A wet and muddy walk after the football and before tea, the footpaths are like mud baths.
We went through the woods to Far Sawrey.
Still no sign of the robin, we fear the worst.

I had a phone call from an uncle in Ulverston yesterday tellng me he had spotted the photo of the Buckle Yeat robin on the BBC lunchtime news weather slot, I had sent it in the other day.
The bad news is no sign all day today of Robbie the robin.

Off to Kendal this afternoon for some shopping,we struck lucky with ferry there and back with no queues which makes a change.

The baby robin who has featured here before is getting braver, he spent a few minutes entertaining the breakfast guests this morning before we managed to usher him out.


Robbie the robin eating crumbs from Helen's hand this morning.

Rubbish weather so no walks and hence no pictures.

I overheard in the tearoom today a couple of Brits advising a couple of Aussies on places to visit, "Coniston is on the other side of Windermere from Sawrey, no need to take the ferry just drive round!! and of course Coniston is where Donald Campbell broke the land speed record" The Brits in question had never been to Scotland but told the Aussies "the Scots were all mean and Glasgow was very poor"

Matthew and Sarah headed back south today after a few days in Sawrey and have just rung to say they are home, well Sarah still has a train journey to finally reach her flat.

Matthew and Sarah had a drive over Hardknott and Wrynose today and ended up at Eskdale Village Fete.They took my camera and came back with these shots.





Man on a stick!!!

We had a visit from two couples who stayed with us years ago and still keep in touch, they used to follow the RAC rally.
One couple had twins and did actually stay with us as a family, the twins were so small they shared our travel cot. The other couple also now have two children,they sent in the picture below.

Sam, Charlotte, Matty and Natalie

Matthew and Sarah arrived safely with no traffic delays, we will go to the pub with them later. Pete and Lynn of the new Year gang are here for the weekend so we will meet up with them.

Matthew and Sarah are on their way back home for the weekend so while I have been busy cutting the grass on the rare dry day Helen has been extra busy preparing meals for the weekend, tonight it will be luxury fish pie, mmmmm!
We had a walk up to Moss Eccles and then back into Far Sawrey before crossing the fields to Near Sawrey, my old camera failed the other day and I have been using one lent to me by Denis,today was the first shots on a new one we got yesterday, so some experimenting has to be done.



Nancy and Charlies garden with St Peters in the background


The new bridge almost finished

Sunshine again today and after a steady day in he tearooms we had a walk to Esthwaite water and crossed into the field before Ees Bridge to get a couple of different photos.





After tea we are watching the football, England against the Czech Republic, the rain is incessant, and we are led to believe it only rains in the Lake District!! losing 0-1 as I type.

A busy busy village again, it should have been Hawkshead Show day but it was called off last week because of concerns over the state of the show field after all the recent rain.

These pictures below arrived in an email this morning, they were sent by the Japanese ladies pictured on the blog the other day.


Man and dog at Moss Eccles


Our baby robin


Chaffinch on the Buckle Yeat gate.

Another showery day but we missed the sort of problems the rain caused in Northern Ireland overnight.
The village did not seem as busy today,it will no doubt get busier as the week goes on.




After work and a few minutes in the conservatory with the Sunday papers we had a walk down the dub and through to the church before striking back across the footpath into Near Sawrey, the footpaths are so wet, we have seen them drier in winter.
These pictures are all taken at the so called Pigling Bland Corner


I'm watching you.

Rusland show today and they got away with it because the weather was so much better than we were promised.
The footy season started today and you know Liverpool have won because otherwise I would have not mentioned it, Torres the the goal scorer is also in my online fantasy team in a league set up by Matthew, Helen, Denis and Sarah are also in the league.



The Buckle Yeat robin is becoming a bit of a celeb appearing every time people sit at a table in the garden, this is a shot of him or her eating out of my hand.

This morning two Japanese ladies checked out, they had stayed with us before and amazingly knew that today was my birthday, when I asked how they knew this they said they knew from last year when I mentioned it here on the blog, they then presented me with a rose pot plant and a Japanese guide book of the Lake District.
I also had breakfast telephone call from Judy and Dorothy wishing me all the best


Kae and her daughter Megumi who checked out bearing gifts this morning.



It all happens at Buckle Yeat, tonight we had two men check in and asked if we could find a place to park their helicopter, not your usual parking request.
Denis rang Gary at Hill Top and he said it would be OK in a meadow across the road.

A busy busy village again, the National trust erected an awning at the ticket office entrance to protect the Potter pilgrims from the rain and guess what, yes you got it,no rain.
We had a couple of Aussies in for tea with a tale of dedication, they parked their car at Bowness crossed the lake on the ferry, caught the bus up into the village queued for an age to be told they had a couple of hours to wait before they could visit Hill Top, it was then they realised their car park ticket was about to expire, they took the bus back to the ferry caught the ferry back across and put another ticket on the car. Then they crossed the lake on the ferry, caught the bus back into the village and had their tour of Hill Top, I just hope they thought it was all worth the effort.

After the boat fire on Thursday we sent the video of the incident featured here on the blog to the local newspaper, this morning we received an email from the Westmorland Gazette thanking us for the footage and saying it was now on their news page.Link on the right.

Our car has been leaking water as of late and with the weather we have had recently it was beginning to be a real pain, I rang the garage and they booked me in today so I had to shoot off to Kendal after work, they lent me a replacement for a couple of days, it turned out to be a new discovery, I have never been a big fan and nothing has changed my mind, it drives great but it is massive!!





When I got back the weather had improved so we had a quick walk to take advantage of the sunny evening and met a few local people out walking with the same idea.

It has been another dreadful wet day,but despite the weather or maybe because of it the village has been busy again.
The day did improve and we had a quick walk up to Moss Eccles.





It has been a day or two since we were up at the tarn and we came across work to repair this footbridge, we didn't know it needed any repair work!

A dry sunny day and so the mower and the strimmer came out of the shed.
Dave the computer guru who is building the new web site (if you have stayed at Buckle Yeat why not sign the guestbook so we know its working)called in with a new laptop, we now not only offer free Wi-Fi for our guests we also offer the use of a guest laptop, we do spoil our guests.



This is a picture of our tame baby robin who appears a soon as we go outside and literally begs for crumbs

We had to go to Kendal today and managed to get away early, we rang the ferry to make sure the ferry was operating before we set off, we arrived down at the bottom of ferry hill to find the road blocked, two police cars one ambulance and two fire engines were in attendance, apparently some guy was working on a boat and he was using bottled gas which had leaked, he then started up a generator and boom! fortunately no one was injured and the guy had the presence of mind to push the boat away from the shore so as not to spread the fire to other craft.







We had supper at the Tower Bank when we got back, just managed to get a table because they were busy as usual.

No chance of a walk due to heavy downpours so I have been tinkering with the blog and have put on this image of Duchess as featured in the Beatrix Potter book "The tale of the Pie and the Pattypan" Duchess is said to be receiving an invation to tea from Ribby the cat, she is stood on the pathway at the front of Buckle Yeat

Again the weather comes up trumps, sunshine and warm again. The wasp problem was not quite as bad today although by no means perfect.





These picures were taken at the top of Cuckoo Brow Lane were Wilfin Beck runs down to the village.
We have put a link on the right of the page to the Buckle Yeat guest book, it is not fully operational as yet but if you have stayed at Buckle Yeat be one of the first to sign in.

Another dull morning followed by a sunny afternoon, the baby robin is a big hit in the tea garden and is often seen eating crumbs out of peoples hands.
The big big problem today was wasps, dozens of them, as soon a the the fizzy drinks or the jam appeared on the table it was mayhem, people were having to run for cover and come inside so we decided to give up serving outside as a bad job.

Helen noticed in the newspaper that the film "Miss Potter" is on the television tonight 8.00 o'clock on BBC1. I wonder if that will increase the number of people wanting to visit Hill Top even more.

A better day today although we had some torrential rain this morning we had a sunny afternoon.
We had a room vacant tonight but managed to let it to a couple late on in the afternoon.




These two pictures are of Esthwaite Water as it runs out under Ees Bridge.




These two are taken from Pigling Bland Corner, one towards Grizedale Forest and one back towards the village.