August

It is getting towards the end of August and there’s a definite late summer feel in the air. Heather is colouring the fells a beautiful shade of purple and the berries on the rowan trees are now quite red. There is also the odd ripe blackberry along the lane although they are still very bitter. The other morning there was a very autumnal mist over the lake, almost a cloud inversion. Below is a photograph from the seat.

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At this time of year, all the plays at the Theatre by the Lake, Keswick are up and running – they are all excellent productions with a wide variety of plays from early Noel Coward to a modern play about King Arthur set in Cumbria.

Last week I had quite a surprise on my way to Workington! The area around Ullock is criss-crossed with the remains of old railway lines and in Ullock village there are several old embankments. I had noticed over the past few months work going on around one of these with trees being cleared and then some railway bogies had appeared. On Monday as I drove past there was a complete Pullman carriage on top of the embankment – amazing!

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I have had Clare and the family to stay for a couple of weeks which was lovely. I think I now need to put a section on the website of things to do with small children! Poppy, who is nearly three, had a wonderful time, she paddled in the lakes, went through the dog flaps by the stiles in Foulsyke Wood, walked up to the top of Latrigg but the highlight of her holiday was visiting Mr McGregor’s garden at Hilltop She didn’t see Peter Rabbit although she did find one of Jemima Puddleduck’s eggs!

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