The Yorkshire Dales and The Lake District 2015

Around Easter time this year Simon and I headed off to my mum’s cottage in between the Yorkshire Dales and the Lake District as we do every year. This wild and picturesque part of the UK always delights us. every time we go we are treated to wonderful walks, lambs and plenty of pints of beer and cider. (We've actually just come back from the cottage again as we fancied a mini trip, it looks so different in the Summer so worth a visit any time of year.)

I wrote quite a comprehensive guide last year that focussed on the more touristy “things you must do” with lots of the best attractions and walks so please read that post too. This year we had a slightly more relaxed go with the flow trip as we had both had a pretty crappy and tiring few weeks before we left. The focus this time was to relax and enjoy each other’s company. Here’s what we got up to…

When we arrived at the cottage at around four we decided to explore the fells behind the house, bear in mind these are totally barren and open with no paths or trails! Very brave I know. Needless to say we got lost in the wilds of the moors as it was getting dark. We thankfully found our way back by spotting one of our favourite local landmarks the Smardale Viaduct.

The next day we headed to Sizergh Castle, which isn’t technically a castle in the Medieval sense but still a nice place to visit for a quick walk around the grounds as the garden was lovely. 

As we were leaving I noticed that we we quite near the coast. Having never been to a beach in the North West of England we decided to go for a drive to take a look. One of the lovely volunteers at Sizergh Castle suggested that we also pay a visit to a Buddist Temple that was on the site of Conishead priory very near Morcombe Bay. After driving for about twenty minutes we suddenly came to the temple and priory through a clearing in the trees.

The Priory’s history is fascinating, it was founded in the 12th century. You really should have a read all about it here its got quite a story!

The next day we drove to Ambleside for one of the more strenuous walks the area has to offer. We climbed up past Stockghyll force ( the nordic word for waterfall) and began the rather difficult climb up Wansfell and then continued down through a lovely village called Troutbeck. We found the walk in this book in case you want to try it out too.  Here's Simon at the top of the Fell.

The next day we went on our annual walk from Keld to Muker. We always stop off at the pub for a half pint and the tea room for lunch and a cream tea (the best in the world I think!) and one of us usually buys a hand knitted jumper from the knitwear shop. I talk about this particular walk in more detail here if you'd like to read.

Oh Hello pixie cut, its taken me so long to get this post up my hair has totally grown out now. The photo below this one is of a selection on the un-dyed wool you can buy at Muker, I wish I could knit!

We spent the rest of the trip relaxing in the pub, eating at home and lamb spotting. Since these photos were taken we've been back to the cottage to have a long weekend up there with my family in July, it looked totally different in the Summer. You can take a look at my Instagram to see how much the landscape had changed.

I hope you enjoyed this post and make sure to visit The Yorkshire Dales and The Lake District if you can in the future!

Oh and one last photo, once we were back in the North East (where I grew up) and before we headed home to London we took a drive to Bamburgh. The prettiest beach in the Uk as far as I'm concerned!