All change at Buckle Yeat this morning, every body checked out and the New Year gang all checked in, well nearly all checked in just John and Margaret to arrive. They all had tea and mince pies and went straight to the TBA for a drink, might get to join them later.
At 4.20pm today "Rolf on Art" filmed in Sawrey and tomorrow the Beatrix Potter ballet all on the BBC.
The rain has stopped and it is quite a decent day.

A wet and windy night gave way to a wet and windy day, we had a full house for breakfast this morning, one couple who have stayed with us before arrived with their
10! yes 10 Cavalier King Charles spaniels, the dogs all sleep in a purpose built camper van, she shows at Crufts and had a first last year.
Matthew went back to Leicester and then on the see Sarah at St Albans yesterday, he had a long trek due to the volume of traffic.
There is lots of floods on the roads today but it is better than snow.

It,s Boxing Day and very mild after the freezing conditions of the last week, we have had a family Christmas, on Christmas Eve we went to St Peters in Far Sawrey for the carol service, a full house as usual.
My dad and brother Alan joined us along with Matthew, Denis and Margaret for a meal in the Tower Bank Arms after the carol service.
As usual on Christmas day we all called in to the pub for a beer before lunch and witnessed a guy down on one knee proposing to to his girlfriend, I think she said yes.


Christmas Eve at The TBA.


Moss Eccles this morning, there is still a thin covering of ice.




This afternoon we watched the football via the internet, it was bizarre, there was a 90 second delay and we had the tv on checking the other scores Liverpool scored and it took 90 seconds before we could see it.

Matthew got back last night, he is home from Leicester for Christmas, we had to ring him and warn him about road conditions, we had a shower of rain on frozen ground and it made roads and pavements lethal. We were in Kendal and people were going down like ninepins.

This afternoon we had a walk through the woods past the church and back into the village were we had a quick beer in a busy Tower Bank Arms.




Denis has been dressing up in the Santa suit again and paid a surprise visit to a few houses in the village distributing presents a day early, I bet he is popular with some mums trying to get the kids to bed tonight.
It has turned a bit milder tonight and the heavy frost is starting to thaw.

Helen got her regular newsletter from the Beatrix Potter Society the other day and we were pleased to see our Mr Mcgregor figure had made it into print.
If you want to know more about the BP society click on the link on the right.

Brrr it just gets colder but boy what fantastic sunny days.
Another email from OZ this morning, it was from Fred who used to live in Hawkshead, he tells me it will be 38 degrees on Christmas Day but the beer will be cold, Merry Christmas Fred all the best mate.
The carol singers are around tonight starting off at the Tower Bank Arms and then visiting all the houses in Near Sawrey.




Lots of Christmas cards arriving and mentioning the blog which is really good it spurs me on to keep going.

We had a walk up to see how much ice there was on Moss Eccles, Jane from the farm was there with the kids and dogs.The kids were determined to get me on the ice, no chance. The dogs enjoyed it though.

Mist and Fly having fun.



Everyone thought I was taking a picture hence the commentary. they kept on at me to take a picture of the dogs, listen to one off them shout " did you did it"

Another freezing frosty day and we called in at Kendal for even more shopping.
We have had a number of Christmas greetings via e-mail and from all corners of the world Australia, Japan, USA and Spain to name a few.




We took these pictures whilst waiting for the ferry, it is as cold as it looks, not like the message from Australia telling me about how warm it is and the restrictions on watering the garden.

A busy breakfast time at Buckle Yeat and then into the main business of the day sorting out Santa.

Spot the difference.


Santa on his way into the Tower Bank Arms for a snifter (only joking)



Who is Santa? well this is not the real Santa but it is in fact the one and the only friend of the stars, Denis, he was standing in for Santa at the Braithwaite Hall,twenty or more village children were pleased to see him and ready to accept him as the main man ,that is the magic of Christmas.

Yesterday we went to Lancaster to meet up with Matthew and Sarah, it was Sarah's graduation ceremony, we managed a couple of hours and a nice lunch with them. They are both well and have jetted off to Barcelona for the weekend.
We then went onto Burton to visit Helen's Aunt.



This morning was a really frosty misty morning, we went to Ulverston and paid a visit to my Auntie and then went a walk up Hoad Hill to the monument, it was like a stroll down memory lane for me, our school cross country course was over Hoad Hill and as a kid I spent many hours in the area.


The railway viaduct over the estuary.

Hoad Monument is a famous landmark in Ulverston and if you checkout the link below there is much more information and history of the monument.
www.sirjohnbarrowmonument.co.uk


We went up the back of Hoad Hill and came across this holly tree which for some reason someone has decorated for Christmas.

Yesterday we had trip across the ferry to Kendal it was a glorious sunny day and quite mild, we just about finished all the Christmas shopping and bought everything in preparation for the New Year.
Overnight there was a sharp frost and this morning we had another sunny day and we took a walk up to Moss Eccles, the tarn had thin covering of ice in places.
Football tonight and Liverpool have to win or they are out of the Champions League.

At last a bit of blue sky, it is a crisp fresh sunny day with a sprinkling of snow on the tops.
A full turn out this morning so a busy busy day, we might manage a walk later.



This is a regular group of weekenders from Hull who checked out this morning.

We had a decent dry start to the day yesterday and so the outside tree was launched, just before the rain arrived.
Today it goes from bad to worse with even a flurry of snow brrr!!

Helen and her mum have been busy making mince pies and I had to go into Hawkshead to post the overseas Christmas cards.
We have full house and some of the guests are spending the whole day in the lounge in front of the log fire and I have to say I don't blame them.

Denis has been asked to do his duty next week and don the Santa suit for the children's party at Braithwaite Hall in Far Sawrey. More photo opportunities.

Yesterday we went to buy the Christmas tree for outside Buckle Yeat and brought it home strapped to the roof of the car. Weather permitting tomorrow's job is getting the lights on the tree.


Today is mother-in-law Margaret's birthday,so this afternoon we went to the Drunken Duck for lunch.

Helen and her mum Margaret.

Yesterday we headed to Kendal for some shopping and source some new Christmas decorations for Buckle Yeat.
This morning it was damp and grey so we took the opportunity to get on with decorating Buckle Yeat for Christmas.
We bought a Santa suit for Mr McGregor and over the festive period we plan to try and raise funds towards refurbishment costs to Braithwaite Hall which is our village hall in Far Sawrey


Denis helping get Mr Mac in his new attire.
He will be, weather permitting be sitting out on the bench in front of Buckle Yeat available for photo opportunities, Mr Mac that is not Denis.


The man himself in his full glory.

I must mention today is the 90th birthday of one of our long standing guests Dorothy from Wirksworth, HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO YOU DOROTHY. We hope you have had a lovely day.

We had an interesting night last night, just as we were about have our supper out went the lights, the whole village was off, nightmare, a house full of guests and no lights or central heating. We did manage to fire up the generator we bought for such occasion's this enabled us to get the heating back on and shed a bit of light on proceedings in Buckle Yeat. All the guests were very understanding and thankfully the power was restored after a couple of hours.