Wednesday, June 6, 2018

Scotland - Part 2

Last time, I told you about the first part of our trip to England/Scotland. I ended the first post with our trip to Bramall Hall. Read it here.
We saw lots and lots of sheep - love the stone wall fences
After eating supper in the town of Bramhall, we headed to Kendal to our B&B for the night. Hillside B&B was charming and Richard, the host, was so nice.
Me in front of Hillside B&B

The flowers were beautiful growing out of the stone wall in front of the B&B.

Bruce
 We had a beautiful room that looked out over the street. We slept well that night!

The next morning, we got up, ate breakfast, and headed into town to walk around. We saw this coffee house:
Isn't the sign the best?

A view down one of the streets:

We enjoyed seeing the different shops. The town was so quaint and beautiful. I really liked the bookstore window.

Afterwards, we packed up the car and headed into the Lake District to go see Beatrix Potter's farm.

We saw daffodils galore blooming along the roadside:

Stunning views of the countryside:


We arrived at the ferry crossing - almost to Hilltop Farm!

 After a short ferry ride and drive, we arrived at Near Sawrey and Hilltop Farm. I was in heaven! I got to visit the home of one of my favorite artist! It was fascinating to walk through Hilltop and imagine Beatrix's life.

It is now a museum with much of Beatrix's possessions. My favorite was seeing her writing desk with one of her letters with sketches on it.

After touring the house, we walked out in the gardens around the house. It was raining on and off and even sleeted for a couple of minutes!



From there, we walked around Near Sawrey. The sky was getting darker and darker, threatening rain and it was so chilly! We saw a B&B with a sign out front inviting you in for tea. We decided it would be a good way to warm up. Oh how I love an English Cream Tea!
It was just in time too, as it started pouring rain just as we got seated. Fortunately, by the time we finished our tea, the rain had stopped and the sun peeked out.
We stopped in the gift shop where I bought one of Beatrix's books - The Tale of Mr. Tod.  ðŸ˜Š

There were plenty of pretty blooms to see as well:

Back in the car, we headed north toward Scotland. We saw some stunning scenery. Mountains, lakes, and charming towns. We stopped in Keswick for lunch...I somehow didn't take any pictures of that town but it was charming too! I would love to go back and spend more time in the Lake District.

 We finally crossed the border into Scotland and drove toward our next destination: Oban. We went through Glasgow (got there during rush hour so lots of traffic). We didn't stop but drove on through to the Loch Lomond & Trossach's National Park. It was very spectacular!






Again, it's an area I'd love to go back to and spend time in instead of just driving through. But we had to reach Oban for the night so we only pulled off a couple of times to take pictures. The waterfall was quite spectacular!

The clouds were hanging low over the mountains. I took this picture out of the car windshield so it's not all that great.

This was our longest day in the car but after many long miles on narrow 2 lane roads, we finally made it to Oban just before dark. We checked into our B&B and then set out to find some supper. We barely managed to get in before they closed but we did and got to enjoy a bowl of chowder. Then it was back to the B&B for rest and to get ready for our next day of adventure.
Oban is on the coast
That's it for this time. I'll try to finish it up next week with one more post. I hope you've enjoyed seeing a bit of our trip. The photos just don't do justice to the beauty of the land.

PS
Blogger is no longer sending me email updates of your comments so I have to come back to the post to read them and respond. Please know that I am reading each one and responding in the post comments. This is very annoying to me and I want you to know to check back here to see my response to your comment.


13 comments:

  1. oh, Cecilia! Just wonderful ! You are dwarfed by that stone wall at the B&B! And those scones ! they look so big and yummy! I don't think I could ever leave if I went over t here !

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    1. It was wonderful. Yep, that was one tall wall. Just gorgeous with those flowers!

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  2. I love it! I’m so glad you had the opportunity to visit this beautiful country Cecilia!

    P.S. your site looks different. Did you do something or is google playing around with things sgain? 🙄

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    1. Thanks, Doreen. Me too!

      No, I changed it. Wanted a different look so I'm trying this one out.

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  3. Love love love living vicariously through you Cecilia. This trip was so much fun. Love seeing all the beauty and also the history to the old homes and buildings. Ahhhhh. That stone wall with the flowers growing out of it just made my heart smile. So happy you and Bruce could have this fabulous trip.
    Have a great day.
    Hugs,
    Kris

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    1. It was just amazing, Kris. I want to go back and stay longer! And go when the bluebells are blooming. Right now, I'd love to have those rainy cool days. We're an oven down here! 😜

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  4. I am totally jealous, haven't been to Europe since my honeymoon 23 years ago! It looks like it was such a fabulous trip, seriously -- I'm so glad you got to see Beatrix's place:) BTW I share your frustration re: Blogger comments -- aarrrgh! xo Kathleen

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    1. I could go every year! Wish we could have stayed longer but I'm so happy we got to see all we did. It's so pretty!

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  5. The scenery is just breathtaking. I can pnly imagine your excitement visiting Beatrix Potter's place. How awesome! I'm sure you guys made some wonderful memories. I'm glad you shared about the comment thing...I was wondering what was going on. I guess I need to go see if I have comments on my last post. That is a little aggravating isn't it? Have a great week. Hugs, Vicky

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    1. Thanks Vicky! Yes it seems all of Blogger is having issues. It's really annoying. I have to keep checking back on the post to see if anyone has commented...takes up list of time.
      The pictures just don't do the scenery justice. I was completely enthralled! So beautiful! Longing to go back to spend more time in different areas!

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  6. Oh my goodness--those purple blooms! Beautiful! Aww I haven't read Mr. Tod ;) I'm on the lookout for more Beatrix Potter books before Ginger Grand's visit!

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    1. I really wanted to see the heather and blue bells in bloom but we were too early. Still what we saw was stunning. I hadn't read Mr Tod either. I enjoyed it. Ginger Grand would like it - the fox and badger are quite the characters. :)

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  7. How I enjoyed this part! Oh, Cecilia, how incredible it must have been to see Beatrix Potter's Lake District farm...and her house!
    You took some beautiful pictures... I'm sure it was even more breath taking in person!
    Thank you for sharing your trip with us!
    Sending love your way!

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