Sunday 29 March

Today is Edith, my youngest grand-daughter’s 5^th birthday, I’m sure she will have a lovely day but it will be rather different. Everything has changed so in the last week and it takes time to come to terms with it all. It is very hard having to cancel people’s holidays but overall I am managing to transfer bookings to later in the year or even to next year. While I have been phoning or emailing guests several have asked that I keep my blog going.

I thought it would be nice to base it round my daily dog walks which are local and are places and paths that guests are familiar with. It has also helped in the last week that the weather has been so good!

The walk round Crummock shoreline is a familiar one and I expect many of you have sat on these logs beyond the kissing gate and looked across to the boathouse. There’s a little bit where the logs cross and gives you a nice back rest.

The logs themselves are getting quite old now but there are still some very lovely  gnarled patterns in them.

Last Wednesday was a beautiful, still and hazy day, perfect for taking classic early morning shots.

By Saturday, as I walked down to the lake by Lanthwaite Wood car park, some of the logs from the big log pile by the entrance had been used to effectively close the car park to vehicles.

I don’t always go to Crummock, I can go in the other direction towards Loweswater. The Loweswater pheasant is looking particularly good at the moment.

I went up the Mosser road on Friday and came across this surprise host of daffodils.

There is a lovely field of herdies along the Loweswater road and when I went out they were all tucked into the fence fast asleep, it would have made a beautiful picture except for the hedge between myself and the field, there was no way I could get a picture so I just had to satisfy myself with one on the way back when they were up and in the middle of the field.

I obviously can’t finish without a picture from Foulsyke: here is one of the daffodils by the seat.

Look after yourselves, I will try to do another post soon.

Joan

March 2020

The weather over the past month has been awful everywhere and although we have had our share of the stormy weather we have not suffered to the extent that other areas have or that we have in the past. There have been several trees and large branches down in the woods and the fields are incredibly muddy with all the rain, several have little lakes. The sheep are very sensible and keep huddled up close to the walls against the wind and rain. I’m sure many of you have seen the picture of three herdies on a roof top in Glanridding – only herdies could do that!

Several low level paths have been difficult to negotiate. I took Max for a walk along the far shore of Buttermere in a brief respite last week and we came across this obstacle.

There have been odd flurries of snow but it is lying mainly on the high fells although I did get caught in a brief but heavy snowfall in Whinlatter. There are however signs of spring, the daffodils are coming out and the birds are singing, it is lovely to hear them. There are several patches of frog spawn, usually in the most unlikely places like in large puddles along tracks and my hens have started laying again.

The snowdrops have now just about finished but I did work on trying to get some nice photos of them. I took this one lying down in Lorton churchyard.