Sunday 1 April 2018

Back from The Lakes

Hi there everyone

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I hope you are all enjoying the Easter weekend, whether you be out and about or just generally making the most of a long weekend at home.

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We are just back from our first holiday of the year up in The Lake District and this was the view that we have been waking up to every morning for the last week.After what felt like a really busy week at home with a trip to London, school governor commitments, doctors appointments, finishing off the spring cleaning, planting our fruit trees, a 21st birthday celebration and all the usual washing, ironing, cleaning and shopping, Martin and I were both more than ready for our first getaway of the year.

We were off to stay in Sale Fell, a cottage looking like it has come straight out of a fairytale, overlooking Bassenthwaite Lake, the only actual lake in the Lake District, as technically speaking the rest are all either waters, meres or tarns.We loaded up the car as usual, with everything but the kitchen sink, so we were ready for every eventuality and type of weather, and set off.

The M6 was a bit of a nightmare, but with a bit of a detour we eventually made it to Tebay Services, our favourite regular pit stop on this journey when travelling up to that there North.It’s a lot prettier than your average motorway services, feeling as though it is set right amongst the wilds of the countryside, with a restaurant serving proper food, fabulous cake and overlooking a duck pond teeming with ducks.
We were soon back on the road and arrived at Sale Fell just after 4pm to be greeted by the owner and bright blue skies and sunshine. The cottage is part of the old Mansion House, which has been divided into four separate dwellings and Sale Fell has only been available as a holiday let since the late summer of 2017. I will do a fuller review of the cottage for you in separate post.

It looked just lovely and we couldn’t wait to see inside. We weren’t disappointed, the place had been really well renovated, retaining lots of interesting features and quirky objects, whilst including lots of modern day comforts. It was really roomy, flooded with light and spotlessly clean.
We unloaded the car but didn’t feel like unpacking and decided to head back up the lane to a footpath that led to St Bega’s Church, which is described as being one of the most beautifully suited churches in the country. We both really wanted to see it in good weather and as the forecast during our stay was very mixed we thought we’d make the most of the evening sunshine.
It was a nice steady .75 mile walk each way and it was definitely worth it. The scenery looked pretty spectacular in the evening sunshine ...
... and St Bega's really is a beautiful little church in a glorious spot, feeling pretty much in the middle of nowhere, right on the edge of the lake ...
As the sun was so low in the sky our photos didn’t really do it justice, though it still looked lovely from all angles ...

The views down to the lake were pretty good too ...
Whilst it felt as though we were in the middle of nowhere, the church is actually situated in the grounds of the historic Mirehouse, somewhere we were definitely planning on visit later in our holiday. Looking back we could see the house from the church ...
The church is always open so we had a quick look round inside before we thought we ought to be heading back ...
By the time we got back to Sale Fell, we were both shattered. We managed to get all unpacked and settled in before flaking out in front of the TV for the rest of the first evening of, what was already looking like it was going to be a good week’s break 😀

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3 comments:

  1. Love a stop at Tebay services :)

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    1. Definitely a treat Netty and so different to most of the others, though there is something similar at Gloucester on the M5 now, not that we are motorway services connoisseurs or anything 😂😂😂

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Thanks for taking time to comment on my blog. I love to hear what people think about what Martin and I have been up to.