Our Lake District Mini Break :: Part One

Hello Lovelies,

back in January, as the calendar flipped over onto my "big birthday" year, I decided it would be nice to have a little holiday to celebrate.

I poured over images of the lake district and knew it would be just the ticket for a keen walker like me. I showed hubby a nice Bed and Breakfast which I found for the two of us. His reaction..."what about the boys?"

Oh, well...yes. Maybe I was being thoughtless to leave them out. It's nice to have special family times too.

So I changed tack, looked for something affordable for our family of five, and booked in at a Youth Hostel ...ha. I had never been to one before....so the idea of going in my 50th year made me chuckle.

As the time of our trip got closer I began to wonder if it was a good idea. People at work looked at me oddly when I said what I was doing as my birthday treat. But worse were the protestations of youngest ( who is 13 years old). They were relentless. I think you might call him spoilt. Totally my fault I know. 

On the morning we were due to leave I nearly changed my mind....it is a long way, it would cost a lot, the weather forecast was bad. Really I was giving in, I knew that.

I'm only sharing this so you know we are not the perfect family. My boys are normal kids, I'm an average parent. 

Happily Eldest was keen to go, and middle son was happy to go as well, how could I let them down?

So we set off a little later than originally planned. Youngest and I played word games on his tablet....

We went via Yorkshire, because I love the opportunity to say hello to the old places. Hello Harrogate, Hello Skipton, Hello lovely moorland and sheep :0)......

We stopped and I took a deep breath of the fresh moorland air. I began to relax

 By the time we arrived at Ambleside YHA the forecast rain was pouring down. We checked in and I was so happy our room had a lake view. Look at the lovely old bay window.......

and the view of the boats and the hills.........

We had a private 5 bedded room with it's own toilet and shower. There were two bunk beds, I think you can see the double bed with a single bed above in this photo. There was a normal bunk bed on the left.........

It was basic, but clean and you could not fault it's amazing waterfront position, looking out over lake Windermere.

By now it was early evening, so despite the rain, we set out on foot to explore the local area. How lovely the old rowing boats looked, lined up along the shore ...

And the western banks of the lake......

with Wray Castle just visible in the rain.........

We walked through parkland to the head of the lake and gazed at the water, disappearing into the mist.....

Don't you love exploring a strange place and finding things you never knew about. Here were were getting soaked looking at the remains of a Roman fort........

 

 It was so easy to see how it was laid out and the boys loved exploring......

 They were also fascinated by the hills in the clouds....and so was I........

Especially this towering wrinkled one, the same peak we could see from our room.

Ah, white walled houses and Herdwick sheep....so typically Lakeland. This made me smile.....

We walked through the pretty town of Ambleside and came across Bridge House. I have seen this cute and quirky building before, but had totally forgotten about it until we stumbled across it....

 Isn't it adorable.

 We decided to treat ourselves to an Italian meal. The weather did not seem to be improving and a cosy corner in a warm restaurant looked very tempting. Dodd's was lovely. Fresh pizzas and pasta, Washed down with Italian lager ( I'm afraid wine does not agree with me).
 Conscious it was still raining and still early when we came out of the restaurant we decided to visit Ambleside's excellent cinema.  The choice of film was not  my taste...but as the only female I decided it was easiest to go with the majority vote. Hubby and the boys enjoyed it.

It was 10 pm when we came out of the cinema and thankfully the rain had eased. We were all surprised to see little deer grazing happily near a busy road........

I think they maybe Muntjac.........

 Back near the lake the water was wonderfully and calm. I loved the streetlights reflected in the water......

This area of Ambleside is called Waterhead. There's a pier were the ferries stop and lots different boats for hire. It even  has a lovely promenade by the waters edge which gives it a seaside feel.......

It's gorgeous, and so close to the youth hostel which you can just see between the masts of the  sailing boats.........

When we finally settled down for the night I peeped out of the window, thinking to would be totally dark...but no....look at that beautiful light over what I now know is Todd Crag...........

 the time stamp on this image is 11.26pm

 It might have been a damp and rather expensive start to our short break, but I went to sleep feeling so glad we were here. And hoping for a dry day tomorrow :0)

I'll be back with part two soon.
Jacquie x