September 12, 2018 Beatrix Potter and Wordsworth

Woke to sunshine and it lasted nearly all day. We ate our breakfast and started for Hill Top Farm, Beatrix Potter’s first farm. Our GPS tried to take us on a ferry that was closed today so we reverted to Google and soon arrived. It is a National Trust site so we parked and entered for free. It was fun to learn about her life and see all the books and paintings. I loved Beatrix Potter's Peter Rabbit when I was little. We walked through the tiny village of Near Sawrey and then drove to Hawkshead for lunch and to see the Beatrix Potter Gallery.

We found change for parking and started our lunch search. After checking a few menus, we entered The Queen’s Head Pub and Restaurant. Ed ordered his favorite sea bass and I decided to be adventurous and ordered a lamb tagine made with apricots, raisins, red peppers and almonds. It was fabulous . . . just spicy enough and very tender. Ed got the sticky toffee pudding and I got a Marquise au Chocolat for dessert. Beautiful old building and a delightful lunch.

We visited the Beatrix Potter Gallery . . . also National Trust . . . and then looked through a couple other interesting galleries in town before retrieving the car and setting off for Wordsworth’s Dove Cottage.

You must take a guided tour of Dove Cottage so we went through the museum while waiting for our tour to start. At Dove Cottage our young lady guide was from Riverside, California and very enthusiastic. We went through the house then explored the garden on our own. The house contained a lot of memorabilia from Wordsworth. He lived here with his sister Dorothy for eight years. When he married in 1802, his wife and her sister joined the Wordsworths at Dove Cottage. In 1808 after the arrival of three children, the Wordsworths left Dove Cottage to seek larger lodgings. They put a great deal of thought into the garden and the National Trust has tried to replicate it in a like style. It is truly lovely.

Got the car and drove back through Ambleside, Windermere and Bowness on the way home. Again noted the very tall monument spotted as you approach Ulverston and later discovered it is the Sir John Barrow Monument on the top of Hoad Hill. Built in 1850, it looks like a lighthouse because it is modeled on an earlier version of the Eddington Lighthouse. Stopped in Dalton at Coop for groceries and car window cleaner and then home for the evening. Our very taciturn landlord greeted us and exchanged a few words. Very quiet fellow . . . but very nice.