#Homegrown - Tales of Ted
It is an annual tradition for us to squeeze a little bit more out of the holidays each new year. Last year we went to Harry Potter World (which was pretty cool); this year we have someone else to share our adventures (Ted) with so I thought why not, let's get away for a few days and see what Air B&B has to offer.
I've always fancied the Lakes and seen so many stunning pictures and heard wonderful things about it, so we found a lovely Air B&B which really didn't break the bank and booked it straight away. Originally we booked in for two nights, but I was getting a bit fidgety a few days before going so came up with the idea of stopping half way in the Yorkshire Dales which would split up the long drive and give us an opportunity to see more. When booking, little did we know (or should I say think about) the weather (first lesson learnt!). Storm Eleanor was on her way and as we began our journey up to Yorkshire she battered the camper with her high winds and rain and continued to do so when we eventually found a parking space next to the pub that we were staying in for the night. This was in a small village called Hawes, in Wensleydale, renowned for its delicious cheese!
We checked in, wrapped up and went for a walk around in the pouring rain until finally giving up and heading to another local pub to warm up by the fire (a pretty standard procedure as you may have guessed by now). After a few hours passed we had some food and settled down for the night in our room...
Ah, we didn't think this one out did we? In my head Ted would have curled up in his bed and gone straight to sleep. Oh how wrong I was. It was his first night away in somewhere unknown to him. He was up and down all night (a bit like a child) and we finally woke up to more wet weather and had huge bags under our eyes from the quite sleepless night - more lessons learnt.
Despite this, we had a huge fry-up and set off to our first planned destination: Hardraw Force Waterfall. It was pretty spectacular and well worth it despite the bad weather. If we look on the bright side of things, I think that the weather made it even more amazing as there was so much water! Words cannot describe the noise that this thing made!
After this, we headed up to the Lakes. All I can say is...WOW. We stayed in High Swinside Holiday Cottages and getting there was a treat for the eyes.
After settling in for the evening, we began to plan our second walk of the holiday - a hike around Lake Buttermere. Renowned for it's fantastic picture-perfect natural attractions and steeped in poetical history, this place sure did the trick. Just the drive there wowed us enough...
...and then we arrived...
WOW
The next day we set off for Grasmere, famously known for it's gorgeous gingerbread (and quite rightly so - it was the best gingerbread I've ever tasted!) and William Wordsworth's house. The lake was a lot smaller in comparison to Buttermere and the walk was incredibly easy - wellies or walking boots weren't needed; trainers would have been fine! It was a beautiful little village and both me and Mr Tales of Ted agreed it would be nice to stay in one of the spa hotels for a long weekend mixed with walks, nice food at some of the restaurants in the village and the occasional spa treatment (maybe next time!).
After our walk around the Lake we inevitably had to go home as time was ticking. It was a fantastic little trip and worth every penny and picture, with lots of lessons learnt about travelling with a 7 month old puppy in-between!