Lake District, Great Britain

At the beginning of November I left Iceland but decided to make a little to stop in Britain on the way. Mostly to visit a friend but as she was working during the week I went on a little 2-day trip to the Lake District as well. Suffice it to say 2 days is not nearly enough for this beautiful area. But it was a fulfillment of a childhood dream. I’ve wanted to visit the Lake District since I first saw Peter Rabbit on VHS visiting a friend. Her Dad was british so they had all the Beatrix Potter stories on video and even though my English was limited I fell in love with the stories. If you don’t know the stories, look them up they are beautiful children’s stories. At the beginning of each little movie we would see Beatrix Potter in a beautiful landscapes in the Lake Districts where she’s painting, but it starts raining so she walks back to her quaint little cottage. There she starts writing her stories in letters. It’s just beautiful. I believe there were different beginnings for the different stories but the one from Peter Rabbit is the one I remember best as it’s my favourite.

But back to my adventures. I stayed in Ambleside a town at the northern tip of Lake Windemere. It took a little bit to get used to the very windy, narrow streets and when I arrived I had a hard time finding my hostel as it was already dark. The next day made up for it though.

After a walk around Ambleside I made my way to Hill Top Cottage where Beatrix Potter used to live. Sadly because they were already on a Winter Shedule, the Cottage was closed but I could walk around the garden and visit the shop. (I bought quite a few things in the shop). It was as beautiful as I imagined and I just have to visit again in summer so I can actually go in the cottage as well.

Since that didn’t take all day I went on a few walks that start from Ambleside. First I went to Stock Ghyll Force. The path to this waterfall led through a forrest that had gorgeous fall foliage. Afterwards I wanted to do another walk called the Loughridge Tarn but I’m pretty sure I took a wrong turn somewhere as there weren’t a lot of signs and I only had a photo copy map from the hostel. I didn’t mind though because I did end up on top of a hill were I had a beautiful view of Lake Windemere and Ambleside.

On my second day I was not as lucky with the weather, it was quite gray and rainy. Nevertheless I drove to Grasmere I walked around there for a couple of hours. I saw Dove Cottage where William Wordsworth and his sister Dorothy lived for several years. Now I have to admit that I haven’t read any of his poetry since I don’t usually read poetry. It was still nice to see the area and I also walked around the lake.

After Grasmere I drove to Bowness-on-Windemere but to be honest the weather was still quite rainy and it was so touristy that I did not stay long before driving to Cheshire to meet up with my friend.