It was Ambleside sports yesterday and at least the rain stayed away for most of the day although I guess it would be very wet underfoot. We came over on the ferry and they told us that the level of the lake rose over 2 feet in 2 days, that is a massive amount of water.




We had a walk round by Cunsey this afternoon and Cunsey beck is in full spate.
On the way past Hill Top two little girls were playing with a ball and the mother called to one of them by her name which was "Sienna", Helen suggested the other little girl might be called "Florence" hmmm!



The Tower Bank Arms are sponsoring this years Sawrey Marrow Show, and Anthony is making a bid to claim the prize for Near Sawrey, his first attempt is looking good but I am not to sure about the ASDA sticker on the side.

We have had a rush of comments on the Buckle Yeat homepage which is good, we like to hear from guests, we also had a good review on Trip Advisor, again thats what we like.

We lost our water supply in the village late on Monday night and to United Utilities credit they worked overnight and located a burst,fixed it and got supplies on by morning,so far so good, but then they left the hole in the road for two days right outside Hill Top entrance causing a headache for the National Trust and traffic problems in a busy village, they decided this afternoon right on the busiest time to start to fill it in, then after all the chaos, traffic lights have arrived,a case of shutting the barn door after the horse has bolted.
Surprise surprise the barbecue summer has been cancelled, the hot weather never arrived and now the forecasters are saying August will be unsettled, oh not like July then!
Anyway the rain eased up today and we did manage to get a walk up to Moss Eccles, we have had a few nights being grounded.

The weather improved last night just in time for the Red Arrows, we did not make it up to Scale Ivy as we were awaiting some guests but we got a good view from the village.






There is a swallows nest just outside the window at Denis and Margaret's and I was able to get quite close and get these shots of the parents feeding their young,in the shot below you can see one of the two chicks peering out of the nest.

Our American families checked out this morning after staying with us for the last week, they all seemed to have had good time and have toured most of the Lake District.
Mary Ann, one of the ladies had been on a small train in Twyford and decided to rename their house in Atlanta "Tywford House" She had ordered and picked up a bespoke slate nameplate from one of the slate firms in Coniston, along with most other guests we had a chuckle explaining that Tywfords are large manufactures of porcelain sanitary ware and their name is etched on urinals in public loos all over the country.

The pattern of the week was to set me with questions every breakfast time, for instance what do certain words mean? like "Thwaite", "Rigg", "How", luckily I was out of the room and Mary Ann asked another guest she had got talking to about a word she had read in book and was unsure of its meaning she said what does "B*****ks" mean? well the dining room was in uproar.
They were a great bunch of people and it was a pleasure meeting them.


This is Mary Ann with the new nameplate for her house back in Atlanta Georgia.

It has been a great day with lots of sunshine, we trecked up to Scale Ivy late this afternoon in time for the fly past of the Vulcan bomber, we were really high up and had a fantastic view.

It was a rare day with the incoming guests all due to arrive after 7pm. so after work this afternoon we had the chance for a longer walk than usual, we headed up past Moss Eccles and Wys Een and down onto the shores of Windermere at Belle Grange we then walked along the lake shore and then along the footpath at Ash Landing and up onto the Cunsey road, we then walked from Cunsey road end into Far Sawrey and then across the fields back to Near Sawrey 3hours and it just kept dry.

No rain today and quite warm in the brief spells of sunshine.
it is the Wndermere Airshow this weekend so we are hoping for clear skies www.windermereairshow.co.uk/




This the pack horse bridge at Newby Bridge at the south end of Windermere.

I am afraid it has been wet all day, the weather man said we would have rain but not till late afternoon, WRONG!!!


Denis did his good deed for the day, this lady was a bit unsteady walking on the gravel and she asked if she could take his arm, what a gent!



This is a picture of the Helget and Brannon family from Atlanta USA they asked me not to say they were crazy, why would I they are a really nice people and it is a pleasure to have them at Buckle Yeat for the week.

Back to the cricket, I was listening to David Lloyd aka Bumble the other day and he is full of funny anecdotes, he was commenting on the 12th man running out to the batsmen with messages from the captain, he said messages often got mixed up and quoted the old military message, "send reinforcements we are going to advance" by the the time the message got through it was said as "send three and fourpence we are going to a dance" it made me laugh.

The school hols are here and so the village has been very busy today.
We had a quick walk up to the tarns and we never tire of taking pictures like these.





Just a word on the cricket front, well done England, sorry Aussie blog watchers but its not all over yet.

A selection of pictures sent from Liz & John in Australia, they were in Sawrey in the spring.

It has been a Kendal day today for the dreaded shop.
We took these pictures last night on our walk through to Far Sawrey and past St Peters.
In the news today it has been reported that Prime Minister Gordon Brown and his family plan to holiday in the Lake District, surely they will be calling in at Hill Top.
The bees are still busy at home and I am sure there will be plenty of honey if we could only get to it.

It has been a good day with most people sitting outside for teas.
We had a sit in the sun after work and then set off for a walk, we only got as far as the playground when we spotted the ominous black clouds looming,we dashed up into the village and just managed to get into the Tower Bank before the rain arrived.

Lynn the Mr McGregor creator arrived yesterday with the original Mr Mac she made a few years ago, he has had a bit of a make over and is looking good,She did not want to take the other one back so it was left to us to find him a new abode.


Lynn sat proudly with her creations, so far in the last 3 years over £3000 has been dropped into his plant pot and been passed on to the Tarn Hill playground commitee.


Roger has adopted the previous Mr Mac and will use him as a scarecrow.

We awoke to a clear blue sky and a fantastic morning,I took these pictures on the walk to work, its a tough commute!
The clouds rolled in after breakfast but this afternoon it is looking better.







We had a visit from Lousie the raffle ticket seller, she won the prize for selling the most tickets and we had two winners from Buckle Yeat, 2 bottles of wine for John and Mina from Bradford and also 2 bottles of wine for Derek and Vicky from Tebworth. Both couples are booked in again later in the year so we will hold on to the prizes till then,thank you on behalf of Louise to all the other guests who bought tickets, better luck next time!

Anyone need any honey? we have adopted a hive of honey bees in a void above a window at home,they arrived literally out of the blue (excuse the pun)
I gave Stan a ring,Stan is the man who knows about these things,he confirmed what we had guessed, there are 3 options, gas the bees, rip the house to bits to retrieve the swarm, or leave them be (another pun)!He even had an idea were they came from, a lady lost a swarm from her hive in Rusland.
We have decided to take the third option,but if we start getting stung the first option will become very attractive but till then we will do nothing.


The bees are going into the void above the window.


This poster made an appearance on our front door yesterday,we are not certain who is responsible but have a couple of ideas, I suspect a collaboration.


Buckle Yeat garden.

The window boxes at home.