A day at Waitby School in pictures
Sunrise from my bed
Today we’ve had a normal day at Waitby. Nothing unusual at all. We woke up, walked, drove around the Lakes, lunched and came home. But it has also been a wonderful day. So I thought I would share it, if only to give guests ideas for what to do when they stay here.
And, as a person with a tendency to write 10 words when one will do, I’m going to try to keep it brief and let the images tell the story…
Woke up and pulled the curtains back: the visibility was crisp and clear across the fells with the rising sun flashing picture perfect rays across the sky. Stayed in bed with coffee for far too long, catching up with some work in between admiring the view and watching the hares play in the garden.
After breakfast, we went on our favourite walk across the Smardale Gill viaduct, through the nature reserve, crossing Packhorse Bridge and up across the fells back into Smardale (the walk is described in full in our guest information pack). We paused at the bridge for tea and Jaffa Cakes.
Smardale Viaduct
Walking towards Ravenstonedale
Sheep everywhere!
View from the top of the world
After that we drove to the Lakes, stopping off briefly at Rheged to buy a few presents. Gracie had a quick venture down the mega slide in the play area. I nearly had a go, but was worried about my backside getting stuck and emergency services needing to be called.
We headed to Grasmere and lunched at Baldry’s coffee shop. Try this if you are ever in the area – as I’ve already tweeted, this is a treasure island in an ocean of greasy Panini dross. The food is very good, the vintage ambiance clean and fresh and the service friendly (once again, I must apologise for the tea spill).
We meandered our way back through the Lakes, revelling in the clear light, Sigur Ros playing loud, the low autumn sun accentuating every minute detail of the hills and water with breath-taking clarity.
Incredible autumn light on the lakes
We stopped off briefly in Penrith for essential supplies from @J&JGraham – including my favourite tea, Vodka from a local distillery and a slab of handmade fudge from the Toffee Shop for @njohnston1275 and @DJFlash23 (don’t tell them, it’s a surprise).
The sun was setting as we returned, the clouds in the sky lit up in pink and red across the fells.
view from the car…
Returning back from a few civilised drinks in a local pub, the home made steak and kidney pie is in the oven and the red wine is disappearing at an alarming rate while enjoying the Jacuzzi.
Big moon tonight
Pie!
The owls are hooting outside, there’s an enormous low moon on the horizon and the wood burning stove is crackling away. All the stress of the last few months is sloughing off. Perfect.
Tomorrow we are meeting Paul Steele (@paul_steele) for a quick trot around Lacey’s Caves and Little Salkeld, then lunch.
Now, wasn’t that brief and concise, compared to the normal length of my blogs?