The One About Our Trip Back...

On the Sunday, we took our time driving home.  We decided to take the scenic route via Ullswater to Windermere.  It was very pretty driving alongside the lake seeing all the difference coloured leaves, and along the way there were some stopping points along the way that we took advantage of.

When we got to Windermere we were quite disappointed.  We decided just to visit the town, as we'd just seen a lake, but the town wasn't terribly interesting.  So much so that we didn't take any photos!  A lot of the shops were shut, which if it had been summer on a Sunday, it might have been different.  So we hatched a new plan and set off for Kendal.  Luckily with the clocks having gone back that morning we had extra time!

Kendal was far prettier and we found a lovely little Italian to have our lunch in, where they had music playing in the background that sounded like Phil Collins in Italian.

We also discovered on our travels that baby likes it when M sings along to an Ed Shearing song whilst in the car, she starts kicking like there's a party going on!  It was quite useful when I was feeling uncomfortable because we played the song and she moved!

We had a really lovely weekend away, and it felt like we did lots even though it was only two nights away.  We came home feeling chilled, relaxed and recharged :)

The One About Our Evening Meal....

Saturday night we had a table booked in the hotel for a five course meal.  M had decided that he was going to dress in his suit, all smart, so I ordered a dress very last minute off the internet so that I was all dressed up too.  It was only once we got there that M realised he had left his suit in the separate suit bag at home.  It didn't matter, he still looked very smart to me.

Bump at 26 weeks!

The dinner started with us sitting in the lounge choosing our starter and main courses, whilst eating the first course, of the canapes.  We were then taken through to the dining room for the rest of our meal.  My starter was vegetable fritters on a bed of lettuce with parmesan cheese, which were delicious.  M had a goats cheese dish.

Then out came the main courses, M had a three way beef dish with roast dinner trimmings, whilst mine was a potato bake in a parsley sauce and carrots.  Unfortunately the actual name of the dish was Wensleydale cheese & Lavender potato bake.  Now I just thought that was the name of the dish, but no.  The potato bake was actually cooked with Lavender.  Considering lavender is one of the fragrances that I can't stand I struggled to eat my main.  So I had to call over the head waitress and explained the problem, who suggested bringing a side order of vegetables.  So I ate them, but couldn't eat the potato bake at all, so again we called the lady over.  She suggested looking at the menu and picking something else, but given that there were only a couple of main courses to choose from in the first place I struggled to choose another dish.  So I went for the starter of the vegetable fritters again!  Of course by this time M had finished his main course!  So the main course was a bit of a palaver, but they were extremely nice about it all.  And I still had room for dessert afterwards.  The fifth course was the coffee which we took back in the lounge where we flicked through the newspapers.

Stay tuned for the places we visited on Sunday!

The One About the Castle...

On our way back from Penrith on Saturday afternoon, we stopped off to visit a castle, Brougham Castle.  Unfortunately the day was becoming duller, and it started to rain, and the man in charge advised us not to go up to the castle.  I was quite relieved in one way because I was tired already and there would have been a lot of stairs!

I'm sure the view from the top of the castle would have been something special on a nice sunny day, but we took some photos while we were there anyway!  The leaves on all the trees were turning and looking quite gorgeous, and one tree in particular caught my eye.

Rather than going straight back to the hotel we went to have a look around Appleby town.  It was only quite small, and didn't really have many shops or anything to look at so we didn't stay long.

Next up... dinner at the hotel (where I caused a bit of a stir!)

The One About Penrith...

On Saturday afternoon, after our swim we took a drive out to Penrith.  As we were driving round we saw lots of Halloween activities going on, including a horse drawn carriage driven by a headless coachman, and a sign for a scrapbook shop!  But first thing we did was have some lunch.  Then we walked around the town seeing what was going on.  There was a group dressed up for halloween playing drums, that kept moving round the town, a halloween themed market, and of course the horse drawn carriage.

I couldn't pass up the opportunity to go into the scrapbook shop once I was there either!  And picked up a couple of bits, including some pick baby themed ribbons :)

We had a lovely walk round, and stopped in a couple of the other shops picking up Christmassy bits & bobs from the little gift shops.

More to come... next up the non-visit to a castle!

The One About Appleby Manor House Hotel...

This past weekend, M took me away to celebrate my 30th birthday (which isn't until tomorrow!) up in the Lake District.  We stayed in the most gorgeous hotel, Appleby Manor Country House Hotel where we had a king size bed and lovely ensuite bathroom, and a view overlooking a field with a couple of horses in.

We drove down on Friday evening, got all checked in at the room, then ventured out into Appleby to a local pub that was recommended to us.  And the food was really yummy, I only chose simple options, homemade tomato & basil soup followed by lasagne.  But I was that stuffed that I had no room for dessert.  When we got back to the room we just chilled out watching TV.

On the Saturday morning, after a leisurely breakfast, whilst over-looking the fields we went for a relaxing swim in the hotel pool.  I had bought a maternity swim suit especially for the occasion, and was really looking forward to it.  Not only was there a pool, there was a jacuzzi, a sauna and a steam room.  The pool itself was actually quite cold, and I quickly realised that my abdominal muscles are not as strong as they used to be before getting pregnant.  So M pulled me around the pool for a while, until I got too cold, then I moved into the jacuzzi, but without the bubbles.  It was just like being in a giant bath, but being able to float too.  M tried out the sauna, and then whilst I was getting changed afterwards he also put the bubbles on in the jacuzzi (well I always take longer than him to get dressed!)  We were very chilled out and relaxed afterwards!

Check back for for what we did on Saturday afternoon & Sunday.