From the Lakes to Leicester Square.

Here's a change from my usual blog topics.

Our son, Nick Dixon has been making a career in stand up comedy for the last few years. Last weekend he was supporting Tom Stade at Leicester Square Theatre. Was he terrified? Not at all.

We don't know how he does it but we're very proud of him. Here's a review of Tom Stade's show from today's The Times.  

You can only access this online if you are a Times subscriber, so in case you're not, I've cut and pasted it for you.

His agents are Comedy Store Management  and he'll be supporting Tom Stade at Leicester Square again this weekend, and the weekend after he's on the Best In Stand Up show at The Comedy Store, London. 

Tom Stade at the Leicester Square Theatre, WC2

Clive Davis

April 5 2016, 5:00pm,

The Times

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★★★☆☆

If you read a transcript of Tom Stade’s monologues, you might easily conclude that his material is a little ho-hum. Doesn’t every other stand-up make jokes about Marks & Spencer and daytime television schedules?

What gives his performance an extra charge is the manic energy. A Canadian who has long made his home in this country, he swaggers and staggers around the stage like a dude who has spent too much time propping up the bar in some godforsaken town in deepest Nevada.

The f-word flies in all directions, yet he can be a sentimental, almost self-pitying soul too. You can never quite be sure whether he is squaring up for a fist-fight or going to pull out a photo of his mother.

At the centre of his latest show, You’re Welcome!, is an account of a less than earth-shattering stand-up gig at Glastonbury. Expecting to find the spirit of peace and love wafting over the West Country meadows, Stade was duly confronted with the realities of the festival industry. Surprise, surprise, most of the people had come to hear rock dinosaurs rather than a comic they may have glimpsed on Live at the Apollo.

It didn’t really matter that he soon wandered off in other directions. While there was nothing out of the ordinary about his thoughts on jay-walking or immigration, that dissolute sandpaper voice carried you along.

The bouts of audience interaction were a shrewd mix of bluster and bonhomie. And there was a hugely engaging support act from the soft-spoken Nick Dixon, providing everyman glimpses of London life from the vantage point of a cheerless bedsit and a seat on the Tube. Naturally, the capital was not seen at its best. A refugee from the Lake District, Dixon cheerfully and effortlessly rubbed our noses in the grime.

Box office: 020 7734 2222, to April 9, then touring. tomstade.co.uk

Spring in the Lakes - a great time to visit

Easter came early this year, leaving us with an eight week break before the May school holiday week. April and May are wonderful months in which to visit the Lakes.

As the daffodils fade and the bluebells come out, the days get longer and a day's walk can go on into the evening. The rhododendrons and azaleas burst into flower . In my garden the early azaleas have a few flowers, and soon there will be a riot of colour. Here are some pictures taken around the White Moss area in past years.

Pretty pink

Clashing colours looking lovely

Bright and beautiful

Here's a real oldie in our White Moss garden.

If you love gardens as much as I do, April and May are probably the best time to visit the Lakes. For lots more information, take a look at Cumbria Tourism's Guide to the Gardens of the Lakes.

My personal favourites are Rydal Hall Gardens , just 1/2 mile away from White Moss House and our Grasmere holiday cottage Brockstone Grasmere cottage ,  and the wonderful Holehird Gardens at Windermere  run by the Lakeland Horticultural Society. Both these gardens are free to enter ( donations very welcome).

I'm amazed that after the floods and the very, very wet winter experienced by many , the gardens are bouncing back so well.

Cumbria is open! Now is a great time to visit. The Lakes are ready to welcome you. We're looking good.

Finishing off with one more rhododendron, taken on the start of the coffin route from Grasmere to Rydal, just a few yards from Brockstone Grasmere cottage.

Looking amazing in May, Heugh Folds garden

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