20 Sept., Saturday: Off to the Lake District

Oh so hard to leave our friends, but they have made a tentative promise to come visit us in the States next spring, so I will focus on that instead of saying goodbye.

Up the road to Stone--it rained the entire way--to see new friends, Peter and Margaret Sage and their sweet little dog, Tilly (see pictures of all posted here). They treated us to lunch at the nearby pub, The Three Crowns, and then we drove on to Ambleside. After coping with driving on the "other" side of the road all day, I am beat, but we checked into our apartment and walked down the hill into town to get a few groceries.

Here are a couple of pictures taken from our balcony near sunset. I will try to get some better ones in the morning. The view is the best things about the apartment, but we cooked for ourselves (Tesco's frozen shepard's pie) for the first time in almost 3 weeks!

19 Sept., Friday: Our last day in Chastleton

It was a somewhat quieter day which started with a trip to the garden center in Moreton, ostensibly for coffee. Coffee at the garden center? you might well ask, but garden centers here are a whole different species than back in the states. Our garden centers or nurseries might have a few gift items with plant or flower themes, but that cannot begin to touch the array of gift items available here. There was a restaurant, they sold clothes, food stuffs, hundred of cards for all occasions, gift items galore--and, oh yes, plants and flowers! We spent the rest of the morning/early afternoon looking at maps with Brian who grew up in the Lake District and had some wonderful suggestions for things to do. Since we cannot begin to see it all, it helped to have personal recommendations.
Friday night we drove to this amazing old church in Burton Dassett (about 45 minutes away) out in the country now, though in medieval times it was a thriving village. It dates back to the 1300's and there are some remaining fragments of paintings on the walls from that period as well. Apparently the village failed for two reasons: a ruthless new landlord who threw many farmers off the land, and the plague of 1348. The choir of which Di is a member, did acapella performances of old English ballads and more contemporary songs as can be seen from the program. Interspersed were wonderful and often hilariously funny readings by two women on the vicissitudes of love.