Did not hear much activity down below at B&B so got up at 7.30am & helped myself to muesli. In the meantime hostess H heard me up & came down & sorted out juice, coffee & toast. So happy not to be faced with the decision that one has paid for the "Full English" breakfast & therefore must have it......despite the cost to one's hips....particularily after the culinary excesses of the last fortnight onboard! H's hubby T had gone off for a whisky tasting tour in Scotland.
I was out the door at 9am & on the way to Hilltop at Near Sawrey. Once again did not look far on the map, but did not get there till 11.00 as slow going - around 30-40 mph - although A roads, very narrow, winding & uphill/downdale. Went past Blawith where H's daughter has just bought an old church to restore, at present residing on the top floor of this house. She & her boyfriend make a living selling merchandise at festivals, for example, this weekend coming she is at the Green Man Festival in Wales, featuring none other than Van Morrison. H was a bit peeved that her daughter had failed to mention this as she is a huge fan (like me) being of a similar vintage! Anyway the drive was beautiful, lots of photo opportunities, but nowhere to stop. It really is the most picuresque country I have seen....well, that I can think of at the moment. I would love to do a walking tour here but cannot see this happening...
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| Dove Cottage Grassmere, home of Wordsworth |
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| Lake District Cumbria |
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| Hill Top, home of Beatrice Potter, Near Sawrey, Cumbria |
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| View from Hill Top of Near Sawrey village |
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| The former White Ox Inn High Heskett, birthplace of my GG Grandfather |
Hill Top was the house & farm that Beatrice Potter bought when she made some money from her books. She loved the Lakes District & bought up several farms over time & donated & left the lot to the National Trust & this was the foundation for the Lakes National Park, as she did not want the area spoiled by unsympathetic development & it seems to have worked. The house is a typical low ceilinged cottage, but what makes it special is the features & bits & bobs of furniture which are recognisible from her book illustrations. Funnily enough there was a bus load of Japanese tourists there, who would have thought that Peter Rabbit would mean anything to them.
I then headed off to High Heskett on the ancestry trail again, via the A692 which went way up & over the hills, some quite high passes, country different as bare with the dry stone walls visible instead of covered with lichens, ferns etc & dense foliage, but absolutely majestic.
Short distance on the M6 & off again to arrive at High Heskett, site of the former white Ox Inn, birthplace & home of a GG Grandfather before he went to Australia in 18050's. It is now a private house & no answer when I knocked on the door. However I asked a lady across the .road if they were away & she said the previous owners now lived in the bungalow next door & had passed the house & farmover to their son. I knocked at the door of the bungalow & explained myself to the lady of the house. I was invited in, offered cup of tea & we had a nice long chat, they had owned the house & farm since 1960's, dairy cows, & the son dabbled in horse breeding for eventing. The hubby Arthur complained that Govt environmental policy on manure handling (big investment required) made it almost impossible to continue & soon all the milk would be coming from France. She had had people knocking on the door before about the White Ox Inn, but could not remember had any details, some from Canada, which makes sense as some Pearsons went there. Anyway I left a copy of the portrait of Mary Jane Pearson done by Sam Bough in the 1840's ?. She knew of Sam Bough & said he was wellknown in the Carlisle area & she thought the original would be worth a fair bit.........but I have no idea where it is.
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| Black door is the B&B of Hat & Tom, Grange-over-sands |
Back home to Grange-over-sands, exhausted, leftover green chicken curry for tea & large wine. Chatted to hostess H for a bit & then retired.
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