and Boats and Buses and Taxis . . .
We arrived by train to the beautiful Lake District town of Windermere and took a taxi to our hotel near Bowness.
It was quaint, but I don't think I'd choose this one next time we go (positive thinking - the next time we go!).
This is part of the hotel. It was right on the lake. It was cold and rainy the day we arrived, and were concerned that it would be like that the whole time. We survived the rain by seeing a movie "The Boy in Striped Pyjamas" which was really good, by the way!
Thankfully Saturday turned out to be a beautiful day! We took a boat to the other side of the lake to check out the villages and sites of Beatrix Potter.
Hill Top is where Beatrix Potter lived and based many of her characters and stories. It is a stunning area. She purchased 4,000 acres in order to preserve the land from developers . . . and it worked. It now all belongs to the National Trust so will never be developed. All the homes and shops are so old - there is nothing new and modern here.
The front of her house.
The garden path. Many of these pictures can be found in the illustrations in her books.
From Hill Top, we decided to walk the 4 miles to the next village, Hawkshead. It was a long walk, but beautiful along the narrow road. The road is the only thing modern! These stone walls are everywhere, dividing the farms and roads
. . . and to think that they were all laid by hand.
Sheep were in great supply.
This area is also near where William Wordsworth lived and wrote most of his poetry and found his inspiration. This is the grammar school he attended.
Time to stop for hot chocolate and cake. Everything is just so cute, one can't help it!
On the boat heading back to Bowness.
This is in front of the World of Beatrix Potter Attraction, inspired and installed with Renee Zellweger from the "Miss Potter" movie. Highly recommend it if you haven't seen it yet.
We had a little lunch at this cute little cafe along a little side street. We asked the waiter if Val was his Aunty and he said, "No, she's my mum."
Goodbye Lake Windermere! Goodbye Bowness! Goodbye beautiful Lake District!
Goodbye United Kingdom!
A view of the island from 37,000 feet.
It was a fabulous vacation - on to Chicago's O'Hare airport, then home to see the kiddies!
They were over-the-top excited to see us when we got home Sunday night.
I've never seen Christian and Ashlyn so animated and talkative. We missed them and were so glad they all had such wonderful time with grandma and grandpa, and Dre and Adam!!
