Lakes District

 Dear Gentle Readers

Today we drove the one and half hours to Keswick in The Lakes District, home of the Lake poets such as Wordsworth, Samuel Taylor Coleridge and Robert Southey. The latter is my late wife's great, great, great, great grandfather (not sure how many "greats" there are but you get the idea). He was Poet Laureate to King George III, the "mad" king and the one that lost the American colonies.

We got into Keswick fairly early and as our check in time at our hotel was 4pm, we decided to look around, but first coffee and cake at a local cafe. 

We then went to see this, Castlerigg Stone Circle, a stone circle dating back to 3000 B.C. It pre-dates Stonehenge, the Pyramids and even recorded history. No one knows what it was for, perhaps ceremonies, a calendar or some other pagan ritual.

Speaking of pagan rituals, this was in the centre of the ring, the grass had been killed off in a definite pattern and tributes such as flowers, rocks and small pine cones left on it. A witch's coven? Druids? Who knows? There were other areas that had been burnt by fire. Might have to do an Outlander and come up at night to observe what goes on.

This rectangular shape may have been added later and yes, it's function is also unknown. Any guesses?

The hills in the background are spectacular, rising to several thousand feet above the valley floor. Again, the camera cannot capture the beauty of the scene, you really have to be here.

Another view of the surrounding hills. There are hang gliders launching off these hills, several thousand feet in the air.

Leaving here we drove to The Mirehouse only to find it closed. It is involved with the Lake Poets somehow and the surrounding gardens were just breathtaking. Plus we saw the odd squirrel

Tomorrow it's off to Hill Top Farm, home of one Beatrix Potter. When I was here 18 years ago, it was closed when we visited. We have booked tickets for tomorrow so we are sure it is open.