Near Sawrey

Monday, April 30, 2007









Again the sun has been shining all day and a stiff breeze has been blowing,I have never been diagnosed as a hay fever sufferer but today you could see the pollen of the trees settling on car bonnets and windscreens and I have sneezed all day.









We went a walk through the bluebell woods before tea, they are very early and in fact are past their best. The pollens in the woods did not affect me and I was sneeze free all the way round. I forgot to mention last night we heard our first cuckoo of the season.

Sunday, April 29, 2007

Another sunny Sawrey day with plenty of Miss Potter hunters in the village.
Denis has changed all the hanging baskets on the front of Buckle Yeat, the tulips have been replaced by pansies.

We had a visit today from Lynne and Andrew from Trawden, they are couple who made the Mr McGregor who we sit on the bench to raise money for the playground, he is doing very well and averaging over £10 a day in his plant pot, Denis spied somebody put some money in the watering can by his side and thought he would check and see if other people had done the same, lo and behold there was over a £5 in the watering can.

Lynne and Andrew brought Helen a really nice gift, a hand made needle case that Lynne had made herself.

There was a christening in Far Sawrey this afternoon, Ricky and Amanda had their son christened in St Peters and then they all ended up at the Tower Bank Arms.

Denis gave Phillip (formerly of Tower Bank) a ring to see how he was, he is out of hospital and hopefully on the mend, all the best Phil get well soon.






After work we headed up to Moss Eccles for a walk, Matthew came with us as the picture proves.

Saturday, April 28, 2007

The tea rooms were open again this morning, it was a nice sunny day so most people sat outdoors, that seems to be the trend these days.

We had one room free due to the cancellation but late in the afternoon we had phone call from a couple in the area who wanted to stay.





These a are a couple of shots taken by Matthew in Hawkshead church yard, he sometimes sits in there to have his lunch.



This is a shot of the start of a run taking place today in Hawkshead it is part of a series of events organised by www.lakelandtrails.org The village was very busy with all sorts of events taking place.

Friday, April 27, 2007

Another sunny day and we should have had full house but unfortunately a couple have had to cancel a 5 day break due to illness, these things happen, we should let some of the days.
Sawrey House seems to have new occupants but as yet we have not met them.

A great story in the Westmorland Gazette this morning about a firm that wants to start flying people into the lakes on Seaplanes and landing on Windermere, I do not see it happening but as I say a great story for the gazette.

Wednesday, April 25, 2007

It's great to have a return to the dry days we've been getting used to in recent weeks, Monday was awful! The couple of picures posted today were not taken by me but were 'borrowed' from Waymarking.com I have recently discovered that our Jemima weathervane has been waymarked as has the slate slab over Wilfin Beck. Waymarking is a way of categorising locations around the world and uses GPS technology to give accurate coordinates.


The weathervane is in the Unique Weathervanes category.


The bridge is in the Stone Bridges category and apparently William Wordsworth describes his meeting with a returning soldier at this bridge, in his poem, The Prelude Book IV which I am obviously very familiar with!

Sunday, April 22, 2007







The rain has arrived, after weeks of dry weather it is pouring down this morning,I just hope it knows when to stop.
There will not be any good photo opportunity's today so these are a couple from yesterday.
We had an early breakfast this morning, a guy doing a motorbike endurance event at Graythwaite, he asked for breakfast at 8am so I was at work by 7.30 and he was sat waiting,I fed him and he was off before 8.

I have not seen Gary for an update on the stricken lambs of yesterday.

Saturday, April 21, 2007

The start of the day was grey but later on the sun did shine.
We never opened the tea room today, Helen caught up with some work at home and I spent the day in the garden at home, by the way I was weeding not just sitting.







This evening we set off for a walk with Helen's mum when we got just over the hill towards the church we spotted a new born lamb that was struggling in the field, with no sign of Gary I decided to go back and tell him.

It turned out a bit further on another sheep was struggling to deliver a lamb and some visitors were stood watching so Helen told them to keep a look out for Gary when he came to sort out the weak lamb, I should find out tomorrow what happened.
While round at the farm I took the opportunity to take these shots of Hill Top from a different angle.

Thursday, April 19, 2007

Hair cuts for both me and Helen today so off to Kendal, we also need a new deep freeze for Buckle Yeat so I sourced one on the Internet and ordered it online from Comet, I turned up with my debit card and the freezer was waiting and a couple of lads lifted it int the car, I was only in the shop 5 minutes, my kind of shopping.
We got back and removed the faulty freezer and lifted the new one into place, job sorted.
Matthew has gone to the gym and when he gets back we all plan to treat ourselves later and go out to the Tower for a meal.

Wednesday, April 18, 2007

A rare day at Buckle Yeat, nobody checked out, another dry day although a bit cooler.
Denis rang Dorothy this morning to see how Phillip was, he is still in hospital and we all send him our best wishes and say get well soon.

I spoke to one of the New Year gang on the phone tonight, Pete & Lynn, they are both well.

We had some people in for teas who were a bit confused with the whole Miss Potter house thing, they were under the impression that Hill Top was a random property that looked like the kind of house that Beatrix Potter might of lived in so they made a movie about it!! Big fans obviously.





Tuesday, April 17, 2007








Another bright start but it went really cold late morning and we had to open the tea rooms as opposed to tea garden, although there's nowt as queer as folk, people were coming in the front door asking if they could sit outside and at the same time people were coming down into the tea garden and asking if they could sit inside.

We had a serious sounding phone call for Derek and Vicky this morning, we did not have Derek's mobile number so we rang a couple of customers who we know are on Derek's text list,it was good to speak to both Janet and Carole in different parts of the south of England and between them we managed to ring Derek, however unbelievable to those who know him Derek did not check his messages all day.When they came in at the end of the day we passed the message on and thankfully the news was not as bad as we feared.

The ambulance that went through yesterday at a pace was headed to ferry hill to pick up the pieces of a cyclist going a bit to fast down to the ferry.

Moss Eccles for a walk this evening, we never saw a soul.

Monday, April 16, 2007

Problems today with the internet connection at Buckle Yeat, thankfully we still have the lap top at home so can keep up to date with emails etc.








A room free tonight and no callers, we are full tomorrow.
We took a walk tonight down the dub and then we cut up into Castle Wood and took a slightly different route, we spotted a deer in the distance, the bluebells are just beginning to show through which is very early

Sunday, April 15, 2007

Re the rapping squirrel MC Nuts who is making the news, today in the Sunday Telegraph is a Beatrix Potter rap from Peter Rappitt, it goes a bit like this, " Get your hands of my lettuce, you furry little begger Or da bros gonna get you - signed Mista McGregor."







It was a lot quieter in the village today after the Easter rush, it was like a sunny summers day these pictures are taken in the back of Buckle Yeat.

We finished teas early due to lack of interest and it was a change from the mayhem of the last couple of weeks, we called in at the TBA with the excuse I owed Anthony some money for a 5 litre container of floor polish he had ordered for us, we had a beer of course, just to sociable.

Saturday, April 14, 2007

Oh dear, a bit of crazy parking resulted in someone (I think we know who) leaving this notice under the windscreen wiper. the ladies responsible were not fazed one bit, they returned to the car and read the notice, left it there and then went up to Hill Top for an hour. We have edited the notice for public consumption.





The gold car in the centre is the offending vehicle.






We had a walk up Coopers lane tonight and then cut across the fields as there was no stock to disturb, this is a shot of the village from a different aspect

It must be the start of the season because Derek and Vicky arrived this morning for their first visit of the year.

Friday, April 13, 2007









It has been like a summers day today with wall to wall sunshine, no teas today as Hill Top is closed, however there has been a steady stream of Potter hunters, they all are very upset when they find it is closed.

Catherine aka Miss Potter led a Beatrix inspired walk this morning, some guests managed to take part but others were disappointed as there was a limit on numbers.

Matthew is away at Sarah's this weekend but will have to be back for work first thing in the morning.

We took delivery of a liquid polish today, Anthony from the TBA ordered it for us, he uses it on the flag floor at the pub, so we have used it on the flag floors in Buckle Yeat and on our slate floor at home, it is great stuff and leaves the floor with a lovely shine.

We had a quick stroll up to the tarns before tea.

Wednesday, April 11, 2007

After we finished teas we headed down to the fish farm to pick up some potted shrimps for Helen's tea, me and Matthew were on Cumberland sausage.
Hill Top had closed for visitors to the house just after 2-30pm another record I am sure.
Last night we had a phone call from Dorothy, it was her birthday yesterday, with some news about Phillip, he has had an operation and will need more treatment on his knee.
Get well soon Phillip.







All the news today is the new video which I think has been commissioned by Cumbria Tourism, MC Nuts, I think it is brilliant, just click on the button below.


Tuesday, April 10, 2007

Another busy busy village, Hill Top sold out of tickets by about 2-45pm.
Mr McGregor sat out out on the bench broke all records with his contributions.
The Mountain Rescue teams went hurtling through the village last night and up on to Claife Heights,I have not heard what was wrong yet but it will be on the rescue web site in time.

Hill Top has closed as I write this but the amount of traffic heading to ferry is crazy, there must be a queue because they only have time to get to the ferry and then they are coming back.
We just have the one room checking in today and they should be here soon then home for tea.

A question I was asked this afternoon "Why is Hill Top called The House of Miss Potter wasn't she married?" Good point!

Sunday, April 08, 2007








Just one room checked out this morning and the incoming guests were Pam and Bernard who were regulars at the TBA but have also stayed with us on many occasions, it's Bernards birthday tomorrow and they have family arriving to help him celebrate, the thing is he is unaware and I am sure it will be surprise.

My God daughter Ellie rang this afternoon to thank us for sending a card and some cash to buy herself an Easter egg, her dad Andrew came on the phone and we were sad to hear Phillip (formerly of TBA) was in Barrow in Furness hospital with an infection in his knee, we wish him a speedy recovery