Mactimes3

Tuesday – Arrive from Canada at 10 am, pick up rental car no glitches. Set out for Culzean Castle. By pure chance our route took us though Alloway, looked pretty so we stopped. The Robbie Burns Memorial and Garden were just what we needed, wandered around town for an hour visiting the Auld Kirk, Brig ‘o Doon etc. There is a tea room called the Bank ‘o the Doon where we had a perfect lunch; the sandwiches / panni were freshly made and served with 4 kinds of salad, unfortunately still jet lagged and too tired for dessert which looked awesome and was locally made. Back in the car and arrive at Culzean at 2 pm.
Culzean Castle is as awesome as I remembered. Whisked past the gate without paying admission because we were staying. Special exemption to drive right up to castle gate where we were treated like royalty (bad pun). The Adam room was lovely, spacious with en suite. On the floor below there was a lovely large drawing room overlooking the Irish Sea where we were free to relax and have a drink (honour bar). Mr Mac had a lie down while I went for a quick walking tour of the grounds. Found the conservatory, a lovely beach access and delightful woodland walk. At 3:30 high tea was served, included beautiful variety of sandwiches, sweet cakes and scones with clotted cream (time to regret our late lunch). After tea had a tour of this very interesting home, which has just been delightfully refurbished after a generous American bequeathed them $$$. Went for a walking tour of the grounds that included lovely Port Carrick Beach and the Swan pond.
Back to the house where I lounged in the drawing room with a good book while Mr Mac had another quick shut eye. When we booked had the option of paying extra to have 3 course dinner in castle which we did. We had asked for dinner at 7:30 at which time we were served drinks in the drawing room while examining the menu and making our choices. 5 minutes after ordering a spectacular sunset over the Irish Sea emptied the room as a group of us rushed downstairs to sit by the castle wall and enjoy the show. Dinner was ready when we got back upstairs. A great variety of food to choose from and all very high quality and served to perfection. Nice wine list and they didn’t mind when I opened a nice bottle of Cab Franc ice wine I had brought from duty free and shared with other guests. Don’t tell anyone at the castle but wandered back down to the beach after dinner and had a little skinny dip…perfect evening.

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Wednesday – Had a nice breakfast and wander in the walled garden before leaving the castle. Took the fastest route we could find and it still took us 3 hours to get to Housesteads on Hadrian’s wall. Lucked into a free guided tour just starting and got a lot more out of the visit because of this. Had a short walk along the wall just to be there. What I did not appreciate going into this visit is that this location is totally worth the visit even if you are not the slightest bit interested in the Roman occupation. Hadrian built his wall to have great visibility in case of attack so the views are simply outstanding. Also stopped at Birdswold but I would strike this off your itinerary. No new information, not as well preserved as Housesteads and the worst National Trust site I have ever been to. Signs are cracked and peeling, wrecked by moisture, cannot read the history. Another drive, unfortunately at rush hour, arrive outside Keswick, lake District at 7pm.

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Thursday – The Hollies in Threlkeld was our home for three days. Andy and Sue were perfect hosts. Room was clean well appointed if a little small and the shower was awesome. The breakfast each day was very good and they could not have been more accommodating. Very knowledgeable about local area and helpful with choosing routes. Each morning Sue prints out full hiking weather for the next two days to allow for advance planning. Left in the morning for a drive / hike. Stopped at gallery at Thornthwaite. There was a great selection of high quality locally made items; wood, slate, jewellery, pottery and painting. Never found another shop with this quality the whole trip and wish I had got more things. Didn’t want to blow my whole budget the first day. Did a bit of Christmas shopping then headed for the hills. We stopped at the visitor centre of Whinlatter Pass Park and got advice on a hiking trail. Decided to bite the bullet and take on the hike to the top of Lords Seat, estimated time 3.5 hours. The walk took us just under 2 hours and at least 60% was on a road type of surface where you could have driven with a car. The parts through the woods were really nice and the views from the top (Derwentwater, Bassenthwiate) were good but I would not recommend this walk. As we drove out of the park toward Buttermere stopped at the path to Spout Force. Great little walk along a beautiful babbling brook, we enjoyed this very much and were rewarded with some wild orchids growing very close to the path. The drive south along Loweswater and Buttermere was amazing and I wished we had time to hike here. We did stop for the ice cream everyone talks about and it was just fine. I’m glad we didn’t wait in line for it. Drove up through Honister Pass and stopped at the slate mine. Didn’t take the tour but had a good look at the gift shop and bought a couple of things. Went for a “little” walk up the trails behind. We ended up being gone 2.5 hours and it was outstanding. We went straight up over Glaramara, down into the next valley and up Great Gable. From here we found a lovely seat in the heather and admired the shifting sun and cloud across Buttermere and Loweswater. I loved every minute of this hike; finally felt like this was what we came for. We had a dinner reservation at the Horse and Farrier in Threlkeld that night. The Hollies had quite rightly suggested we book in advance which I had done via email. We would not have gotten in without the reservation and food was A1. Local fare served well prepared and in large portions, perfect for walkers.

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Friday – Woke to rain, as had been predicted. Before breakfast I took a quick buzz up to Castlerigg Standing Stones. This location is totally worth the visit. The hilltop gives a great view of the surrounding mountains and it is well preserved so you can walk about and come to your own conclusions about why it was built. After a hearty breakfast headed out to Cockermouth and Egremont; which were both supposed to have market days. This was essentially a bust; 6 stalls at Cockermouth, none at Egremont. At Egremont had a drippy walk around the castle ruins in the middle of town. They have done an excellent job preserving and landscaping what is left with nicely put together boards explaining history. As we were close to the ocean and I am a water baby we headed out to St Bee’s. This is an outstanding beach. We arrived at low tide in pouring rain. The winds had waves crashing in one on top of each other. Mr Mac read his magazines in the car while I stripped down to shorts and waterproof jacket and went to walk the beach. Spent 60 minutes walking the length of beach through the pounding waves. Beach is sand but closer to the high tide mark are millions of rocks from 1 cm to 20 cm diam of a great variety of colour and make up. Stone collectors dream. There is a teahouse right on the beach with huge windows overlooking the strand. We sat here for a couple of hours, had lunch, drank tea and watched the tide come in. Food very inexpensive but good. I had baked potato with cheese and bacon, which was the perfect thing after a wet hour on the beach. We drove back to Keswick only to find the greatest market right where we had started the day! Dozens of stalls selling food, jewellery, used book, photographs. Had a great look about then went home to change into dry clothes for the theatre. Keswick really promotes it’s Theatre by the Lake and I had thought of booking tickets months ago but I know with summer theatre it can be very hit and miss and the directors descriptions sometimes barley represent the final product so I waited. The day I arrived enquired at B and B and Sue said “Noises Off” had been getting rave reviews. We purchased tickets Friday morning for Saturday night although had to accept two singles near each other. Best decision we ever made. I laughed so hard I almost fell off my chair. Brilliant job by the actors of what I am sure can be a very frenetic play. If you are going to be anywhere near the Lake District this year do yourself a favour and fit this in. The only place in town open for food after the play was a store front Pizza Panzerroti place…food was lip-smacking.

humptynumpty

This is our backyard : we live in Rockcliffe (Near Dumfries) and Lytham. MIL is in Braithwaite, my wife was born in St Bees. We were married in Thorntwaite church. This is Britain's best!

Really pleased that you made it to Castlerigg, I love it and Keswick market is one of the better ones. Did you see St Bee's church?

Whinlatter is our least favourite place, the cafe is great and a lovely design but the place is dumbing down The Lakes. There has been a huge increase in traffic in the area and yes! those wide "motorway" like paths through the forest are not our idea of the countryside. My late FIL spent years helping to build the original small paths and bridges, he would have displeased to have seen the current state of affairs with its high wire rides and all.

The slate mine is a tragic story. The owner was recently killed in his helicopter whilst travelling up to the mine. He went to Keswick school with my wife, had huge amounts of energy and a love of The Lakes.

Looking forward to the rest of your trip.

humptynumpty

sorry mac you know how to spell ThorntHwaite - that's 4 keys on our keyboard that do not work properly. We will never buy a Sony again (after only 18 months).

annhig

Hi Mac - nice report. the castle stay sounds great.

i smiled at your writing about the Theatre by the Lake- we went so many years ago that I can't really believe it.

looking forward to more.

irishface

Loving your story! Thanks for sharing. Could I just ask a favor, please? Dividing your report into paragraphs would make it so much easier to read!

When were you at Culzean? I love a secret skinny dip myself, but in the Irish Sea on a September evening makes me shiver. (I swam in the Irish Sea off County Wicklow once on a September afternoon of a very warm day. But it was more to say I had done it, than for enjoyment.)

Please continue.

Mactimes3

Thanks for the feed back, a few more days coming tonight. First swim in Irish Sea was the evening of Aug 31, but stay tuned more swimming to come. I didn't find the Irish Sea cold but wish the air was warmer.

I am sorry about the paragraphs. I write in MS Word and when i cut and paste over that phrasing seems to be lost. I will try to put it back in.

Mactimes3

NB - I miss labeled the first day so this is correcting mistake. Did not miss a day.

Sunday – Awoke to sun shining brightly in our window…hurrah. Packed, had a quick breakfast and headed out. Made another quick stop at the standing stones to see when not raining. Absolutely stunning view of surrounding hills. Drove south to Dove cottage car park at Grassmere. As if we Canadians don’t have enough trouble with the narrow roads and left side of the road driving you had to throw in a bicycle road race, Mr Mac was sure glad to park the car.

We walked along the Coffin Walk to Rydal, which is a lovely little walk, crossed the foot bridge and started down the west side. Andy, of The Hollies had again been very helpful and supplied us with a survey map of the area. About half way down, before you get to a babbling waterway (roaring pretty hard due to yesterday’s rain) there is an unmarked path going up. We went straight up and had another 2 hours of great walking. We went around the back of Scartufts then up to several summits on Loughrigg Fell. You can see down the valleys to at least 6 lakes located south, west and north. Spectacular. This is what I thought the Lake District would be like. Walk ends at a lovely stretch of beach on the south end of Grassmere Lake. Too many families with young children around on a Sunday afternoon for a skinny dip so I just dove in with all my clothes on, it felt great.

We had lunch at the tearoom at Dove Cottage and it was very good and reasonably priced. I took us into Grassmere for the famous Gingerbread and I wish I had not done that. Until then I thought the reports of commercialism in the Lake District were blown out of proportion. What a nightmare on a sunny Sunday afternoon. Our next destination was Low Raisgill B and B in the Yorkshire Dales and as we drove I debated the common sense of adding another stop but decided to go for it. I had read about the topiary garden at Leven’s Hall but wasn’t sure it was my cup of tea. I am so glad I did not miss it and I would highly recommend this stop.

I didn’t go in the house and you will see this is a common theme, there are a lot of gardens to come but i have no interest in older homes or art so my report will just be about the outsides. The garden is a work of art and I don’t just mean the topiary. If you have any interest at all in gardens the lay out of sight lines, variety of plant material and use of art work, mass plantings and architecture in this garden make it a must see. We were still able to arrive at Buckden before dark. We had dinner at the George Inn at Hubberholme. It was an average meal in a great atmosphere, priced moderately.

While we were away our hostess had started the fire in the lounge and we had a lovely evening in front of wood fire with novels and a glass of wine. This is a lovely bed and breakfast with well appointed rooms, a more than accommodating hostess and great breakfast. Our room even had a real bathtub which I took full advantage of after our hike. She even offered to do a little laundry for us, which we were very thankful for. She did not request anything extra for this but of course we gave her a little something.

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Monday – Woke to a steady drizzle, which caused an abrupt change of plans. We headed south from Buckden, a lovely drive and stopped at Parcevall Hall Gardens. This was a quite unique garden where they have made outstanding use of the natural geography of their 100-acre property. A small beck runs through the edge of the property and they have dammed it to create a waterfall, lake and terraced woods. A lovely hike allows you to approach the house through the orchard to walled gardens and perennial terraces. The rock garden is built on a large natural limestone cliff. The natural setting and excellent choice of plants makes this the nicest rock/alpine garden I have ever seen, rivalling the one in the Edinburgh botanical gardens because of the natural setting. Another thing I loved about this garden was the variety and location of seating options where you could stop and “smell the roses”. Many of them were covered so that you can enjoy the garden on a drizzly day, giving Mr Mac a comfortable place to rest while I ran around testing the resilience of my Nikon.

Driving a little way down the road we arrived at the Brinham Rocks. We enjoyed this stop, the rain had stopped and now just overcast. The rocks make for an interesting hike and I would say this is a must if you are travelling with children. Only a couple of pounds for parking and the kids will exhaust themselves scrambling about on the rocks. The day was passing faster than expected when we made our next stop at Fountain Abbey.

This stop got a 6/10 from both Mr and i. They have it set up so there is way too much walking for what you get to see. The interpretive centre has been very nicely set up inside the old porters house and this was carefully done so it cannot be seen from the outside. The history of the abbey is well laid out and explained, best part of the stop. There is not enough of the abbey remaining to give a real sense of what it was like. A mile long hike takes you to a “water garden” which is really just two lakes connected by a canal. Boring and time consuming. It was too late in the day for Rippon so we headed north hoping to see the Forbidden Corner garden, unfortunately, what none of the literature I had seen mentioned is, you need to book a visit here at least 4 days in advance. We had a very nice pub dinner at the George and Dragon in Aysgarth. Food fresh, nice variety and a good selection of local bitters. At home the lounge was warmed up with a nice fire again so settled in for another very enjoyable evening.

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Tuesday – It rained hard all night and it was still drizzling in the morning so we shelved the hiking again and decided to visit York. The drive from Low Raisgill to Buckden (2 miles) takes you through the bottom of the vale. Went through several stretches of road that were under 6 inches of water and our little Kia handled it fine but then we came around a corner where water was actually flowing across the road. I took off my shoes and socks and rolled up my pants and waded in to see how deep it was. When it was over my knees and still getting deeper I turned back. We backed up to the first drive just on time to clear the way for a local delivery truck. One of the drivers came out to scout the situation. I explained how it was over my knees but he explained he could walk through because he had the “right” boots. He came hiking back defeated when the water was going to go over his boots. A fuel truck approaching from the other direction also backed out. We followed the delivery guys on an alternate “high” route that was only under 6” but ran right beside the river. The river had flooded its banks to the point it was lapping the road. As we drove toward Grassmere on the way to York we discussed what would happen if the water went higher (remember it was still raining) so we turned around, went back, got our stuff and checked out early. Our hostess was very understanding.

When we drove out the second time the sun had started shining so we took the back road from Kettlewell to Malham. This is an awesome drive and worth it just for the road trip. Once in Malham we chose a 5 mile hike up to Malham Cove, up above the top, over the downs to Gordale Scar and then to Janet’s Foss and back to town. This was a true dales hike and we benefited a lot from listening to this list and having our various clothing layers with us. We started out in shirt sleeves in the sun at Malham Cove, 10 minutes after Malham Cove we were hiking through a driving rain that wouldn’t even allow us to look around and by the time we came back into town the sun and wind had dried my quick dry pants…amazing. We had a well-deserved lunch at the hotel pub in Malham.

The drive to York took 90 minutes and got us there in the late afternoon. Due to our bailout we were without accommodations and stopped at The Minster Hotel (www.yorkminsterhotel.co.uk) since it was the first place we saw that had availability and could get us off the road. This is marked as a 3 star hotel but we thought it was great. The bed was a four-poster with lovely memory foam mattress. Parking and a huge breakfast were included and location is perfect for visiting York.

We loved York and are so glad we spent an evening there. Spent the late afternoon strolling around town, the cathedral and the wall. With a few exceptions you can circumnavigate the town on the top of the old stonewall. We decided to take advantage of being in town and went for a bit of a pub-crawl. The Black Swan, The Hole in the Wall and The Dutchess; live music at two venues even though it was a Tuesday night.

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Wednesday – Most of the day spent on family history stuff of no interest to list but we finished the day at The Finches Arms in Rutland. The location was recommended to us by this list and it was 5 star from beginning to end. It is newly renovated, looks traditional on outside but inside sort of a Zen / Scandinavian look. Everything was very comfortable. Dinner was marvellous and they allowed us to mix and match things from several menus to create the meal we wanted. Drinks and wine good quality with lots of choices of wine by the glass. Can’t imagine why anyone would go to Rutland but once you are there you can do quite a nice hike all around the peninsula, a juxtaposition of old and new. This area has been taken over by people with money to spend. In Canada we would call these homes McMansions but perhaps in the UK you call them McCastles?

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Thursday – More family stuff. At the end of the day made a couple of stops. The Rollright Standing stones at Chipping Norton were interesting to see but I would not drive out of my way to get there. They are small local stones and the location is not remarkable. A stop at Braodway tower is well worth your time. We hiked up to the base of the tower and the view is indeed amazing. I hesitated to spend money to go into tower. I argued how much better could the view be, but Mr Mac prevailed and we went in. He was totally right and I would recommend this stop. The tower is in very good condition and there is an excellent museum quality display of information on each level explaining the history of tower and area. The view from the top is indeed amazing and the geographical markers well demarcated.

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Thursday (Addendum) - I don't know how I could have forgotten but Thursday afternoon we also made a stop at Buscot Park. This formal garden will always hold a place in my heart. I really enjoyed the cool calm sense of this place. Centuries of care of the same geographic area have created a real atmosphere. The use of art work and sight lines stand out. No matter where you look in this garden your eye is drawn further into the garden. The water garden and walled garden stand out for me. I also loved the way they used vegetables in the perrenial beds as decorative and functional part of the garden. A magical place to visit.

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Friday – Started the day south of Gloucester. First stop was Tintern Abbey, which was amazing. Interesting to see that the lay out of this second Cistercian Abbey was the same as Fountain but much more of it is preserved. I found this Abbey had a much stronger sense of place, totally worth the stop.

Second stop was Roman remains at Caerleon. There is a well laid out museum and the amphitheatre was interesting.

Drove from here north to the Ironworks and Big Pit: National Coal Museum at Blaenavon. The tour down into the mine was free and would have been worth paying for. The miners themselves currently still give the tour and they are close enough to the history to make it very real. This is an important part of Welsh history and I am glad we saw it. I had quite an emotional reaction to the lives of those who worked below. Whatever you do don’t arrive here hungry and try to eat at the canteen…worst “food” I have ever had. The combination of medieval abbey, roman fortress and industrial revolution made for an interesting day. I keep realizing how short our Canadian history really is.

On the way to accommodations made a quick stop at Aberglasney Garden. A quick stop was all it was worth. The old stonewalls offer a potentially unique setting which they have totally not taken advantage of. If you love gardens take this stop off your list. We booked ourselves into a farm B and B in Porthyrhyd as a last minute choice. The food at local pub, The Abadad Arms, was plentiful and well cooked. Fferm Glanyrynys is a very plain farm and I almost drove away but I am glad I didn’t. Room is clean and very comfortable, large ensuite bath. The breakfast of homemade bread and farm raised sausage and bacon was the best of our vacation. If I were in the area again wouldn’t hesitate to stay here again.

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Saturday – This was a bit of a driving day since we had to cover Wales from south to north. We got to Aberystwyth around lunchtime. Drove all morning in the rain and it was blowing in hard at the beach. I stripped down to bathing suit and rain jacket and went for a walk on the beach. This beach does have some rocks worth scouting about in but too much in the middle of town for my liking. The 10-foot rollers were pounding in one on top of the other and driving the rocks with them. I am not sure what it would be like to swim here. Definitely distant second to St Bee’s.

Driving north made several stops. Machynlleth for a supposed craft store offering work by a variety of artist. It was not of the unique qualities I was expecting so no purchases. Sun had come out so we purchased two sandwiches and sweets from local bakery and headed north to lake Tal y llyn for a picnic. Of course by the time we had covered the 5 miles it was raining and blowing so hard we couldn’t see the road!

Pushed north to Birthdir to visit the lovely little church. We enjoyed the church and grounds in the rain and then ate our sandwiches in the car park. Made a short stop in Porthmadog but seemed a big tourist trap so carried on to Caernarfon. It was late in the day and castle had just closed so we sat out in the sun at the Anglesey café and enjoyed a glass of Chardonnay while watching the wandering people and the tide coming in. Back in the car for the last push to Benllech.

We were booked for our final three nights at the Woodlands B and B. Moved into a nice room, comfortable bed and beautiful bathroom. One very nice touch is the lounge has an honour bar with a nice variety of choices. We walked down a lovely path through the hedgerows to a restaurant called the The Ship Inn on the beach at Red Wharf Bay. It is a very busy place and the bustling I found less than restful but the food was excellent. Definitely an 8/10 and I would recommend this as a place to eat. Prices quite reasonable.

di2315

Thanks, Mac - you've given me some more possibilities to visit next year. Di

annhig

Hi Mac - lovely to read about so many gardens!

i totally agree about Parcevall Hall. I just came across it during our stay in the Dales in April and at that time, the orchard was in full blossom.

shame though about Aberglasney. i've had it on our "to do" for some time as we shuttle DS to and fro to uni in Wales, but not get there yet - no, i don't think we'll bother, especially as DH is not exactly keen on "yet another b...dy garden".

i did get him into the National garden of Wales though and he loved it! by the looks of it you gave it a miss, which is a pity.

totally agree about Aberystwyth. we stayed there for a night on the way back from the Dales [again delivering DS to uni enroute] and were underimpressed. The position is superb but the town is sadly very run down.

looking forward to more!

Mactimes3

I was very sorry to have missed the National Garden of Wales but it was after closing when we got there and they did not open until 10 am. We had to drive all the way to Anglesey that day and didn't think I should wait.

One of the things about formal gardens is those late opening times. I love being in my garden in the early morning, dew on the flowers and lighting better for pictures. I would get up early to visit gardens at this time. It's not like it takes a lot of staff to service people wandering around the garden. One of my great joys at Threave Gardens in Dumfries, they shut the shop and entrance at 5 pm but once you are in you are welcome to stay as long as you like. I was still wandering around there at 7 pm watching the changing light on the place...magical.

My husband also not a gardener but he is a big napper and I have no patience for an afternoon nap when on vacation so he sleeps in the car and i get my fix...everybody wins.