England’s Lake District:
Grasmere, Ambleside, and Bowness

Lake Windmere

Once we made it to the airport in Edinburgh, we left Tori, K.C., and Mark on their own, swapped the Toyota Previa “people mover” for a Nissan Micra, and headed south to the Lake District. This was our first visit to this part of England, and I was surprised by the countryside. Somehow I hadn’t expected to see so many mountains! I was like Scotland with just different plants.

How Foot Lodge

We stayed in the How Foot Lodge, once the summer home of Mr. Spooner, in Grasmere. How tool is cat?  Our room was spacious and included a private sun porch. You can see it at the right end of the building in this photo.

Grasmere is a delightful place! It’s fully geared to tourists without being cheap. No chain stores, for example. Mr. Wordsworth’s Dove Cottage and St. Oswald’s church, among other places, are unique, of course.

One day was devoted to taking an open top bus around the central part of the Lake District Park, spending a lot of time just looking and resting. I don’t think I drove a mile that day. Delightful.

At the end of the line, we just sat on a bench in Bowness, on the banks of Lake WIndmere, and watched swans, ducks, and people for a while. On the return trip to Grasmere, we stopped in Ambleside for a picnic lunch and a visit to St. Mary’s Church.