On growing older - part 2

So in my last post I mentionned our lovely B&B and you got a glimpse of Boyfriend's full English, complete with birthday candle. Here are some more shots of our room:

While browsing the interwebs for a B&B I saw this room and was really taken with it, specially when I realised I had never actually slept in a four-poster bed. So there! Now I have! And let me tell you, it's just like sleeping in a normal bed. Well, maybe a little bit nicer...

We stayed in Windermere and although I realise now that it's one of the more touristy and less remote areas of the Lake District, you have to start somewhere! Next time we'll venture out further north into the more picturesque landscape. This time we stayed here, and it was very very nice.

I'm still not entirely sure how Flopsy came into our lives, but here he is in all his bunny glory!

Beatrix Potter "World", although sweet and everything, was a big disappointment for me. For some reason I had imagined a huge park with long walks and little animals hidden in the bushes. I think I may have just confused it with somewhere else. Although apparently you can visit Beatrix's house and that's supposed to be quite nice. I should have done my homework and researched the whole thing a bit more before we headed off! Anyway, it still made for a nice (15 minute) distraction. Specially the garden (which really is only the size of a garden).

As for the dioramas inside... most of them were nicely executed, some of them were slightly creepy... I'll let you decide!

The other thing I was looking forward to was having high tea at Beatrix Potter World, as they do a lot of advertising for it on the website and made it look pretty special. However, the cafe was a bit dark and miserable and not quite what I had in mind for my birthday tea, so we walked into town and found somewhere else. The thing about high tea (also a first for me!) is that there is absolutely no way you can eat it all and as someone who hates wasting food, that sort of kept me from enjoying it properly. Major existential problems, I know.

A friend of ours had recommended a walk around Tarn Hows, so we gave that a go despite the grey clouds and enjoyed it more than BP World. Just goes to show: I am a grown-up after all!!

Another place that didn't make us want to stay was the Drunken Duck. I may be getting this one confused with somewhere else too, but when I saw we were about to drive past and that it was lunchtime I suggested a stop as it sounded vaguely familiar and yummy. A glass of over-priced wine later, we left to look for somewhere a bit less fussy with more customer-friendly staff. The food which the other guests were eating looked nice but maybe not actually worth the amount they were being charged for it and although I like seriously good food (see our experience of the legendary PIG), I only like it when combined with a friendly atmosphere and a bit of fairy dust. To be fair though, the pub where we ended up, although cheap, was pretty rubbish!

So this was our first experience of the Lake District. Hopefully there will be more! And next time I will research every pub and restaurant very carefully before we leave home!

On growing older - part 1

Last month (err, actually 4 months ago as it's taken me that long to get this post posted), I greeted the big three O. That's right, bunnies. I'm now officially 30. Excuse me while I go and check my head for grey hairs. No but really, can you believe it? I thought it might be a good time to reflect on the good things about being old:

 

Throwing cosy parties in local pubs and getting the most unexpected and sweetest hand-made presents. Also looking around at 2AM while everyone is singing "Wild Rover" and feeling extremely content (not pictured).

Not being too old to visit The land of Beatrix Potter (that's getting its very own post though!), specially as it is the perfect excuse to whisk your Boyfriend off to the Lake District for a couple of days. It was his birthday too so we decided it would be nice to have a little break from work and from the valley and go somwhere we've always wanted to explore.

Being old enough to enjoy a beer outside in October without freezing my.... oh no wait, that's got nothing to do with age, and I DID get freezing cold, so we ended up going inside for some of these:

Another perk of being a real grown-up: enjoying a well-made cocktail.

And if it comes with delicious nachos, then so be it. Oh, and a bit of improvised song-writing on the side! I kind of discovered that I'm quite good at it too! Proof that it's never too late....

We went on some lovely walks and discovered a very interesting hunting technique used by these Goosanders. They form a circle, then they all dive under at once and come up again about a minute later in a completely different spot. Basically they herd the fish together and then eat them. I suspect.

Boyfriend had already opened his main present but I still wanted to get him something to open on the day so I ordered this set of fancy decanters. I wasn't too sure about them but they are actually beautiful and have been used many times already!

Basically, there was a lot of eating and walking, and eating and walking invovled.

I thought the birthday candle in the sausage was a nice touch, Boyfriend wasn't impressed. What do you think?

Next time: a few pics of the Beatrix Potter museum, some lovely countryside and a tour of our posh B&B!

A week in Wales (continued)

You didn't think it was ever coming, did you? Me neither. Here are the rest of my pics from our trip to Wales taken in september!! 

It's been quite a while so I may have forgotten the names of some places but I'll give it a go anyway. All you need to do is look at the pictures and then book your trip to Wales. 

 First off, Conwy castle (I think):

This, I'm 100 sure, is Penmon Point:



This is a pigeon house on the way to Penmon Point:

This is a pretty magical place called Fairy Glen:

This next one is easy because I took a picture of the sign: Pen Y Cil and the village of Aberdaron

Dream house:

Cutest (and possibly oldest) cafe in Wales:

This next one is also pretty easy: Snowden! Or rather, the never ending walk down from Snowden after catching the train up to the top. The colours were so beautiful!

And last but not least: the Ugly house. An incredibly pretty little house with an interesting story.

Not only does it serve the yummiest scones I've ever had (or maybe anything would have tasted yummy after than walk all the way to the bottom of Snowden), they also have beehives and the garden is full of bits of information about bees, as well as little houses made specially for them!

So there you have it. A quick summary of our visit to Wales! Finally!