Check out the new addition on the right hand side, the new map, when it is loaded and set up the idea is it will show the location and number of blog readers.
If it fails I will remove it, I think it will update every morning at 8am BST, we will see.


Stoney Lane



The new construction from Ees Bridge





Large double en-suite with roll top bath, fantastic views

Mr McGregor had a great day yesterday with donations in his plant pot of over £15, many thanks to all the visitors who have generously popped some change in his pot, the money is going to pay for the upkeep of the childrens playground on Tarn Hill, over the last couple years a group of locals have made a concerted effort to bring the playground back to life, this year so many visitors children have made use of the playground whist they wait to get into Hill Top.

The Tarn Hill Committee are having a Country & Western Evening complete with Hog Roast, details soon.

I had an appointment in Barrow yesterday and Helen and her mum had a walk up to Moss Eccles Tarn.
In Barrow it was bright and sunny but looking at these photos there was quite a bit of cloud cover.









We watched the footy last night with Liverpool progressing to the next round of the Champions League, the result of the night though was Morecambe dumping Wolves out of the Carling Cup, this after knocking Preston North End out in the previous round, what price Liverpool v Morecambe in the next round.

Just a couple of rooms departed this morning with two rooms arriving to replace them.

Matthew set of back to Leicester this morning calling in at Lancaster to see Sarah.
We had two guests who spent the day at Grasmere sports yesterday, they said it was very busy, the sports committee had a fantastic sunny day in what has been a poor summer on the weather front.

The local paper this week was saying how despite the disappointing weather the lakes are having a record number of visitors.

The last Bank Holiday of the season.

The sun just failed to shine today but it was dry and warm all day.

Matthew got back safe and well and after watching Liverpool beat Sunderland this afternoon he headed out to meet up with some old school pals for a BBQ in Windermere.

A full house again and everybody who arrived today have stayed with us this weekend so they have all met one another before.

As I write this it is trying to rain, it is a better forecast for tomorrow.

A fantastic sunny day and me and Helen had a boon day in the garden cutting back the clematis and a lot of the yew tree at the back of the house.
Steve and Maxine two more of our regulars arrived late afternoon so we sat out in the garden and had a chat to them, they are off out to Holbeck Gyhll for a meal tonight.


A misty morning.







Matthew is on his way back home for the weekend, he has rang to say he is as far as Lancaster. Visiting Sarah en-route,so thankfully the Bank Holiday traffic was not so bad.

Its been a strange week and to cap it all we had two rooms booked for two nights and they did not turn up, we have no contact from them and they are ex directory, great!
We will try to discover why they failed to arrive.



We went across the ferry this morning and the queue back to Sawrey was staggering, there would be cars in that queue for hours.

For the last few days we have been having email problems, so if anyone has sent a message and not had a reply please accept my apologies, we have an alternative address which should be working and that is robertkirby21@hotmail.com

This morning in the post we received a package from a regular guest who shall remain nameless bless her, the package contained a pin cushion for Margaret, the only problem was the pins were still in it!!!!. It had been set aside by the Post office and repacked in and extra bag with warnings of danger, it still drew blood when I picked it up off the door mat.




Tower Bank Arms this evening.


Castle Cottage with a plethora of signs in the foreground.

This lady from Japan checked out after a few days at Buckle Yeat, she insisted on taking a picture of me with Mr Mcgregor, I got my own back this morning.


Such are the views around Sawrey, this is one of the water treatment works!!!


Blackberries in the hedgerow.



We had phone call this afternoon from regular customers Rob & Pat in Leicester who have just realised via the blog that Matthew works just 5 minuets drive from their house, they have said to tell him to get in touch if he needs anything or even just fancies going out for a beer.

Just another short walk tonight to Ees Bridge.

It has been dry most of the day but not a normal August type day.
Matthew rang this morning, Sarah is there for the weekend and I think they are having lunch with her mum in Peterborough.
After we finished with the teas we caught the end of the Liverpool Chelsea game, penalty!! what penalty? Still honours even and its early days.







After the footy and before tea we had stroll around the village and up to Buckle Yeat to throw another log on the fire.

We are just about to watch the ITV program " Britain's Favorite View" Sally Whittaker the Coronation street actress is proposing the Lake District, more good publicity for the area.

Rain all day but it did not deter the Potter hunters, Hill Top sold out again mid afternoon.

The other day someone discovered a body in the woods near Harrowslack on the shores of Windermere, the police set up a crime scene cordon, the rumour is that the body turned out to be a lady and had been there a few weeks and the word is that the police believe it was suicide.

Our German guests left this morning after a 5 day stay they are off to Keswick to join an organised walking trip. I gave them a lift to Hawkshead to catch the bus and while I was there I picked up some free range eggs from the Honeypot, Hawkshead seemed busy.

We are having a bit of a problem with emails, I can send them but can only receive the odd one, so if anyone is waiting for a reply apologies, hopefully it will be sorted soon.

No teas today and we gave Kendal a miss and headed to Ulverston.
We were looking for a couple of small tables and ended up buying some indian tree crockery, it has hard to find now as they no longer make it, we never did find any tables. We had a visit to my Auntie planned and just as we arrived she took a turn for the worse and the ambulance was called for, she is in and out of hospital with alarming regularity.



This cottage near the car park in Ulverston shows how hanging baskets should look, they are nearly as good as the Buckle Yeat ones that Denis makes.

I had an email this morning from the guy coordinating the proposed web site for Hawkshead, he is looking for someone to have input into a Sawrey page, we have a number of pictures of the village so I am sure we can provide some info, I will put a link on this site when the new site goes live in September.

Today has been a fantastic sunny warm day up here in the lakes but not all over the country by reports we get from new arrivals.



The tea garden was the place to wait and have a cream tea whilst waiting to visit Hill Top.

We received a nice comment on the blog from Florida the other day I had not noticed it, its good to receive comments then at least you know someone is following the blog.

We are going out for a belated birthday meal with Denis & Margaret to the Tower later.

Liverpool had a good win this afternoon in France 1-0 with the second leg to follow at Anfield, bring on Chelsea at the weekend.

I was not going to mention it but today was my birthday, as you can see by the poster left on our front door today, my prime suspect is Heather.Not to sure about the gap between the o and the d.
Anthony from the Tower called in with a nice bottle of wine and announced to the tea room customers it was my birthday. I also received some wine from Denis & Margaret some bubbly, chocs and books from Helen and a key ring from the Wirksworth 2.Plus numerous cards, thanks one and all.



It was as busy as usual in the village and we had a brief visit from a couple who used to stay at the Tower, Margaret and her husband who is nicknamed Squat, their surname is Crouch and the nickname has stuck.
We went up to the Tower before tea and met up with Phillip and Sheila for a drink.

Standing room only at St Peters church in Far Sawrey today, it was the funeral service for Willie, a local lad who sadly lost his brave brave fight for life last weekend. Helen myself and Denis went to pay our last respects.

Willie was a top bloke and although he was a Manchester United fanatic and my team is Liverpool their biggest rivals, we could still have a great crack about football, cricket, well any sport you want to talk about.

It goes without saying but Willie will be sadly missed by his loving family and many many friends.







A big mix of nationalities in at Buckle Yeat tonight we have Japanese, German, Dutch guests, oh and a few English.

Just a short stroll up Coopers lane tonight.

Torrential rain overnight and then sunshine and showers all day, it makes for hard work as soon as people got settled outside they scuttled in when the rain arrived, but then 10 minutes later hot sunshine and the cycle begins again.

We had a visit from a former guest the Rev David J.and his wife Ann, he lives close to Matthews new abode and has invited us to stay when we venture south.


A damp Hill Top car park before the rush.




Buckle Yeat breakfast room ready for action this morning

At last the football is back and some interesting results, of course Liverpool won otherwise I might not of mentioned it.
More Japanese guests arrived today, they had stayed for their honeymoon 16 years ago and they have returned with their children.







We tried serving teas in the garden till a short sharp shower chased everyone indoors, the rain then stayed away all day. The family of three Japanese went up to Keswick and said there was heavy rain and smoke, I guess that would be mist.

After the footy finished we had a walk down to Esthwaite and then home for tea.

An uneventful shopping trip to Kendal yesterday and it was sunny all day, we got back and had quick beer in the pub before going home for tea.
We had a brief chat with Matthew via the Internet last night, he seems fine and settling in OK.

The other day we received through the post a glossy fashion magazine from Japan, inside was feature about the village and surrounding area and pictures of some properties, Miss Potter featured quite bit, no surprise there then.

I managed to get the grass cut today, another reason for missing Matthew.

We had a free room tonight but the Coniston TIC sent us a couple this afternoon.

Not a bad day with long sunny spells and everyone sat in the garden for teas.
We have a family of 4 from America and a family of 4 from Japan.



The Japanese family have stayed a number of times and I took this picture and published it on the blog in 2005 the kids are the same but just a big bigger.

As busy as usual in the village with the Miss Potter factor showing no sign fading.
There is often a build up of traffic when a ferry comes in the car park is full, today the police turned up and told those in charge of the car park to instruct the drivers to drive on if the car park was full, straight away the traffic problem was solved, Hill Top still sold out just around 2.30 which I guess must be some sort of a record.

We have a room free tonight but hopefully we will let it.We are full again tomorrow.

A couple of Japanese ladies have just checked in, they stayed at Lindeth Howe last night, they seem to be using a Japanese guide book in which both ourselves and the Lindeth Howe are in, a slight difference in price though.

We had quick word with Matthew after his first day in his new job, all went well and he is looking forward to getting started on his project.









A couple of Australians called tonight for the vacant room and we went a walk through Castle wood and Helen's mum Margaret came with us,