Haven Cottage, Ambleside
It’s so long since I posted anything and too long since I promised to write about our visit to the beautiful Lake District in the UK in 2016. Well, here we are. It was about 5 pm by the time we arrived and the parking area was full, but our hosts were charming, very helpful and immediately made us feel welcome. He carried our cases up to the third floor, then parked the car for us while she did a great job of darkening the windows for me, (I cannot sleep with light) climbing up on a chair and pinning a length of dark material over the curtains. Nothing was too much trouble.
I wish I had photos of our accommodation, right across the top floor, with a separate sitting room and ensuite, plus a big bath in the bedroom. Romantic for a couple, but useful for two sisters for hanging out our washing, and Susanne did luxuriate in it one evening, after a hectic day of driving. I’m sure you can find Haven Cottage Ambleside for yourself on Google – we thoroughly recommend them.
Slate roofs and stone walls; the view from our bedroom window.
I have a photo taken from the bedroom window, which looks down on the houses behind Haven Cottage and the hills which surround the town are visible in the distance. beyond them is Lake Windermere.
On that first evening, we partly unpacked to find clean clothes, then ventured into town, walking beside the river that flows under and around some of the original buildings. Italian was the best choice for dinner, but they had no empty tables so we took a stroll, after asking them to save us a table in about an hour.
blog, but we still wandered along and around
The Shambles where we found buildings so old, we wondered how they were still standing. The great thing about these old buildings, apart from their beauty, character and history, is the fact that, unlike many similar looking buildings and ancient towns in Europe, York’s structures are genuine originals. (Maybe with additions and renovations, but basically as they were back in the 14th – 16th centuries.)
Another shop which won our custom was the Edinburgh Woolen Shop. Found all over the UK, they sell the sort of quality knitware–scarves, gloves, hats, coats etc–that lasts for years and when the temperature plummeted, I had to have those ear muffs. i still have and use a lot in winter, a cashmere shawl that I bought from one of their stores in Scotland back in the 80s. So light and warm, it’s also a blanket on my travels.
the wind that was so biting it had given me an earache, I ran into this jovial fellow who enlightened us about an event which would take place in the Minster that night. The Mystery Plays have been performed at various venues around York, initially traveling with mobile stages (probably horse and buggy varieties) and performing throughout the day – Feast of Corpus Christi – in different parts of the town. In 2016, for the first time since 2000, the drama took place inside the Minster and I think almost every citizen of the city played some part in the massive production.
One result is the new ceiling in that section of the Minster. School children were invited to create the decorations now used on the bosses Six designs won the competition and craftsmen made the copies which we now see.
, as we see it today, underwent two massive restoration projects in the second half of last century. The first one required going deep below the structure in order to strengthen and restore the foundations that were put down for the Medieval part of the building. As a result of uncovering those problems, evidence of the original Roman settlement can be glimpsed through small holes in the floor of the undercroft.
After lunch we wandered around the historic centre, discovering this delightful sign for the street of Swinegate. It’s not about gates as such, but about passageways, or access, so, a bit like a gate as we know it.
The old Barley Hall was not on our ‘must see’ list, but we couldn’t resist exploring 
when we stumbled across this sign. Without any date, it was still easy to work out the approximate year as Susanne’s head almost touched the top of the passage that led to the ancient hall. I hope you can read that the owner was a former mayor of York. By today’s standards the residence was relatively simple, but the gentleman had servants, a ‘study’ and all the necessary ‘stuff’ to show that he was a person of importance in the area. The house was narrow with rather unsafe ( by our standards) stair cases and I was confused by the layout as the rooms seemed to be all over the place instead of following a logical plan.