Well, it has taken me almost a week to get around to it but here is an update on our holiday! Don't worry you'll not get a day-by-day run down, just the basics - I haven't the time for anything other than that right now!
The drive up to the Lake District was remarkably easy on the Monday morning with no hold ups at all, not even on the M6, which is a miracle in itself and we arrived in Ulpha at around 1:00PM. As we could not get into the cottage until 3:00PM, we carried on to Seathwaite and the Newfield Inn for lunch. This turned out to be a great choice of stop off - the food was excellent, the drinks more than refreshing after the long drive and the pub itself a real gem. The Inn dates back to the 17th century and even has its original slate floor in the bar!
When we booked the holiday the only thing I really wanted was somewhere that was out of the way and with some sort of view - we certainly got both! The cottage was well away from any sort of built up area and looked straight out onto the fells! The only interruptions we had to put up with at the cottage were the odd visit from one of the cats or dogs from the farm that the cottage was a part of and even they got bored of us after the first day or so!
The rest of the week, until Friday morning, was spent either walking in the local area, along the cliff tops to St Bees Head RSPB Reserve or visiting some of the towns and villages. The weather was hot for the most part without being so hot that it stopped us getting out and about. The only day that I would say that it came close to being unbearable was on the Wednesday when we visited St Bees Head. By the time we arrived back at the car after a walk of about seven miles we were just about beat! Having said that, it was good to see all the sea birds that were nesting along the cliffs.
A trip to Bowness-on-Windermere was about as close to being "tourists" as we got during the week. Even though this is one of the hot-spots for people visiting the Lakes, it didn't feel too commercialised and the "real ice-cream" was excellent!
As the cottage was so well placed we didn't even bother with the car on the final day, instead we chose to walk down the valley from the farm and then along the side of the River Duddon. This took us down into the village of Ulpha itself which we reckon must be made up of about a dozen houses at most! As I say, this is a very out of the way place!
So, after a very relaxing week in the peace and quiet of the Lakes, it was time to move on to Center Parcs. The drive over to the Center Parcs village took us around an hour and a quarter, having got stuck behind a rather slow tour bus coming over the mountains near Ullswater, and as we pulled onto the road leading to the car park so did Lynda's brother! He had set off from Nottingham around four hours earlier and arrived just as we did! Perfect timing! We were then joined by John and Sue an hour or so later. Time to start part two of our holiday!
Center Parcs, for us, is always a mix of eating, drinking, chill out time and playing around in the swimming pools and water slides - this weekend was no different! We had some great food, the Italian and Chinese restaurants were very good, plenty to drink - Saturday night became the early hours of Sunday far too quickly thanks to the alcohol - and also plenty of time to just relax either in the pool area or back at our "villa".
One of the bonuses of having our little niece, Chloe, with us was that it gave us an excuse to act like kids even more than we would normally! So, water fights became the norm when in the pool, extra goes down the water slides were a must and I even got talked into doing some colouring by Chloe, who was more than happy to share her pens with me!
Monday was the last day of our holiday, we spent the morning in the pool area again before Lynda and I said goodbye to the rest of the family and headed off to the spa. After all the fun and chaos of the weekend this final three hours was total relaxation! There were very few people in the spa during the afternoon and we came away equally as chilled out as we had been after our time in the cottage in the hills.
Now, after a week back home and back at work I'm ready for our next break!
Try as I might I cannot get any photos to load onto this Blog tonight, so I have put a few on a separate link! If you open the thumbnails, I have put some titles on each photo so that they make a little more sense!
The drive up to the Lake District was remarkably easy on the Monday morning with no hold ups at all, not even on the M6, which is a miracle in itself and we arrived in Ulpha at around 1:00PM. As we could not get into the cottage until 3:00PM, we carried on to Seathwaite and the Newfield Inn for lunch. This turned out to be a great choice of stop off - the food was excellent, the drinks more than refreshing after the long drive and the pub itself a real gem. The Inn dates back to the 17th century and even has its original slate floor in the bar!
When we booked the holiday the only thing I really wanted was somewhere that was out of the way and with some sort of view - we certainly got both! The cottage was well away from any sort of built up area and looked straight out onto the fells! The only interruptions we had to put up with at the cottage were the odd visit from one of the cats or dogs from the farm that the cottage was a part of and even they got bored of us after the first day or so!
The rest of the week, until Friday morning, was spent either walking in the local area, along the cliff tops to St Bees Head RSPB Reserve or visiting some of the towns and villages. The weather was hot for the most part without being so hot that it stopped us getting out and about. The only day that I would say that it came close to being unbearable was on the Wednesday when we visited St Bees Head. By the time we arrived back at the car after a walk of about seven miles we were just about beat! Having said that, it was good to see all the sea birds that were nesting along the cliffs.
A trip to Bowness-on-Windermere was about as close to being "tourists" as we got during the week. Even though this is one of the hot-spots for people visiting the Lakes, it didn't feel too commercialised and the "real ice-cream" was excellent!
As the cottage was so well placed we didn't even bother with the car on the final day, instead we chose to walk down the valley from the farm and then along the side of the River Duddon. This took us down into the village of Ulpha itself which we reckon must be made up of about a dozen houses at most! As I say, this is a very out of the way place!
So, after a very relaxing week in the peace and quiet of the Lakes, it was time to move on to Center Parcs. The drive over to the Center Parcs village took us around an hour and a quarter, having got stuck behind a rather slow tour bus coming over the mountains near Ullswater, and as we pulled onto the road leading to the car park so did Lynda's brother! He had set off from Nottingham around four hours earlier and arrived just as we did! Perfect timing! We were then joined by John and Sue an hour or so later. Time to start part two of our holiday!
Center Parcs, for us, is always a mix of eating, drinking, chill out time and playing around in the swimming pools and water slides - this weekend was no different! We had some great food, the Italian and Chinese restaurants were very good, plenty to drink - Saturday night became the early hours of Sunday far too quickly thanks to the alcohol - and also plenty of time to just relax either in the pool area or back at our "villa".
One of the bonuses of having our little niece, Chloe, with us was that it gave us an excuse to act like kids even more than we would normally! So, water fights became the norm when in the pool, extra goes down the water slides were a must and I even got talked into doing some colouring by Chloe, who was more than happy to share her pens with me!
Monday was the last day of our holiday, we spent the morning in the pool area again before Lynda and I said goodbye to the rest of the family and headed off to the spa. After all the fun and chaos of the weekend this final three hours was total relaxation! There were very few people in the spa during the afternoon and we came away equally as chilled out as we had been after our time in the cottage in the hills.
Now, after a week back home and back at work I'm ready for our next break!
Try as I might I cannot get any photos to load onto this Blog tonight, so I have put a few on a separate link! If you open the thumbnails, I have put some titles on each photo so that they make a little more sense!
Click here for holiday photos!
Sounds like a wonderful location Rich.
ReplyDeleteThe cat and dog must have been the welcoming commitee stopping by to
be sure the guests were settled in comfortably. What a woderful suprise
to run into Lynda's brother. Sorry you got stuck behind the tour bus. They
have to drive slow so the tourists get their money's worth and see EVERY-
THING. Wouldn't want them to miss sight of an english rabbit LOL.
Just remember you NEVER need a little one around as an EXCUSE to
act like kids. Life's too short to wait for that opportunity. Be a kid all you want.
Sounds like you had a fantastic time sorry it all had to end :-(