Coast to Coast UK - U-turns!

 We had no real plan for our remaining days in the Lake District, but with a little local knowledge in the mix, one soon emerged. Our friend Ed it seemed, had lived here in his late teens, so he became our default tour guide.

At Ed’s suggestion we met at Wray Castle, a ‘weekender’ built in the Gothic form of a medieval castle, which stands overlooking Lake Windermere. Constructed in 1840 by a prominent retired surgeon, and used for summer holidays by Beatrix Potter’s family, it later became the residential training  college for  Merchant Navy radio officers, which is where Ed came in – he had lived here for three years!

The castle and its 64 acres of land is now owned by the National Trust and open to the public. It currently houses a  fantastic photography exhibition of two of the Lakeland’s great photographers, Rupert Potter, father of well-known Beatrix Potter, and Herbert Bell. Add to this experience, Ed’s tales of life here as a ‘lad’, and we had a fantastic time at Wray.

After exploring the ground floor rooms, the photo exhibition, and sampling the coffee and cake from the café, we wandered the paths down to the water’s edge where we climbed a rocky outcrop, before visiting the old boathouse where Ed shared tales of taking rowing boats across the lake to the pub on summer’s evenings.

We moved on to the quaint village of Hawkeshead, situated between the two lakes of Coniston and Windermere, for lunch and then decided to take the picturesque circular walk around nearby Tarn Hows. Finding the entrance to the property, however, became a series of u-turns, as we followed Ed and Jane’s car to get there. This led of course to much good-natured joking at Ed’s expense, but we all enjoyed the walk, eventually!

Following this lovely walk, it was decided that the lawns of the Wateredge Inn at Ambleside would be a great location for a late afternoon drink before rounding the day off with a traditional pub meal at the Inn.

It was a perfect day of shared stories, a great deal of laughter, exploration and discovery.

Wray Castle - not a bad weekender!

Tarn Hows circular walk - we got here eventually!

The rhododendrons are beautiful this year

Late night view of Lake Coniston


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