Sunny again this morning but right on cue the rain arrived just after lunch.
It was Cartmel races today and we had a group who planned to spend the day there.
We have a few guests in at the moment who are blog readers and have booked because they have read the blog, this is good but it means if we are getting business from I really have to keep blogging.









Derek and Vicky left yesterday and some other guests had noticed a remarkable likeness between Derek and Sven Goran Erickson the former England manager, I have to say I have commented on this before to Derek and have pointed out the you never see the both of them in the same room together, Vicky told me he has also been likened to Wilfred Hyde White, so she is settling for Sven.

The rain eased and we managed a walk down to the fish farm and back.

Miss Potter mania in Near Sawrey today, lines of stationary traffic through the village as the ferry unloads and the cars attempt to drive on to Hawkshead, those wishing to visit the house wait in line but then those who want to go straight through the village have to take a chance and drive on the wrong side of the road, we did see the police arrive at one point but we are not sure if it was a chance visit or someone had rang them. It is ironic that 20 years ago when we had plans submitted to renovate Buckle Yeat one of the objections was the amount of traffic we would attract to the village!!









Up to Moss Eccles before tea, we took longer than planned because we got talking to Parky who was cutting the grass at the Tarn Hill playground. He was telling us that he was there with his family a couple of weeks ago having a picnic and saw about 40 families come and go without donating any money to the upkeep. I think a new money box and sign is needed.

We then had a chat to Gary on his way to pick up a dead sheep then we met his daughter Amy and had a quick chat with her.

Bank Holiday Monday and although it has been cool and breezy it has stayed dry, well just as I am writing this we are having a rain shower but there is plenty of blue sky about.
That's the last Bank Holiday until August but with the Miss Potter factor I don't think the village is going to quieten down much.
Hill Top has been busy as usual and yet again they sold out mid afternoon.

It is Cartmel races today and we are waiting some regulars who will setting off after the last race and should be here about 6pm.

Lorna rang again this morning and it is wet again in the south, hosepipe ban soon then.

The blog topped the 30000 mark over the weekend and is averaging about 60/70 hits a day, last year it was 20/30 hits a day.

A dry but cool day, the May Fayre celebrations seemed to be lucky with the weather, we were supposed to have torrential rain and high winds today, what do these forecasters know.
Hill Top was very busy and sold out of tickets at about 3:15pm we then went quiet and finished early.

We went a quick walk before tea down to Esthwaite Water and the wind was bitter, you can tell it's a Bank Holiday by the number of children down at the Estwaite farm holiday flats, it is a brilliant location for families with so much outside space for the kids.

Lorna rang Helen tonight, she and her husband Tony are coming up to Sawrey next week, they are staying with us for 3 nights then staying with our neighbour Elizabeth.







I missed the procession going by but luckily Denis was out with his camera and took these pictures just before they set off.

We have just recieved the following e-mail and could not resist sharing it


Dear Robert and Helen,

We are home in London at last, pausing for a night in Kilburn, Yorkshire, to see "the Mouseman" and his wares.
We have had a wonderfully relaxing holiday in "the Lakes", due in no small measure to your superb hospitality and facilities! Whilst everyone identifies your fabulous breakfasts and there is no doubt about that, we would like to thank you both (and Mum and Dad) for your thoughtful and caring approach, at all times, to us and the other guests.....customer service (as they say) at its best! You have a unique business and we loved both the exceptional bathroom facility and the exceptional lounge with it's luxurious furniture and log fire. All in all it has been a very special holiday.

Given a fair wind, we shall be back!

Thank you again and have a good summer.

John and rosemary

What a nice message.

We closed the tea rooms this afternoon at about 2:30pm because Gillian and some of the ladies in the village were serving teas at High Greengate to raise money for the Braithwaite Hall.

Lots of people in the village this morning, a coach load of Japanese tourist taking pictures of Mr McGregor, they never seem to put any money in his plant pot, I don't think they are mean I just don't think they get the idea of donations, it's a bit lost in translation I suppose.

Tomorrow Sunday 27th is the annual May Fayre organised by the Sawrey, Cunsey, Graythwaite Festivities Committee. the procession leaves market Street in Near Sawrey at 2pm before making it's way to the Braithwaite Hall in Far Sawrey where a display of maypole dancing will take place,also various stalls and games are planned, let's hope the weather is good.

A sunny day with a cool breeze, two rooms checked out this morning and the two to come back in are a family that always stay on this Bank holiday, they will be here around 10pm.

Denis and I went to a funeral at St Michaels in Hawkshead this morning, Nat who sadly passed away last week. He used to live in the North East and had connections with Durham so when Matthew was at university up there he was always asking if he could take him anything up, he was a real genuine nice guy.

Matthew got home from work just as we were setting off on a walk so he came with us, we went down the dub lane and then through the woods





Wilfin beck.

Due to events beyond my control I never made my debut on county wide radio, yes Liverpool lost. Although strictly speaking it would have not been my debut as I once rang in and answered correctly a question on air and won a Post Man Pat video, Matthew would have been about 4 years old.


The back gate at Buckle Yeat taken by Helen this morning.




A couple of shots taken from off the ferry.
We have been into Kendal and negotiated the traffic chaos that is Kendal at the moment.
We seem to have sorted out the internet problems of late, I spent nearly an hour this morning hanging on the end of the telephone line and when I got an answer it was sorted in 5 minutes.

We have been having problems for a couple of days with our internet provider, still not sorted but a least I have managed to connect, still having email problems so apologies to the Purley Plonkers aka Mark & Carole and also to Bradda the biggest Wolves fan I know, to be honest he is the only Wolves fan I know, any way they have sent e-mails wishing Liverpool the best of luck in the big match tonight, thanks for your support, come on you reds!!!

The power of the Buckle-Yeat blog, this morning BBC Radio Cumbria rang and asked if they could give me a call on air in the morning if Liverpool win, I asked where they got my name from and they told me it was the blog site, amazing! So if all goes to plan I will be speaking to the nation in the morning, well Cumbria at least.






These are a couple of Buckle Yeat blooms.

This is Miho a Japanese girl who left today, she mentioned yesterday to Derek and Vicky that it was her birthday and so this morning they had a birthday card for her.
She was a bit overcome with the kindness and shed a tear or two, she is in the UK for 2 years and I guess she will be missing her family. When she left she left a small gift which is the usual thing for Japanese people to do.




The Buckle Yeat garden is looking good.





Matthew has gone off to Sarah's today and tomorrow he heads off to Warwick for a meeting with his new employers to sort out roles and locations.

It has been a great day with lots of sunshine and we had a good walk through Castle Wood tonight before tea.

It has been a fantastic day which has got warmer as the day progressed.
This morning there was a marathon taking place around Windermere and the road was closed at Brathay for a couple of hours, it made it a quiet start in the village but it soon livened up.

Matthew was off today and he kept an eye on the footie and saw that Morecambe won in the conference play off final, this means they are now in the football league for the first time in their history, well done the shrimps.








It was should a great evening we decided to have a walk before our tea and so we headed up to Moss Eccles.



This is from above the village looking down onto Esthwaite Water, we took all these pictures tonight around about 8pm.

What started out as a wet and wild morning developed into a good sunny afternoon and early evening.
It was a busy breakfast, we had Derek and Vicky here early for their 2nd visit of the year and then at coffee time lots of Potter hunters who had missed the last 2 days because Hill Top was closed, then the sun came out and the customers disappeared, well not all of them but it did go a bit quieter, I guess the cup final had a bit to do with it.
As a Liverpool fan a good result would have been both teams losing but that was never going to happen.


Clouds gathering this morning.

Wet, wild and windy overnight and it was pouring down at breakfast time. I had planned to put some plants in at home but that was looking like a lost cause, however lo and behold it stopped raining and the sun came out.

So as planned but a bit later than I hoped I managed to get home and spend a couple of hours sorting out the garden.

Helen was busy all day at Buckle Yeat catching up on the jobs that get left when we are busy with teas, when I got back up she was still busy so at I decided to give the lawnmower a bit of a run around, considering the morning weather it was bonus to get it done.

Denis and Margaret had a run out and called in to see Philip and Dorothy (formerly TBA}
who are living in Kirkby in Furness, Phil is still struggling with an infection in his leg.

The rain returned and prevented a walk and we are just waiting for the final guests to arrive.

After breakfast and when everything was sorted at Buckle Yeat, we set off to Ulverston. It was Dad's Birthday today, 80 years young. Happy Birthday!
We called in with some cards and presents and then off to Barrow where it was really damp and foggy. Further east in the county it was apparently quite sunny.


When we got back, Margaret had set Mr McGregor up at the computer and succeeded in giving me a bit of a shock.



The afore mentioned fridge magnets arrived and we have already had orders via email. "This time next year we'll be millionaires!!"

It has been a wet day and so consequently Hill Top closed early having sold out of tickets by about 3.30pm. They cut the number allowed in during wet days, I bet the National Trust accountants must pray for dry weather.

I forgot to mention yesterday Aled Jones the former boy soprano and presenter of Songs Of Praise was in the village in the morning, I'm not sure what he was doing but it will no doubt become apparent.

Today in the post we received a sample of a new product about to hit shelves, a Buckle Yeat fridge magnet, we have sanctioned production and they should be here tomorrow, at £1.99 they are a gift.





Still raining so the walk is off and I will have to use Matthew and Sarah's shots from the other day.

Despite a bad forecast the weather has been sunny and warm with just the one shower late in the afternoon and that was very local as it did not rain in Hawkshead.

We had a couple of blog readers turn up from Canada today, they are without a car and luckily the place they stayed in last night they met a couple from the same area of Canada and in fact although they did not know each other they did have mutual friends, small world!! Anyway they got a lift over this morning.

The postman brought a card from the sorting office this morning to tell me there was a letter with not enough postage on waiting at the sorting office, it was 70p short on the postage and to retrieve it I had to either drive to Windermere and pay £1.70, the extra £1 was a handling charge, or put £1.70 worth of stamps on the card, post the card and the postman will bring the letter tomorrow. Is it me or would it have been easier and cheaper if the postman brought the card and asked for the missing 70p. I would not be surprised if the said letter turns out to be junk mail.

We had a good walk through the woods after we finished tonight.

After a wet night it has been a nice sunny day.
We had a good night in the Tower Bank Arms last night, when we went in it was busy with some of the lads who had been at the hound trails and then after a we had eaten a delicious meal John and Margaret (new year gang) joined us for a chat and a glass of wine.

These first two pictures are a couple of shots that Matthew and Sarah took on their walk yesterday.









Flag Iris on the shores of Esthwaite Water.Helen took these shots as we took a walk down to the lake.

A sunny start to the day and quite warm so we opened the garden for teas after breakfast and had a steady stream of customers.


Don,t ask why but a gentleman turned up in the village with a large rabbit and sat it next to Mr McGregor and started taking pictures, quite a crowd gathered.






Matthew and Sarah took my camera for a walk down to Rawlinson Nab on Windermere and they took these pictures, amongst one or two more.

There has been another Hound Trail meeting in the village this afternoon and they had better weather than last Thursday although there was a couple of heavy showers.

John and Margaret two of the new year gang are here for a couple of days, they have been staying with their daughter who has just had a baby boy.

The village went very quiet around 3pm so we got finished a bit earlier than usual.

We are off out later with Matthew and Sarah to the Tower Bank Arms for a beer and meal.

Lots of pictures tonight so I will have to use two different posts.


One of a man fishing at Moss Eccles, this is one for MC.







The Hong Kong film crew did not turn up this morning, just as well we would have been to busy to deal with them, a bit rude though making an appointment and not turning up.
I got a good one on Denis this afternoon, he put a tray of courgettes and cucumber plants out for sale at 50p each, a guy bought 4 courgette plants from me when Denis was elsewhere, I told Denis that the gentleman wanted 4 cucumbers, he was mortified to think I had given him the wrong plants, we had to stop joking and come clean when he was about to chase the guy on to the car park.

The clematis which is taking over in the yew tree at Buckle Yeat




Lambs as promised to a lady who rang from America whilst we were out walking tonight.




Esthwaite Water from up the tops.

The large party checked out this morning and were very pleased with few days stay in Buckle Yeat they all said how much they had enjoyed themselves. They left me a picture quiz which will come in handy for the New Year gang.

We have a full house again for the next couple of days with a mixture of regulars and new faces.
Just the one couple left to arrive and they are going to be here before 9pm.

I seem to have spent most of the day on the phone to the Internet service provider, the firm we use is being swallowed up by a big firm and so we have to change all the settings and it is a bit of a nightmare.
It has been dry all day but as I write this at 5pm the rain is just starting to fall, hopefully it will only be a shower

A blustery cool sort of a morning, we have a party of 12 in Buckle Yeat for a few days, they are all retired and from around the Morpeth area of Northumberland,they are a good bunch and it is their first time staying with us. The plan is now they disperse and pass on the word about Buckle Yeat and return with other members of their families, well that's the master plan.

We had a drive to Morecambe this afternoon for some bedding plants, Tommy on Morecambe market is the man, a real character. Denis & Margaret went on Tuesday but could only get so many in the car.
We never saw any rain until we got back to Graythwaite and we then ran into a proper downpour.

There has been a Hound Trail meeting on Post Office meadow tonight, it did not look a big turnout, due to the weather I,m sure, there is another meeting on Sunday afternoon and lets hope they get a better day but it does not look to good going by the forecast.





These are a couple of early morning shots of the clematis at Buckle Yeat (not this morning)

It has been a decent day on the weather front with the promised rain not arriving till late on.
The village has been busy with lots of visitors to Hill Top.
The Miss Potter film is now out on DVD and will be released in Japan at the end of October. We have had a number of emails from Japan in the last few days.











Me Helen and Matthew went for a walk after tea, just as the rain started, Moss Eccles is still a stunning sight even on a dreary damp evening.

A wet and wild morning was followed by a pleasant afternoon and evening, we have a party of 6 and a party of 4 in tonight, the 4 are Australians and have just rang from Ambleside for directions to Sawrey.

Helen has just gone to give our neighbours daughter Heather a lift to the ferry, her dad Willie has recently had a hip replacement so is unable to drive.
With a bit of luck we should get a walk later on, it is too nice to be indoors.

The village was a bit sedate again today after the manic few weeks we have had, although there did seem plenty of cars trying to park next door.

This afternoon we had a visit from a couple of regulars who only live in Burnley, Keith has had a hip replacement and is just getting fit again, so they were having a run out and called for tea and to book a few nights in August, I always have to put up with some cheek from Keith about football but as they say if you can't take it don't give it.

The queue at Hill Top ticket office this morning were massive and we thought we would be run off our feet when we opened the tea rooms, however it was just a steady day,I think Hill Top was busy with people who had missed getting in yesterday and were on their way home this morning and took the chance to visit the house and then head home, this afternoon was as quiet as it has been since we opened at the start of the season.

We finished early and this evening I watched the football, Morecambe against York in the play off semi-final, Morecambe won and will now play in the final at the new Wembley for the honour to join the Football League for the first time in their history.

Weather wise we have had all sorts today, sun, rain and wind. More rain is due overnight.

Another bank holiday, a full house as usual but the village did not seem as busy as the last few weeks, it does sometimes happen that Saturday is quiet and then it goes crazy mid-week.

The weather was a bit dull and cool this morning but it eventually brighten up in the afternoon.

Norman who had the accident the other day has been rushed back into hospital, we all wish him a speedy recovery.

Alan my brother is up for a couple of nights so we are out at the Tower Bank later for a drink.

A busy morning with a lot of departures and we had a visit from a group of people from Hong Kong, they are making a program about Sawrey and Beatrix Potter, they want to film outside and inside at Buckle Yeat and will return next Saturday with a film crew, action!




We had a walk through the bluebell woods tonight,Is it my eyes or is that a crocodile in the grass!





The weather has been stunning again although rain is due by Monday, I took the chance to get all the grass cut at Buckle Yeat, Denis and Margaret's and at home.

Off to Kendal and into traffic chaos, they are digging up the roads again in the "Auld Grey Town".
It has been another July sort of day on the weather front, amazing it is still only early May.
We did not linger, shopping is not my favourite pastime especially when the sun is shining, when we got back we sat out and had our tea and then had walk up to Buckle Yeat and just timed it right to see the last guests in.





Two pictures of Moss Eccles taken on our walk last night.







Denis is preparing to empty the greenhouse and get all his tubs and troughs out.




Windermere from the ferry landing.

First the good news, Norman who had the mishap yesterday is apparently back home and recovering from his accident.
The sunny weather shows no sign of changing I wonder if the Bank Holiday will bring the rain.

I heard a funny thing in the tea garden today, an Aussie family with two toddlers arrived for tea and the kids were giving them a bit of a hard time, every time I took something to the table for the adults the kids whinged "I wanted that" it was when I took a toasted tea cake one of the kids chirped up "aw mom I wanted a hamburger as well"


The clematis is coming to it's best in the yew tree at Buckle Yeat.




Matthew has headed to see Sarah at Lancaster for a couple of days, me and Helen had a walk up to the tarns before tea.



Helen and her mum tried a new recipe for biscuits today they are called melting moments and they are very moreish, is that a word or have I made it up!

It turned out that the accident earlier on was at Sawrey Knotts when Norman who lives at Scutcheon House, he was delivering parish magazines and something happened when he was coming down the drive and he lost control of his car, hopefully Norman who is not a young man makes a full recovery.








By the way L-I-V-E-R-P-O-O-L !!! what a nervy night that was!!!