|
The last two months couldn't have been more different weather-wise, with the heavy downpours of May flooding the gardens but greening up the lawns beautifully, which were then subsequently burnt to a glowing yellow under the intense sun that has been shining throughout June.
The attraction of 'Ridding Bay Mansion' was it's newly renovated status whilst enjoying a privileged position lake front to Windermere. Of disappointment was the Lodge House sharing the driveway at its entrance which will be sold independently at a later date. Inside the house was hard to fault compared to some we've viewed up in Cumbria, but it's size was difficult to justify as a secondary home, and anyway someone has since come along and paid the near £3m asking price! The car performed beautifully on this long drive. With a heavy clutch and gear change it isn't too suited for congested driving in town but really comes into it's own when driven hard and fast on an open road. Meanwhile, we've actually put the old Rolls Royce back on the road after sitting in the garage untouched for a couple of years. Dennis didn't want to take the mileage over 5,000, and so with 4,998 on the clock and an M.O.T. required at the nearest garage 3 miles away down the road, the car stayed firmly put! However, we've realised there's no point just having it sitting there collecting dust, and frankly we don't think it matters whether it has done 5K, 6K or 10K, it's still a very low mileage for a car 25 years old! So, to date, it now sits in the upper garage, having been moved from the lower garage after it's M.O.T and 5,002 on the clock! Whilst actually out of hiding I took the opportunity to photo the Rolls and also got some nice shots of the garden looking it's best and in the full bloom of May.
Looking at those shots above I can't believe the difference the heat of last 6 weeks have made to the garden. The azaleas are now all withered and half dead, the lawns are burnt and parched, but at least the lines of lavender are a full blaze of colour. We seem to have been inundated with birds. They are nesting under the eaves of the house and delight in taking a regular bath in the flowing water of the rills. For the first time ever a starling managed to crawl through the turbine blades of one of the chimney extractor fans high up on the roof. At the time I was washing down the windows outside and couldn't understand why some bird muck wouldn't come off until I realised it was on the inside of the window. Going in to the lounge to investigate I found a demented starling flying up and down, fouling everywhere, trying to escape. I managed to grab it and release it through a window, thinking us lucky that the bird hadn't destroyed some of the ornaments. In the meantime whist we await nets to be fitted inside the fans, I've stuffed a football up the chimney flues to prevent any future visits! With the rain easing up right at the start of June, we invited Mum down here to stay with us for a few days. Warm enough to be outside and enjoy day trips out we all had a good time touring locally, sampling the restaurants and having meals sitting out in the garden. One of the best things about the approach of Summer are the long balmy evenings, with the sun remaining bright well beyond 9.p.m. One evening on our nightly trip to the pub we stopped to watch a fabulous sunset, captured in the last two of these six photos of Mum.
As I promised earlier, the photos are nice and colourful! Here are a load more to follow. Now in mid June, a real heatwave landed over the country and we needed little excuse to yet again give the Aston a blast up the M6 towards Cumbria for a few days around our favourite lake there, Ullswater. As ever, we booked in to Sharrow Bay although the first night was fully occupied. I remembered another lake front hotel called Rampsbeck House where we once had a great evening meal, so we checked in and were very pleasantly surprised at the overall quality. In fact later this month we will be returning there, hoping for equally good weather. To avoid the heavy mid morning traffic on the motorway, we left home by 6.30 a.m. and were filling up the car soon after 9.a.m. in Penrith, North Lakes, which, to say the least, is pretty good going!! After dropping our things at Rampsbeck, we drove down to the marina next door with the intention of hiring a little boat for the morning. Unable to get the Aston over a speed hump in the marina driveway without probably ripping off it's front lower aerofoil, we reversed all the way back to the hotel and walked down! A footpath through Rampbeck's glorious gardens lead us through to Ullswater marina where for the princely sum of £18 per hour we 'chartered' a little chug chug boat, complete with 5 h.p. outboard engine, to slowly cruise the calm waters of the lake on this sunny Summer's day. Somewhat different from our Sunseeker Predator complete with twin 1100 h.p. inboards that we had in Spain, the morning was just as enjoyable as we observed the 10 m.p.h. lake speed limit (we had no choice!), following the shoreline up and down it's 8 mile length.
Three hours later and we had only covered the southern end of Ullswater, cruising down to Howtown, Glenridding, and back up to the marina along the Western edge of the lake. Passing away the rest of the afternoon around the hotel (washing the car!) we enjoyed a super evening meal at the hotel. Next day, and just as warm and sunny, we called in at the nearby Leeming House hotel mid morning before an appointment, yes, you've guessed it, to view another house that had just come on to the market up the lake at Patterdale. Well by now we had decided to isolate our property search to the environs of Ullswater having realised, in the Aston at least, we can get to junction 40 and the lake as quickly as Windermere off junction 36 of the motorway. Dennis remained slightly less enthusiastic about the whole idea than myself. Having to abandon the car half a mile away from the property due to the 'challenging' terrain up to the particular house, the efforts of traversing the steep rocky track to the house were surely amply rewarded by the far reaching views of Ullswater and Brotherwater in the distance. We didn't bother to ask the agent whether it was accessible come the Winter. We already knew the answer! So, first thing would be to buy a substantial 4x4. Quite an advantage really; I've always fancied a big Dodge Ram Laramie Megacab! Who cared if the water supply was courtesy of whatever rainwater ran off the surrounding fells! Oh well, I was particularly keen on the place and would have bought it there and then but Dennis couldn't be persuaded to see it's untapped potential! Just as we were leaving, the agent rang to say they'd just accepted an offer of it's asking price and so if we were interested we'd better bid more! Back to the drawing board!
We had booked in to Bank House, the farmhouse owned by Sharrow Bay Hotel at Howtown this following evening, and so headed on around to the quiet side of the lake early afternoon, greeted by the lovely Paula who manages Bank House. Following a cancellation we had the house to ourselves for the day, and enjoyed the afternoon walking the beautiful surrounding lower fells. Early evening we chose to just have a plate of sandwiches rather than the full evening meal extravaganza up at Sharrow. On this wonderful Summer's evening we didn't really want to be indoors stuffing ourselves with food. In the glorious sunset the open road beckoned and so we fired up the car for a whirlwind tour of the whole of The Lakes on the wonderfully deserted country lanes. Not a coach or caravan in site and so I drove the Aston as it was designed to be handled, taking it over towards Keswick, on to Grasmere, Rydal Water, Windermere, and finally back over the twisting Kirkstone Pass. The car held the road like a leach as Dennis dozed peacefully in the passenger's seat, blissfully unaware of the breakneck speeds I was achieving! We stopped off for a few photos of the sunset over The Langdale Pikes, returning to Bank House at 10 p.m. with the light still reflecting on the mirror calm lake, and the car plastered with insects.
Sleeping well on a relatively empty stomach, I was up early as always at Sharrow to climb Hallin fell before breakfast, taking my camera with me to capture the clear reflection on the dead calm lake. Always attracted to water and boats, we returned to the marina later that morning for a second excursion on the lake, this time taking in the Northern shoreline. In the calm and beauty of the day we passed a builder renovating a stone boat house that he told us had been destroyed in the now infamous January storms of 2005, when Carlisle town was completely flooded. Apparently the water levels of the lake had risen so dramatically that it reached the roofs of the boat houses and probably flooded some of the lakeside properties. Well, as they've always said about the place, 'when it rains, it rains!'.
To avoid the afternoon rush of traffic, we headed off back home early evening, again breaking all records, returning from the Southern Lakes to The Northern Cotswolds in little more than 2.15 minutes. Short but sweet, the last 48 hours couldn't have been more perfect; weather, location, accommodation, a great drive in a lovely car, and yes, we nearly bought that house this time! A footnote to this trip is that a week later, arguably the most desirable lake front property on Ullswater was launched on the market. On leaving Spain a few years ago we attempted to buy the house but the owner was impossible to deal with though we knew he wanted to sell. This time around he has segmented off all it's assets, namely the long private driveway, surrounding acres of garden and pasture, he will be remaining in the adjoining house, and has sub let the waterfront to boat owners who have access and have moored in the bay. The price tag is hence unrealistic and we have no intention to pursue the sale. It's funny that something that was always unobtainable yet so desirable is now suddenly undesirable whilst being obtainable! Obviously a lesson to be learned there somewhere!! Continuing with our boating theme, we once again took to the water this week with our neighbour and good friend Karen, hiring a narrowboat on the Oxfordshire canal where we motored up to a favourite pub, The Westerners' Arms for lunch at Aynho. Negotiating five locks and a swing bridge en route, three hours later we moored up besides the pub having managed a full 180 degree turnabout for our return trip. Again the weather was just perfect which is just as well as frankly it's not much fun to be stuck at the tiller on a miserable wet day! We soon got in to the swing of jumping ashore and winding up and down the sluices to let the water escape from the locks and send the boat either up to or down to the adjoining level whilst Dennis drove the narrowboat in to the lock. It is a really relaxing and peaceful way to pass the time, and there's no point in even attempting to be in a rush as the whole pace of things is definitely laid back, the speed limit being approximately 3 knots, at 'no wake speed', and no opportunity for overtaking. In fact we were very fortunate in not having to wait to use any of the locks. Below are a few pictures of our day's trip.
Well I think that brings all our recent news up to the current day. We hope you've enjoyed the photos and we wish everyone we know who reads this weblog a great Summer, and in the meantime, best wishes and regards from us both. Colin & Dennis. |
