Lakes District

We had another long trip today from North Wales to the lakes district. The trip went quite quickly, and so we decided to detour into Blackpool, and to visit one of my dad’s (John) old homes. Blackpool was very interesting. After finding dad’s old house we drove down the promenade, and then headed for Levens Hall just south of Kendal.

The garden at Levens Hall was just as described in the Lonely Planet, “Like stepping into Alice in Wonderland”. The various hedges are cut into some quite amazing shapes. We spent a good amount of time wandering through the garden, enjoying the various sights.

From Levens Hall we travelled to Sizergh Castle, another large castle run by the National Trust. Approaching the castle we were confronted with a high, almost skyscraper, covered scaffolding. The castle was packed up for the wint… I mean summer. The castle was still open, just there was no view from the outside, other than that of the covers. The inside was interesting, and a talk on the roof restoration, the real reason for the covers, was also interesting.

Kendal was our next stop, a great little town with an equally great chocolate shop. We grabbed a quick cake and sandwich before walking around the town and then heading to Ambleside. After checking in, and carrying the bags up to the room, we decided to go for a walk. We had purchased a set of small walks around Ambleside, and the weather was looking ok. By the time we had chosen a walk there was a loud clap of thunder, and the skies opened up to… is it really summer? Fortunately within a few minutes the rain had passed and we headed off on the walk.

The walk went up past the Stock Ghyll waterfall, and then followed along some small lanes and public footpaths. We got a little lost at a few points, but in general it was a really good walk. We got a glimpse of a deer in the distance, and the waterfall was quite spectacular. At the end of the walk we were back in town, and grabbed a salad and some rolls from a shop before heading down to the lake for a quick picnic dinner.

(Andrew)