Getting away from the crowds

sally — Mon, 05 Jul 2010 16:52:28 +0100

The Lake District is, in our biased opinion, undoubtedly the most beautiful place in Britain. Soaring peaks, endless greenery, mirror-smooth lakes, wonderful wildlife, scary screes, romantic poetry, ancient history, country pubs and half a million sheep. There's also no question that lots of people agree, and many of them can be spotted hunting for parking spaces in Windermere on a Saturday afternoon in August.

Outdoor Action

sally — Tue, 08 Jun 2010 10:21:30 +0100

As a land of mountains, lakes and coast, the Lakes area is home to a great variety of outdoor activity centres. Many of them are happy to embrace all levels of experience and age and offer everything from short taster sessions to day-long adventures. Here is Sally's pick of the best...

Keswick Mountain Festival

sally — Sun, 09 May 2010 13:49:13 +0100

Keswick is a great place to go for festivals. There’s ‘Words by the Water’, the Beer and Jazz festivals, and the famous Christian Convention, but our favourite is the Mountain Festival.

Here you can rub shoulders with some of the greatest outdoor activity experts in the country, compete with seasoned athletes, dabble in something new or even party with like-minded adventurers.

Animal Magic

sally — Wed, 07 Apr 2010 12:09:47 +0100

The Lake District has an amazing variety of animals and birds. Creatures that you never, or rarely, see anywhere else in the country are readily spotted here, as well as farm animals in abundance. Wild animals, such as deer, fell ponies, stoats and red squirrels aren’t everywhere, but if you go to the right places, quietly enough and often enough, you will spot them.

Rabbits, Rabbits, Rabbits...

sally — Wed, 10 Mar 2010 11:01:27 +0000

Spring is on its way. It is, really, despite the Met Office’s recent announcement that we’ve just had the coldest winter for 31 years.

Once upon a time ...

sally — Thu, 04 Feb 2010 19:55:03 +0000

Once upon a time, there was a storyteller. And that storyteller told tall tales, traditional tales, children’s tales and scary tales. Tales about the Lakes, and tales about other places, too. And that storyteller’s name was Taffy. Taffy Thomas, storyteller.

Down on the Farm

sally — Mon, 18 Jan 2010 20:22:48 +0000

Before we set up Sally’s Cottages I used to work for LEADER+, an organisation which gives help to farmers and rural businesses. It was at the time of Foot and Mouth and so we were certainly kept busy. Despite being a farmer’s daughter, I came to realise how little I knew about farming in Cumbria. Three years at LEADER+ certainly taught me a thing or two and now I have a three year old boy, I’m learning even more about farming! I thought I’d share some of that knowledge with you now about what is happening over the coming year i

Winter Fun

sally — Tue, 05 Jan 2010 23:37:32 +0000

It’s been a fabulous few weeks, with day after day of frosty white mornings tinged pink as the sun comes up over the mountains. It feels like we have had endless crisp clear days and starry moonlit nights. “Red Sky in the Morning” should mean Shepherd’s Warning, but the sheep don’t look too cold with their great woolly coats and we’ve had a great time playing amongst in the snow!

Here Comes Santa!

sally — Mon, 07 Dec 2009 10:46:35 +0000

You may think of Lapland and department stores when it comes to small children and Santa, but when you stand here in the valley at Wallthwaite today and look up to a snow-capped Blencathra, it becomes entirely believable that Santa might hide out here until he takes off on his annual sleigh ride.

Biggest Liar

sally — Tue, 03 Nov 2009 15:42:26 +0000