Horrible weather in the Lakes- time to curl up with a good book.

Wind and rain- lots of both. It takes a lot to stop us going out for a walk, but yesterday was one of those days where inside looked better than outside.

We watched the Remembrance Sunday service, read the Sunday papers, and I read a whole book I'd got from the library on Friday ( it was a very easy read and I'm a fast reader). We listened to The Archers, watched the Strictly results and the last episode of Downton Abbey. Not such a bad day after all.

As this blog has quite a few readers from the USA I won't spoil your enjoyment by revealing any Downton spoilers. Just to say I hope the Christmas special is a little happier for one particular person..........

Today the weather is just as bad, so I've been "fiddling around on the computer" (husband's description) and I'm amazed to see that if I lived in the USA I could buy a Kindle Fire for $49.99!
I already own 3 Kindles- the original Kindle, the original Kindle Fire HD 7", and another Kindle that I bought this summer with a swipe screen. I had to buy it, you see, as we were going on holiday. Two Kindles means that both of us could be reading books outside in the sunshine at the same time. Yes, we did already have two Kindles but though the Kindle Fire has many good points, the screen is rubbish in sunshine. We needed Kindle number 3.

Anyway, readers in the USA and Canada - look at this!




 

And UK readers, it's great for us too.! What do we have to pay for this same amazing device? Well. what a surprise! It's only £49.99, which is also a bargain. I love my Kindle Fire. If I didn't already have one I would be buying this right now. It's perfect for days like today- you can read a good book, download another good book when you've finished that, look up what's going on on twitter, follow your favourite podcast, and so on and so on....what amazing value! I might just buy another one myself- and I know someone who would love this for Christmas.

Enough of the sales patter!

 I should just add that although I love my Kindles, I do also love a real, good paper , traditional book. If you're in Grasmere, you should go to the lovely Sam Read's Bookshop in the centre of the village. They have an excellent range and will give you very helpful advice. Long live real bookshops!

Which is the best map for walking in the White Moss area?

Visitors often ask me which map they need if they are planning to walk in the White Moss area of the Lakes.

Well, the single best map is undoubtedly the OS map , the SE lakes. You can buy this when you arrive, but if, like me ( actually like my husband- he's the map lover) you like to study maps ahead of your visit, then you can buy it from amazon through the link below.





This OS map is very detailed. The whole of the Lakes is divided into four sections, and this map just covers our area, the South East.

If you want a more general map, the Collins walking map is very good. I know many of my blog readers are from the USA and Canada, so here is the link for you to the Collins map.


 

  Walking- it's so good for you. "Meditation in boots"

Winter in the Lake District

Hi folks!
I've noticed that 42,911 visits have been made to this blog, Thanks for adding another number to this total. Hope you find something useful here.

Can I just ask you to look at my other blog on our Grasmere Cottage website?- Here's the link - just click. I've posted information about stuff to do on winter visits, plus more links that might be useful if you're planning a long weekend or winter week here.

Here's a photo of a winter view taken from the terrace of Brockstone Grasmere Cottage

You could be here this winter! Treat yourself to a winter break in our Grasmere cottage with amazing views.

Dove Cottage and the Wordsworth Museum winter programme

Look what the postman brought today.

A drawing of daffodils shouting "Oi! Wordsworth" is the cover of the Dove Cottage and Wordsworth Museum programme for November 2015 to May 2016.


Here's the full picture-

There's the heel of the great man passing by the "host of golden daffodils"

If you thought that the people at Dove Cottage and the Wordsworth Museum were a stuffy old bunch of Wordsworth fanatics you couldn't be more wrong. Well, Wordsworth fanatics? Yes, probably. Stuffy? Certainly not.

The programme offers talks on a huge range of topics, family events, poetry, reading groups, and for locals, the very special Residents'Afternoon at Dove Cottage on Sunday 20 December.
With our 2 year old grandson visiting us at Half Term you might find us at "Rucksack of Rhymes" or "Tales for Tots" aimed at the under 5s. Catch them young!

If you're not on the Dove Cottage mailing list you can find all the information here on the Dove Cottage website.

Our Grasmere holiday cottage ( with amazing views) is booked for half term, but there are lots of other chances to stay there from 7 November onwards. We still have Christmas available. However, we are filling up now for some of the most popular times in 2016. September 2016 is already fully booked , so if you think that our lovely cottage Brockstone Grasmere Holiday Cottage might suit you, please don't leave it too long to book.

The autumn sun continues to shine in the Lakes

Those who've followed my ramblings in the past may remember that I'm partial to Dire Straits' "Why Worry" which includes the line "there must be sunshine after rain", and after a very dull wet summer we're finding that there is, indeed, sunshine after rain. This year September, and now October too, have been dry and sunny in the Lakes.

If you don't know "Don't Worry " by Dire Straits here's a helpful link to YouTube for you.

White Moss House early one September morning

Above is a picture of our garden taken early one September morning. Flowers that had been hanging back during the summer suddenly decided to open up.

Here we are now, on 12 October, and although some plants such as the hostas are giving up, others still look great.

White Moss House garden October 2015

Can you spot salvias ( grown from seed) nasturtiums (ditto)? - and at the front an osteospermum  (the lilac coloured daisy like one) which has flowered for months.

The guests who have stayed at our cottage this autumn have all just loved the views, the walks, the cottage itself.....we're quite well booked for the months ahead, but you might be able to fit in a visit in 2016, so here's a link to click on here which will take you to our Grasmere Cottage website

Brockstone Cottage fully booked until November

We're delighted that people have taken advantage of our special offers and booked our lovely cottage with amazing views through to 7 November.

We are also now booked for New Year.

For up to date calendars showing our latest availability please check our entry on Holiday Lettings or the HomeAway holiday cottage website.

We do still have Christmas available. We can be flexible about arrival dates for Christmas. The latest departure day is Monday 28 December. The best value is for a week, but we can offer a 5 or 6 night stay if that suits you better.

Just two weeks in October now available in our Lakes Holiday Cottage- save £100+

Our Grasmere Cottage with amazing views is now fully booked throughout September, and for most of the weeks until 7 November.

We do however still have the weeks of 10-17th October and 17th - 24th October still available. Both these weeks have been reduced from £690 to £590, and if you are lucky enough to have two weeks for your October holiday in the Lakes, you can take both weeks and save an extra £100. The cost for 10-24 October is £1080 for 14 nights, a saving of £300 on the original rates.

Already , even though we're still in August, the leaves are beginning to turn. October looks like the colours will be amazing again. For some pictures of the Lakes in Autumn see other pages on this blog, and on our Brockstone Grasmere Cottage website.

You can also see some beautiful pictures on my Pinterest Page, Autumn in England's Lake District.

Loughrigg Terrace, October

This photo , taking in October, is from the top of Loughrigg Terrace, one of the many great walks from Brockstone Grasmere Cottage

Rydal Water, October

Here's a view of Rydal Water on October. The days are often clear, the light wonderful. I'm no photographer, I just take snaps, but you get a hint of the wonders of October in the Lakes even from such a simple photo.

We hope that you can take advantage of our October offer to visit Brockstone Grasmere Cottage and enjoy the autumn colours.

Grasmere Sports, Grasmere Guzzler Beer Festival and Westmorland County Show

Summer is coming to an end, which will be a sort of relief, as our expectations of warm sunny days will have gone, which means that we can put the disappointment of this cold wet summer behind us. How many of us have opened the BBC weather app this year hoping that somewhere along the line we would see a run of "22 and sunny" days, only to be met by "17, some rain" type forecasts?

As we head into Autumn, 3 of my favourite Lakeland events are on the way.

On Sunday 30 August it's Grasmere Sports Day, a day full of traditional Lakeland sports such as Cumberland and Westmorland wrestling and Fell races. There is food, there is a beer tent, there are stalls selling all sorts of stuff and there is fun for all. Lets hope the weather is kind.

The following weekend it's the Grasmere Guzzler Beer Festival at Tweedies. This great event is now in its 9th year and is loved by locals and visitors. Lots of beers and ciders, great music, BBQ, lots of chat and catching up with friends all on our doorstep. Brilliant. Its 4, 5 and 6 September this year, Friday, Saturday , Sunday. Be warned, by Sunday your choices of beer will probably be limited, and the favourite barrels will have been drunk dry!

On Thursday 10 September it's the Westmorland County Show at the county showground, Crooklands, Kendal. This is a wonderful event. If you're a fan of Countryfile you'll have a good idea about what to expect from a County Show. Our Westmorland County Show does not disappoint. There's a huge range of animals up for judging, horse and pony competitions, country skills, a huge WI show tent, and amazing range of local food to enjoy, and of course, there are beer tents too.Yes, there will be a queue to get in and out of the venue, but it's worth it.

Here are some photos taken by me on a visit to the Westmorland County Show in 2010.

Pig Judging Westmorland Show

Carriage Driving Westmorland Show

WI tent Westmorland Show

If you fancy a last minute visit to the lakes to sample the Beer Festival and the County Show, our Grasmere Cottage with amazing views is available for a week from 5 September. We're very surprised that this week has not been let, but we hope someone will take advantage of our offer of £200 off the usual rate of £790. Yes, for just £590 you can stay in this 5* cottage for a peak week. Can you or someone you know take advantage of our Grasmere Special Offer?

£200 off our Grasmere Cottage September 5th and £100 off available October weeks

Here's a photo taken by our guests last week of Brockstone Grasmere Cottage

Brockstone Cottage, on the walking path from Grasmere to Rydal, is many people's ideal holiday cottage. If you've walked the famous "Wordsworth Walk" also known as "The Coffin Route" you'll have passed right by Brockstone. Here's what it looks like to remind you.


We've had some very lovely messages from recent guests, and you can find these, along with some of our other reviews  over on our Brockstone Grasmere Cottage website

Brockstone Grasmere Cottage with amazing views

The guests who left last Saturday are on their second visit of the year. The guests who left the Saturday before had stayed twice before and have already booked for next year, and the guests the week before that told us that the stay at Brockstone Grasmere cottage was the highlight of their visit from the USA and they hoped to be back as soon as possible.

Our Grasmere cottage has been solidly booked since March, but we do still have availability for late summer and autumn. 

We don't like empty weeks, so we have reduced all our rates for September and October by £100.

The week from 3 September is now £690 (was £790), and the half term week in October from 24 October is also now £690 ( was £790) . Other October weeks have been reduced from £690 to £590.

For more photos and information you can see our listing and reviews on the HomeAway website and more on our Holiday Lettings Trip Advisor website.

I'll just leave you with a few more photos taken by happy guests at Brocktone Grasmere Cottage, and hope that you'll come and see for yourself why this is such a great location for a special Lake District Holiday. Take advantage of the Grasmere Special Offer and enjoy £100 off your Lakes Holday week

Winter Sunset from Brockstone Grasmere Cottage

Brockstone Grasmere Cottage from White Moss viewpoint

5 night August special break at our Grasmere Cottage.

The week mentioned in our last post has now been booked, and the first full week we can now offer is the week beginning Saturday  5 September.

However, we do have a special 5 night break for arrival Monday  24 August, leaving Saturday 29 August.

The rate for this 5 night stay is £500. Great value for August. We'd love to hear from you. You can email us via the contact page on our Brockstone Grasmere Cottage website by clicking here.

Ambleside Sports week still available at our Grasmere Cottage

The week from 25 July 2015 to 1 August 2015 is still available to rent at Brockstone Cottage ( did we mention that this Grasmere Cottage has amazing views?!)

We've written a new page about some of the things you can do in the Lakes this week on our Brockstone Grasmere Cottage website- click here to see it.

One of the very special things you could do this week is to visit Ambleside Sports on Thursday 30 July. It's a traditional Lakeland day out, with lots of events for all the family, plus a beer tent, food tent, stalls and lots to enjoy.

It's 1 June, and after a glorious April we've gone into a period of chilly weather, with high winds forecast for tonight, but we're assured warmer weather is on the way. We're really enjoying the bluebells and rhododendrons this year, and as it's a little cool they're lasting longer.

We can't offer you any accommodation at our cottage, and we've retired from B & B at White Moss House, but there are lots of other great B & Bs, Cottages and hotels in the area, so why not visit the Lakes in the next few weeks? For information on where to stay you can look at the GoLakes website, the official website of tourism in Cumbria and the Lakes.

It's a Bank Holiday and it's not raining in the Lakes.

So far this Bank Holiday Weekend we've had NO RAIN in the Lakes, at least not during the day. It may have rained at night, but that doesn't spoil anyone's enjoyment. Saturday was gloriously sunny, yesterday we had some sun, and although today is a bit dull it's not putting of the hikers. In fact, it's ideal hiking weather.

We've just updated our Brockstone Grasmere Cottage website, and there is a fabulous picture on there of a buzzard , taken by one of our guests. She gave us permission to use it on the website, but not on our blog here, so you'll have to click through to see it.

Here are some photos taken last year of the bluebells- they are looking wonderful right now, so get out and about in the Lakes with your camera and see what you can find.

Dry and sunny in the Lakes- time to get outdoors.

It would be untrue to say that the weather was warm in the Lakes right now. If we're lucky, we might make it to 10 degrees today, but it has been very dry, which is always a joy in this part of the world.

There's been a slight ground frost this morning, but the sun's out now. Time to sweep up leaves and tidy the herb garden. I'll be looking to see which herbs have survived the winter. Observations so  far suggest that the rosemary seems healthy, the sage is as tough as old boots, and the bay tree just won't stop growing.

The sorrel is peeping through, but as yet the lovage is being shy. If you don't know what lovage is and why you should grow it ( it's very easy) take a look at this page which I've just updated on "How to grow and use lovage."

Lovage in White Moss House herb garden

This fabulous view could be yours next week!

Thanks to a recent guest, we can show you a sunset taken from the terrace of Brockstone Cottage, looking at Loughrigg and Silver How , Grasmere, with the Coniston Fells in the background.

Winter sunset at Brockstone Cottage thanks to Deborah Newman

Our cottage is available for a week or a short break from now until 20 March. Please contact us for our best rates.

More photos and lots of information can be found on our website here.

We are also able to offer the first week of the Easter Holidays for just £690- it's a bargain!

Grasmere looking like a Heaton Cooper painting today

It's a still grey day. There's snow on the fells, which are reflected in Grasmere. To me, this looks rather like a Heaton Cooper painting. Not bad for something snapped on a very basic phone.

Grasmere- still and grey today, 21 January 2015.

Now taking cottage bookings for 2015

Our Christmas guests enjoyed their stay at Brockstone Cottage, though the weather was very variable to put it mildly.

On Monday 22 December we awoke to floods. I had to drive to Ambleside at 9 am, and was shocked to find that the water came well over the car wheels as I drove past Nab Cottage. It was a struggle to get through.

Later in the week we got beautiful crisp dry sunny weather, and this was the view from Brockstone on the Saturday when the guests left.

View from Brockstone  cottage 27 December 2014

In the foreground is the ridge between Loughrigg and Silver How, and in the background covered on snow is Wetherlam and the Coniston Fells.

We're now taking bookings for 2015. You can check rates and availability and read reviews on the Holiday Lettings website or the HomeAway website.