Our Mini-moon

Thursday 20th July
Dressed in my wifey jumper, we got on the road at about 8:45am to head for The Tawny Hotel in Stoke-on-Trent. With a cuppa and toilet stop, the drive took us just under 4 hours in total. During the journey we reminisced about memories from the wedding, wishing we could do it all again!

It was about 1pm when we arrived and our room wasn’t ready yet so we went to the restaurant for some lunch. We both had these delicious focaccia sandwiches with chips, looking out over the grounds from the restaurant.

Once we finished eating, we went for a wander around the 70 acres of beautiful grounds that their luxury rooms are spread out all over. We then relaxed by the pool for a bit until our room was ready.

We checked in at reception and then a porter took us and our liggage to our room in a buggy. The room was so lovely…

We filled the hot tub and had an afternoon dip on the balcony.

We then got ready for dinner and went for a pre-dinner drink (which our neighbours had very kindly rung up and arranged for us as a surprise).

We then had dinner, which was delicious!

After dinner we went back to our room and relaxed before having the best 10 hour sleep we have both had in a long time!

Friday 21st July
The next morning we had a lovely little brekfast hamper delivered to our room.

Post breakfast, I had to make use of the bath with a view.

We packed up the room and got on the road at about 10:45am, to head towards the Lake District. With a quick lunch stop, the journey took about 4 hours in total and was very pretty – we had to stop to admire the view a few times.

As the weather was nice, we thought we’d make the most of the day as it looked like it was going to be quite wet for the rest of our stay. So we drove straight to Buttermere lake. We parked up and walked the length of the lake, it really was beautiful and lovely and quiet.

We then drove the scenic route to Threlkeld, where our accommodation for the next few days was, a little shepards hut.

We arrived with a lovely chatty lady welcoming us to ‘In the Vale’. She told us all about the accommodation and the local area and we then unpacked the car and checked into our lovely shepards hut…

We were really hungry so went straight back out again to the local village, Keswick to get some fish and chips for dinner. We sat by the lake and ate them.

We wandered for a little bit and then headed back to our accommodation. We tried to set up the hot tub but we couldnt warm it enough in time before the rain started coming down heavier, so we lit the log burner instead and sat warming by that before bed.

Saturday 22nd July
Despite the rain we headed out to do Keswick Park Run. It was a very picturesque run and everyone was so friendly.

We then drove round to the west side of Derwentwater lake for brunch at a lovely place called Lingholm Kitchen.

We wandered round the walled gardens afterwards, which were the original inspiration for Beatrix Potter for Mr McGregor’s garden in The Tale of Peter Rabbit. We were in awe of there veggie patches!

We headed home to shower and change and then got back on the road to head to Grasmere. Once there we queued up for some of Grasmere’s famous Gingerbread, invented by Sarah Nelson in 1854. We walked along the side of Grasmere lake and paused to admire the view and try out the gingerbread with a cuppa.

We found a peaceful spot next to the lake and sat and took it all in for a while.

We replaced lunch with a Gelato – it was delish!

As we weren’t too far away from Windermere we decided to drive there just to check it out. The weather had turned though so there wasnt much of a view unfortunately. So instesd we wandered round the village of Ambleside, which was nice.

We then drove back to our shepards hut and spoke to the lady about possibly upgrading to one of their larger barns for the next few nights. Although we loved the Shepard’s hut, the weather was going to be quite bad on the Sunday and it gave us more space inside to relax. We moved all our stuff over – it was lovely!

We cooked some dinner and had an evening in watching TV.

Sunday 23rd July
We had a lovely lie in and then got up to have some brekky. It was really rainy and was forcast to be like that all day, so we decided to have a day inside chilling out. We watched some TV and then early afternoon went out for a Sunday lunch at one of the local recommended pubs.

After lunch we went back to our accommodation and Harry had an afternoon nap while I did some blog writing. Later in the evening the rain stopped, so we sat in the hot tub with a glass of fizz, watched the sun go down and planned our day tomorrow as the weather was looking more promising.

Monday 24th July
We had set an alarm to wake up early to make the most of the one dry day according to the weather forcast. We got on the road to head to the west of the lake district, Wast water, for a morning canoeing tour that we had booked. The drive there was about 1h15 and was very picturesque – thr definition of rolling hills.

When we arrived, we parked up and walked down to the water front where we met Jack, who was running our tour, and a family of 3 who were also booked on the tour. Jack unloaded a canoe for Harry and I to share, one for the family and one for himself off the back of his van and we carried them down to the water front where he helped us get into them.

The canoeing tour lasted 2.5 hours and involved paddling around seeing different parts and views of the lake, and Jack telling us about the lakes and the surrounding mountains and area. The tour was really nice and relaxing, taking all the scenery in. I must say I did leave most of the paddling to Harry so I could get some good pictures! We got to know Jack and about his life throughout the tour too, and how he’d worked in the corporate world in consultancy in London for 10 years and then due to various things happening in his life decided to pack it all in and move up to the lakes to become an activity guide (canoeing, kayaking, paddleboarding, hiking, scrambling etc), as well as run a small sawmill, hand making things from tree logs. His aim is to build his own little cabin in the woods eventually. He was a lovely guy, as was the family and Jack really inspired us just to keep making the most of life and travel and see the world as much as we can.

Once the tour finished, Jack gave us a recommendation for lunch down the road, so we drove there and ate.

After lunch, we drove back the way we came towards Keswick but on the other side of the lake to hike Cat bells mountain, one of the easier but most popular hikes (height – 451m elevation).

As we started hiking up, my fear of heights kicked in and I didn’t think I was going to be able to climb it, stopping a few times and telling Harry to go on. But Harry held my hand and we got up together…

We took a different route down which was a bit easier but had just as good views.

The total hike was about 2h10 in total and so we treated oursleves to an icecream when we got down. It was the Lake District’s special Cartmel icecream – sticky toffee pudding flavour!

Once back at the car, we drove back to our accommodation to get ready for dinner and then drove to The Yan for dinner, which had been recommended by our accommodation owner. We had a delicious meal and drink.

We then headed back to our accommodation for bed before waking up the next morning to pack up, check out and start the long drive home. We were sad our mini moon was over but we had such a lovely time away together and can now start planning and look forward to our main honeymoon abroad in September!