England Trip: The Lake District

Near Hill Top Farm, Beatrix Potter's farm

The next two days of our trip were spent in the Lake District. J and I often joked that everywhere we looked was picturesque and beautiful. J even went for a walk outside our cottage one morning, and saw a rainbow behind a field of sheep. He felt like he was in a painting by Constable.

On Tuesday we went to the Beatrix Potter farm. Before we could go into the house with our timed tickets, we decided to hike to Moss Eccles Tarn, a little lake that Beatrix Potter bought. She liked to go to this lake in the evening with her husband, William Heelis.

View on the hike to the tarn

 Outside Beatrix Potter's farm house, Hill Top Farm. We couldn't take pictures inside, but we did purchase a copy of Potter's book The Tale of Samuel Whiskers in the gift shop. Several illustrations in this book (like THIS ONE) were actual depictions of the inside of this house, including some of the furniture.

Afterward we drove to Dove Cottage, where William Wordsworth used to live. Wordsworth lived about 100 years before Beatrix Potter, so the furnishings and setting seemed rather sparse by comparison. (Once again, pictures were not allowed inside the house.) We received a formal tour through Dove Cottage, and then were let out into the garden.

My sister E took a book with her everywhere for the first few days. This photo captures the contrast of her reaction to Wordsworth's garden with Sam's reaction.

The final place that we visited was Castlerigg Stone Circle. I was excited to go here, since this stone circle dates from the Neolithic period (about the same time as Stonehenge). Since I knew that I wouldn't be able to see Stonehenge on our trip, I felt like this was a very good substitute. The stones are much smaller than Stonehenge (and not trilithons in a post-and-lintel formation), but you do get to walk right up to the stones and touch them. And the scenery was really beautiful (more beautiful than around Stonehenge, so I'm told).

Sam liked playing tag and hide-and-seek in the big field