March

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I took this photo by my gate one sunny day last week. Although there is snow on the higher fells the spring flowers are now getting into their stride. I also heard a curlew yesterday!

It was Words by the Water literary festival at Theatre by the Lake in Keswick last week. I go most years and am joined by my sister Margaret and friends. We had a super time and one of the highlights, we agreed, was James Rebanks talking about his book, The Shepherd’s Year, the paper back edition of which has just gone straight to the top of the best sellers’ list. (There is now a copy in each cottage)! At the end of his talk we were introduced to two of the amazing puppets which will feature in the theatre’s Spring production of the dramatization of his book.

As well as going to the festival we went to see Keith Richardson’s exhibition on the River Greta at Keswick Museum. The exhibition was flagged up last autumn but since the December floods the river has changed dramatically. This has all been carefully woven into the exhibition. It is a thoughtful and thought provoking exhibition, well worth a visit and the photographs by Val Corbett are stunning.

One of the knock on effects of being in Keswick for Words by the Water is that we spent rather a lot of time in cafes having coffee and cakes, Café West at the Museum wins on scones and Hope Café, as well as lovely food has a superb view from the veranda. Both are dog friendly.

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All the cake etc I ate last week made the ascent of Grasmoor today via Lad Howes somewhat of a challenge! It was a perfect day for walking, clear, warm and with little wind. The plan was to return via Whiteless Pike, but when we reached the criss crossing paths below Grasmoor we took a ‘while we are here’ decision to extend the walk to include Eel Crag and Wandope as well.

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On a more Cottage based note, I had my annual inspection last month: the inspector was very happy with what she saw and I have been awarded my Five star status with Gold Award for another year!

Below is a photo from the top of Grasmoor – if you click on the picture to enlarge it you can see Foulsyke!

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