Sheep & rain - the Lake District

Top of the hiking trail above Grasmere

My parents and sister came to visit at the beginning of May. They had never been to the UK before, so we tried to make the most of their short six day trip by squeezing in a trip up to the Lake District. Full disclaimer - I had really wanted to make my way up there anyway so may have used their visit as an excuse to get my act together! :)

Getting up to the Lake District was not as horrible as I had been expecting... I booked our train tickets a few months in advance so I managed to get a quite reasonable rate for first class (ballin'! shotcallin'!) on Virgin Trains from Euston to Oxenholme, which is on the outskirts of the Lake District. We rented a car in Oxenholme, stopping first in Windermere, and then heading up to Grasmere to stay at Moss Grove Organic, an amazing B&B right in the heart of Grasmere (note: I think everything is 'right in the heart of Grasmere' as it is positively tiny! but super cute!)

I'm not sure if I just missed the boat on things to do in Windermere, but I wasn't overly impressed by the town. It seems very touristy and other than boat rides on the lake we didn't find too much to do while we were there for a few hours. We grabbed a quick bite to eat and then hit the road for Grasmere.

I should note driving on the "wrong" side of the road on tiny, twisty country roads with my very vocal family was NOT the highlight of the trip, but we survived so I guess there's that ;)

We rented 3 rooms at Moss Grove - all of them were spacious & comfortable. My only complaint had to do with the not-so comfy mattress but I suppose I can sacrifice a bit of comfort for the environment! The materials used to restore the B&B and all of the products they use are organic and / or environmentally conscious which I thought was a really nice touch. The fresh, homemade breakfast that we woke up to each morning was also AMAZING. I cannot even begin to describe the owner's homemade pastries - so delicious... and fresh bacon and sausages and OLIVES. Anyone who put olives in the breakfast buffet is a winner in my book.

a lake in the Lake District! fancy that!

We managed to sneak in one hike Saturday morning before the rain really picked up. Grasmere village is at the north end of Grasmere (the lake), so you can loop around the lake on one trail or fork off and head up into the hills. I have no idea what the trail we ended up on was called but they're all out in the open - no trees in the Lake District! - so it's impossible to get lost. We just kept heading up until we reached the top of the main hill overlooking Grasmere. It was a fantastic view - but as soon as we got to the top we saw the wall of rain moving quickly towards us. We didn't stick around for too long and headed back down to the village.

We had a classic pub dinner at Tweedies Bar one night, ate at the Jumble Room for lunch on Saturday after our hike, and had another delicious dinner at a restaurant whose name I can't remember! It was literally right across the street from the Moss Grove and I wish I remembered the name as it was so so good!

Winding stone walls meander across the hills

Unfortunately we had absolutely miserable weather the remainder of the weekend, but the hotel had a cozy great room with board games and we coped pretty well by breaking up our naptimes with meals :D

We checked out Sunday after breakfast and made the drive across to Newcastle. One of my grandmothers was originally from Newcastle so we did a quick little visit to the family home and then let my parents experience a true Sunday roast at a local pub.

We dropped off the rental car at the airport in Newcastle and caught a quick flight back to London. Door to door though I think the super fast Virgin train from Oxenholme is quicker than flying.

So finally we've managed to check a few more places off the list around the UK! Pat's mom also came to visit in May so he took her down to Cornwall in SW England, and we also did a little day trip to Bath in June. Wales, Scotland and the Cotswolds are still on my list for the UK! I'm sure we can cross all those off in a few days?! ;)

I'm currently finishing up a work placement in Brussels, then we are off to Montenegro and Croatia for a nice little vacay with some friends. CAN'T WAIT.