18 May 2014

Today we got to sleep in! We planned to meet the church group for the hike at Tarn Hows which didn’t start until 11:30. According to an online map, it would only take about 4 minutes to get there from our cottage! We had a nice brunch, packed up our things for the day and headed out. We had to follow the map I pulled up on the iPad as the roads were too small to be on our paper map and the tarn could not be found via GPS.

We pulled up to a small parking area that had a small sign showing a footpath to the tarn. Just as we got out of the car, we could see Roman, the pastor driving by. We waved and he pulled over along with another vehicle following him. He told us that there was another car park a little further on, so we followed them down the road. Soon everyone was gathered and we met some of the other members we hadn’t met yesterday. One lady, Whitney, was an American ex-pat who had been living in the UK since the 1970's. Her husband, Roy, is English. She is an Adventist but he is not. Also, we met Mia, Roman’s wife and their two children. He is from the Czech Republic and she is from the Ukraine.  Before we started the walk, we took a group photo.

We took a long and leisurely walk around the lake,

stopping to chat and eat snacks. There were ducks on the pond,

a small dead fish on the bank,

Baby Pike, we were told

 lots of dogs,

cows in the open,

a beautiful peninsula,

and many, many gorgeous views of the lake. We spent some time chatting with Roman and Mia and Whitney and Roy before saying our goodbyes and heading on to the next location. We were looking for a grocery store and the GPS directed us to Hawkshead which is a little old village that is near where Beatrix Potter lived and worked and which inspired her for many of her stories. There was no grocery store in sight when we arrived at the main car park. However seeing this village seemed like a fun thing to do so we parked and started to explore.

There were many quaint old buildings fitted closely together. Lots of cafes and restaurants.

Every shop was selling Beatrix Potter paraphernalia. Everywhere we turned, there was Peter Rabbit!

Then suddenly, we came around a corner and there was a grocery store... that was open until 10pm no less! So we moved on to see other things, planning to return to the store later on.

At last we found a café we wanted to eat at and we ordered hot drinks and cakes! The food was so good and the atmosphere charming.

- taken by Mom

Having cake - taken by Mom

We enjoyed relaxing for a few minutes. Then we headed up towards the ancient church that was around the corner. It was hard to tell if it was a Roman Catholic church or an Anglican church.

It was quaint and small with typical stained glass windows,

graves in the floor and above ground with effigies,

and frescos.

After looking around briefly, we left and headed to the grocery store. Once we arrived, we quickly found the items we needed and then headed home.

Once we got there, we made dinner and enjoyed it at the dining room table upstairs!

- taken by Mom

It was a relaxing evening on line until bedtime.