A busy day in the garden with grass to cut, hedges to trim and a few weeds to remove.
The morning started sunny and then as I was cutting the grass the clouds bubbled up and a breeze blew in, the sun however must have been strong because I can feel that I have caught the sun on my head, the lack of hair cover after the trim yesterday did not help.






A couple of good games in the World cup, the first better than the second but at the end of the day Germany v Italy in the first semi.
We got an email from Matthew and Sarah this afternoon they were stuck in a bus station waiting for a connection on to their next destination in Argentina, I wonder how the locals will react to the exit of the Argentina football team.

A warm sunny day, the only downside shopping, but to be fair a haircut each and an eye test for Helen.
We took Matthews car to the garage as we went to Kendal, mot and service, for his arrival home in a couple of weeks.
On the way in we hit heavy traffic it turned out that there was a lorry on fire on the M6 and all the motorway traffic had to go through Kendal and on the bypass, chaos !






We called in at the Tower for a drink when we got back, the new regime seem to be doing well and we get lots of good feedback from our guests.

It's back to the dreary days, heavy clouds although the sun is trying to get out.
Judy and her mum Dorothy left this morning, a helium balloon saying thank you and a box of chocolates were adorning their breakfast table this morning, very kind of them.



We have had a gentleman in for coffee today who tells me he is the great great grandson of Mr Postlethwaite aka Farmer Potatoes of Beatrix Potter fame, he was happy to have his picture taken, he and his girlfriend are on a motorcycle holiday in the Lakes



Flag Iris at the side of Cunsey beck




There was a road race around Esthwaite Water tonight, rather them than me.


It turned out a sunny evening again, better late than never, apparently it poured down in Ambleside and Hawkshead but stayed dry in Sawrey

We took a walk down the dub and through by Cunsey then back up passed the church and along the footpath back into the village.

A lot better day and a fantastic sunny evening.

This morning I had a flash of inspiration and decided to plant a couple of marrow plants in order to take part in the annual Sawrey Marrow Show, we had a pile of manure in the right location and so 10 minutes with fork and spade and the bed was ready, a quick trip up to Sawrey stores where a they had some marrow plants and the deed was done. Updates will follow.

We had a visit from a couple of the New Year gang, John and Margaret who now live in France, they are over for a few days and brought daughter Alison and grandaughter Holly, she would insist on calling me Robin!!

A walk up to Moss Eccles before tea and then after tea Spain v France.

After another busy morning it was quiet again on the tea front. A few comings and goings with some people checking out and others checking in, we have a party of 4 Japanese guests who as soon as they got here the were out with the sketch pads and are busy drawing Buckle Yeat, last year there was a group in the village painting the house so I got talking to one of them and gave him a brochure, I am almost sure he is one of the 4 I will ask later.

Before tea we took a walk down to Esthwaite Water and along the lake shore and back to Buckle Yeat to stoke up the fire, yes it is June.
We had an email from a couple of regular customer Brian & Joyce, he has been waiting for a heart op and had many cancellations until finally he got the call and is now on the mend, good news.
It turns out the Japanese group are not the people I thought.
Switzerland v Ukraine at the moment, I think the inevitable penalty shoot out will be the best part of that game.

13 breakfasts this morning with 7 tables, it was skates on time.
Bill and Jill plus Holly the dog are here for a week, last time they were here I tried to bribe Holly to like me with left over sausages, I had forgot about it but she had not.
Also in residence are mother and daughter combo Judy and Dorothy from Wirksworth, they are having 10 days this year.

The tea trade was non existent this afternoon, so suprise suprise we closed early and watched the football, still not playing well but by the next time they play on Saturday, Argentina or Germany will be out, come on England. The top scorer competition is hotting up with me and Helen 1 goal each and Denis 2 goals, Frank Lampard has had more shots than any player in the competition but still keeps firing blanks, a hat trick in the final maybe.

The new tarmac has set on the car park and it makes you wonder why we put up with the condition it was in for so long.
People were trying to sit out this afternoon in the tea garden, but the weather was not exactly tropical.
A couple good football matches in the world cup today I missed the German win but have watched the later game and at this precise moment Maxi Rodriguez has just scored an absolute stunner to put Argentine 2-1 up in extra time against a brave Mexico, I can only imagine the atmosphere Matthew will be experiencing while watching it on TV in Argentina.

My Far Sawrey correspondent Simon has been to the Rose Queen gala in Hawkshead and sent the following pictures and message

Hawkshead Primary School held the annual Rose Queen gala today. A great time was had by all and at the same time raising funds for the school. We now have Queen Issy and even had a visit from our local MP Tim with his family.

The boys from the blackstuff arrived this morning to rescue the car park, it has been creeping farther and farther back every day. They cut an edge on the old tarmac and put some kerb stones in and filled the gap with new tarmac.






The sun shone this afternoon so when all the guests arrived we went a walk down the dub and through the woods back into the village.
This shot of the sky shows we are on a major flight path, all routes south.

Kendal shopping today, and the weather improved as the day went on.
A full house tonight and the last arrivals landed at about 7pm, a couple of regulars from Leicestershire.
Trying to type and chat to Matthew on MSN in Argentina at the same time.
He and Sarah are just killing time till they take a long bus trip further north in Argentina.

Mid summers day, it would be nice to report a balmy sunny day, but no, high winds very heavy showers and cool temperatures.
All our booked in guests had arrived before 5pm but with more rain we gave up on a walk.
We had an e-mail from Kathy in Indiana who was here a week ago, see link to view her blog,her and daughter Sarah arrived home safe and well.
A gentleman has booked in this afternoon and is doing a 40 mile cycle race in the north of the county this evening.
As I write this I am keeping tabs on the Holland Argentina game, the Dutch seem to be having the best of the 2nd half at the moment,the kiss of death surely.

This picture is wild roses in the hedgerow up Coopers Lane last night.
Today has been another grey cool day, we have been busy in the tearoom today and the rain did not arrive till late on, although when it did it was like winter.
We still have a couple of rooms free tonight.
We stayed in and watched the match, not the best performance but we topped the group and miss the Germans in the next round.

A damp start to the day and we had a quiet breakfast, I got on with some bookwork,the dreaded VAT and Helen caught up with baking cakes.
The sun shone later on and before we had our tea we took a walk up to Moss Eccles, we have missed a few walks lately.






An ambulance and police car went through the village this afternoon with all lights flashing, we have not heard were they were headed.


Had a few email problems this weekend with some emails disappearing into thin air.


It was a stunning sunset tonight and this is a picture sent by Rachel, my favorite niece.

A grey start and then at about noon the rain started and carried on all day and it was heavy at times.

A very quiet night at Buckle Yeat tonight, unusual for this time of year.

We had a visit from my cousin Kenneth this afternoon with his wife Dianne and their new baby boy Oliver. They had fraught morning, without going into to many details they had managed to lock baby Oliver and Henry the dog in the car with keys and mobile phone still inside the car, the AA was summoned and took to long so they started to panic and rang the fire brigade who turned up lights flashing and mob handed, fortunately the AA man appeared and opened the car without to much fuss and all was well. A story for Oliver to relate about his first fathers day.

Simon from Far Sawrey sent these pictures of the BBQ on Tarn Hill last night

After we finished tonight we headed to Tarn Hill for the grand opening BBQ and a great night it was, plenty of locals cheap beer and a good BBQ run by Stan, Fred and Jackie.





This gang are staying at Buckle Yeat for the weekend, it turns out one of the lads is a Kirby, but as I told him we do not offer family discount.



No luck on the raffle but when it came to "guess the birthday of the dog" we put our birthdays in and of course we put Matthews birthday in, 27th January and lo and behold the dog and Matthew share the same birthday and he is the proud owner of the biggest soft toy I have ever seen.

Off into Kendal at about 11am we did the grocery shop and then called at the shop to pick up a bag of toys etc for the tombola at tomorrows BBQ on Tarn Hill.



It has been a warm day and even a drop of very light rain, all guests have arrived at 6pm a group of 6 lads from Yorkshire on motorbikes.
We had contact from Matthew last night in Argentina,he and Sarah are enjoying watching the World Cup in a football crazy country.
The world cup joke of the moment is Brazilian striker Ronaldo goes into McDonald's and asks for 2 whoppers the guy behind the counter says OK your not fat and you have not lost it.

A full day at Buckle Yeat, after breakfast the Sky men came and sorted out World Cup viewing problems, Tony & Lorna called in to say goodbye, a Japanese TV crew wanted to take some shots of Buckle Yeat, that is after filming yours truly watering the garden.
Then this afternoon I set off to Manchester airport to pick up Denis & Margaret back from their trip to Spain.
We listened to the England match on the car radio, it sounded grim but the big man came good and scored at the end of the game followed by Stevie G wrapping it up, that's me and Denis at the top of the leader board in our World Cup top scorer sweep.

We had an early breakfast this morning, a gentleman working at Ferry House, so we had to be on the ball first thing.
Still awaiting our last arrivals, a Japanese couple booked in by a travel agency so we have had no direct contact which always worries me but I'm sure they will turn up.
It must be summer, Martin from the Tower Bank is taking orders out on the car park!
We are going out for an hour later with Tony & Lorna, a blind couple who have been coming to the village for a number of years, they stay at Elizabeths and are off home tomorrow.
No pictures tonight, but I can blame our Stuart, he has borrowed my camera to take a picture of a mini engine part he is selling on e-bay.

A lot cooler today but no rain and the forecast looks good for weekend, it's the Grand Opening of the refurbished playground on Tarn Hill so a sunny evening would be great.
Our American friends Kathy and Sarah left this morning, they have been blessed with the weather, in fact they seemed to be a bit disappointed we did not have more rain. It's a small world though, today in for teas we had another American couple it turned out had been talking to Kathy and Sarah last week on the way up from London.
We have been quite steady with teas this afternoon, there does seem to be more of our American cousins getting about.

Heavy rain overnight and it has flattened the tall plants in the garden a bit, they will start to pick up as they dry.
There is a cloud cover this morning but the sun is trying to get out.
A couple of rooms checked out this morning and we have a couple of rooms vacant tonight.
A roofing firm is working on a roof opposite they have scaffolding up and all of a sudden an elderly Japanese tourist in a raincoat decided to climb up to investigate,the lads got the shock of their lives, he wandered around on top of the roof taking pictures of men at work.

Hola from Argentina!
We are currently in Bariloche in the Lake District. Snow capped peaks and big lake nearby so the views are like postcards. Bit chilly and snow is expected in the next few days. Today is wet so we are watching some World Cup and lazing in the hostel. Yesterday we got up for the England match at 10am and then went for lunch. Then we went to the pub (Irish of course) and watched the Argentina match with the locals. Found it a bit hard to cheer for them but it was a good atmosphere. Lots of people in cars beeping horns and lots of flags etc. after the game - can't wait to see what its like when they play some big games!
Went for a meal with a gang of people from the hostel last night and tried the famous steak. They cook it on a massive BBQ, really amazing food. Filet steak (half portion was plenty), chips, salad and wine all for about 5 pounds. No photos sorry but can't put them on this computer.

Adios, Matthew & Sarah

The heat goes on, long may it last.
I put a link on to Kathy Hawkins travel blog this morning, check it out and leave a comment.







It was busy this morning and then as if by magic it went quiet just as the footy started, right on cue the tv started to play up so I missed most of the first half, no matter we scraped a win and 3 points.
When we went home we lit the BBQ and sat out till well past dark, cumberland sausage, gammon and salad, very tasty!!!

It has been another scorcher today with temperatures hitting the high 70s.



I gave Kathy and her daughter a lift down to the ferry after breakfast, the ferry was not running but the launch was so they hopped on that and sailed into Bowness Bay.




No guest were due to arrive till late so after we had finished we took a walk along to Far Sawrey bought a couple of ice creams from Sawrey Stores and walked up Cuckoo Brow Lane round Moss Eccles and back down Coopers Lane, we hardly saw any tourists, the only people we spoke to were Cliff in his garden(pictured}and Gary and Melvin cutting wood up by Scutcheon House.



The rhododendrons are coming to their best at the edge of the tarn.

A blogger problem, server I think, whatever that means.
Any way all seems to be in order at last.
This first picture was taken yesterday as Hill Top opened and the Japanese group started to huddle against the wall like sheep keeping out of the sun.



We went up Coopers Lane to Moss Eccles after tea and this is a shot towards Esthwaite Water.





The sign says it all, so please support this event as more funds are neeeded to keep the playground maintained, especially after all the hard work raising funds to upgrade, a big well done is in order to all concerned.