than that and many memory prompts for both MOH and I. They packed a lot into a relatively small space, and it’s definitely worth a visit, even if you don’t think it’s your thing.

For lunch we headed over to Ambleside and ate alongside the lake spending a fair amount of time people watching - another fascinating way to pass the time.

On our way back our plan was to stop off in Cartmel and buy some sticky toffee pudding from the shop where it originated. Parking was tricky so we came back to the cottage and walked back in. Later that evening we headed back into Cartmel for dinner at Rogan & Co - I started with a nasturtium negroni, which was fab - as was the whole meal. It’s just as well though that our step count was just short of 19,000 steps that day.

A passing comment from our hosts saw us head to another museum on Thursday - this time the pencil museum. Yes, who knew? It was as fascinating as the motor museum, but for entirely different reasons. And obviously, there were many pencils - though less when we left as I treated myself to 48 soft colour pencils in a lovely wooden box which are absolutely beautiful.

It was still relatively early so we pulled into one of the viewpoints and booked tickets to Holker Hall. This was one of the places I’d earmarked to visit before we left London, but when I looked earlier in the week it appeared fully booked. It turns out I looked at house and garden tickets, but there were still garden tickets left, and what’s better it’s an RHS partner garden and so my entry was covered by that.

It was a relatively small garden, though we didn’t explore the parkland to its full potential, but again there was a lot to see including the sundial which is 5ft in diameter and the cascade which Neptune proudly sat at the top of.

Thursday night was stone-baked pizza night in the village and so we ordered pizzas heading down to collect them before relaxing, after finishing the packing, in the private hot tub, with its window view of the countryside beyond.

We’ve not quite had the temperatures that London has experienced, but for the Lakes we’ve been assured this is good weather - and it’s been lovely. We’ll be back in London before we know it, and back to work too. Our next break isn’t until July, and that’s a weekend a couple of hours away from us, and another hot tub - but more on that another day.

Looking back at my garden in September

I’m not wishing the yet-to-arrive summer away, though I am looking forward to some warmer weather, but this post is one which takes a look at my garden and prompts some memories from last September. As you’ll know somehow I missed a whole series of posts at the time, but I don’t want to miss them from this space completely.

The patio remained lush and the white roses kept on flowering. These roses have multiple blooms which seem to last forever, but shed their petals in an instant almost if you look at them too hard. I think the insect in the photo above is judging if they’ll do that before making its move.

The sedums were starting to turn pink, whereas the geraniums which are now a few years old were already a faded pink.

Outside the greenhouse our baby squash was still going strong and looking promising. However - spoiler alert - it didn’t make it dropping off the plant without growing or ripening further. We didn’t have much success with courgettes, squash or tomatoes last year which was a shame, but something to work on.

Elsewhere in the garden the leaves from the laurel were already falling and turning brown. These were just the first of the leaves we collected over the winter months, and which we store to make leaf mulch making use of one of those very large builders bags. It’s big and bulky but thankfully relatively easy to shove and lug out of view.

We had more success with our runner beans and like in other years a steady supply kept up our bean levels up. Even these weren’t as prolific as usual and we think that’s probably because the light levels in our garden were lower than in previous years as our trees are at their largest having not been cut for a good few years. They’re even taller this year, so I’ll be choosing what we grow carefully to maximise the potential.

I almost can’t believe it was last September that our lighting masterplan was formed, on a post-it naturally. We bought the lights, and the hooks to put them up with and with a few days of them arriving the weather changed - sorry! It was only recently that I found the hooks again, but as the weather has been so bad we haven’t got around to putting them up. Given the winds last week, where we had a few branches down, that seems to have been a good decision.

Let’s hope we’ll get them up soon, and that we have plenty of opportunity to use and enjoy them.

The year was good for our ornamental quince though, these are the largest I’ve seen since we’ve lived here. I don’t think it was just the good weather though, the previous year it had a really good prune, so both probably contributed to its very good year!

MOH is very fastidious about picking up leaves, and clearly at one point I caught him sweeping the grass - too good not to include here!

I grew some sweet peas from seed and this pastel pink one was a particular favourite. At the back of the garden the pear tree had a bumper crop of pears, though unfortunately even the squirrels reject these as they’re often like bullets, and usually there’s not enough pears to bother cooking to see if that makes a difference.

We weren’t the only one to enjoy our garden during the month, our neighbour’s cat definitely made itself comfortable and made the most of the warmth from the roof of the little shed. It’s a tough life, hey?

What I've read lately - in 21 minutes a day

I enjoy reading, but I do very little reading for pleasure. I knew that was something that I could do something about, and so I made it one of my priorities to read for pleasure for 21 minutes a day. Why 21? Nothing more than it’s 2021. I heard someone mention it on a podcast I was listening to while sewing, and it stuck. It sounded doable, and mostly it has been, and just like that I’ve found myself reading a lot more than I have lately. Who knew?

Mostly I read on my iPad in bed. I prefer the touch of books, but the ease and convenience of a device. I have both a physical and a virtual ‘to be read’ pile and expect to make progress on both, but in the meantime here’s what I’ve read lately.

1 Better Than Before, Gretchen Rubin

The sub heading of this book is ‘Mastering the Habits of Our Everyday Lives’ so given that I’m on a quest to keep to my priorities this was an obvious starting point, in fact I think it was on Gretchen’s podcast Happier that I heard of the read for 21 minutes a day. I was also intrigued by the Four Tendencies quiz and then found myself head first into the book. It’s an easy read, and full of insightful content and advice but without being ‘preachy’. I learnt that I’m mostly an Obliger who meets outer expectations and resists inner expectations, or put another way “I do what I have to do. I don’t want to let others down, but I may let myself down” - my current crochet standoff with myself is a case in point!

I definitely wake up and think what I should do today, but rarely end up on my set agenda for the whole day. While applying the research and practical advice in the book I’ve realised that my external accountability is my lists - so given this was a book about habits, I downloaded a habit tracker app and get the enjoyment of ticking things off a short list, and also get the stats which appeals to my inner nerd.

2 Expectation, Anna Hope

I needed a different genre after finishing Gretchen’s book so headed for some fiction. This one is billed as ‘the most razor-sharp and heartbreaking novel of the year’ which is quite a claim. The book itself left me in tears, but that’s not unusual as I’m a soppy thing at times. It’s also testament to good writing and characters that are real - it was a book I didn’t want to end. It’s about three female friends, their friendship and the book covers various stages of their life. I enjoyed it, it’s an entertaining read but as I said the billing is quite a claim, but it’s definitely worth a read.

3 The Secret of Orchard Cottage, Alex Brown

I’ve had this book on my Kindle app for quite a while. I’d started it but not got very far - I probably abandoned reading rather than abandoning the book - but I tried again, and couldn’t put it down. The story follows April, the main character’s life as she navigates widowhood and a change of scenery visiting her elderly aunt. It’s overall feeling is feel good, but it’s not the plain sailing that you’d expect. There’s family history, relationships, village life and entrepreneurship and it ends on a higher note than it starts. Another one for your list if you’re after an easy read full of warmth and charm.

4 How I changed my job, my home, my husband & my hair. Re-educated, Lucy Kellaway

I’ll admit I was drawn to this book by the title. I’d a vague idea who Lucy Kellaway was - an FT columnist - but I’d not read any of her columns, I don’t think. This book is how she changed exactly what she said in the title, and founded, with her business partner, Teach Last - though that’s not the name they went with, but it’s the opposite of Teach First, and encourages people into teaching following successful careers.

It’s a good read, honest, funny and endearing. I liked the self-deprecating style, and even picked up some economics knowledge. It’s another book that focuses on change, in a ‘leap of faith’ kind of way and refreshing in her quest to continually learn and acknowledge her prejudices.

And I’ll admit I had to google the house she bought, which once I had felt a little more intrusive than I expected it to - but it’s easy to see why she fell for it. Now you’ll have to read it to find out that for yourself.

So here’s to many more 21 minutes!

Photo by marqquin on Unsplash