We left the Cotswolds on August 15th and headed to the Lake District.  It was a long travel day because of having to return the rental car in Oxford and the combinations of trains and buses to get to Keswick (Kez – ick), the town where we stayed.  

The Lake District is England’s largest and most visited National Park as well as a UNESCO World Heritage Site.  I first read about it when reading a biography of Beatrix Potter; her family, like many other wealthy families, would come here during the summer to have a break from the heat and business of London. Beatrix Potter’s books have been favorites in our house, especially for Arlie, and have inspired the names of several of our animals.  

The Lake District’s countryside is a breathtakingly beautiful combination of lakes, rolling mountains, called fells, farmland and quaint villages.   We stayed three nights at a hostel, a first for our family.  This was a fun new experience and we enjoyed the bunk room we had to ourselves as well as the large communal kitchen to cook meals.  It was also by a beautiful rolling river and across from a park and several fells (what they call mountains in this region.)  

Hill Top

Staying three nights, we had two full days in the area.  Since Wednesday, August 16th was my birthday, I got to pick the agenda for the day and chose to go see Beatrix Potter’s farmhouse retreat, Hill Top, in New Sawrey.  New Sawrey is a little village quite a ways from Keswick, so we had to take two buses to get to Hawkshead, the closest village to New Sawrey.  From Hawkshead, we walked about two and half miles, mostly on footpaths, up to New Sawrey and toured the home and gardens.  The scenery on the walk was gorgeous and a gift to us, as spending time in nature always is.  

Hill Top is a lovely 17th century home and farm with meticulously maintained gardens.  Beatrix left it as well as thousands of other acres she acquired over the years to the National Trust because she loved the natural beauty of the area and wanted to preserve it for generations to come – what a generous and forward thinking soul.  Hill Top and its gardens are preserved like it was when she died so lovers of her books can see the vignettes in the house and gardens that she drew and painted in her books.  The staff has copies of her books set out in various places open to the page that has an illustration painted of that scene.  It was so fun to see in person the places she illustrated in her books as well as what Beatrix liked and inspired her.  

After we saw Hill Top, we walked downhill to Bowness-on-Windermere, took a ferry across the lake to Windermere and caught a scenic bus back towards Keswick.  We were gone much longer than we thought we’d be, but the time in nature and beautiful scenery helped make the day lovely.  The altitude and bus rides on the winding roads bothered Arlie quite a bit so she, unfortunately, did not feel well most of the time we were in the Lake District.  

Rydal Sheepdog Trials & Hound Show

While on the bus to Hawkshead, we saw a banner advertising the Rydal Sheepdog trials and Hound show were going to be THE NEXT DAY.  A Sheepdog trial or show was something we wanted to see, but had given up on figuring out how to do that.  We were so delighted and grateful for our good fortune and spent half of the next day, Thursday, August 17th, going to and seeing the trials.  Scott and I first saw sheepdog trials in the movie Babe, based on the book Babe, the Gallant Pig by Dick King-Smith, which some of the kids have read.

We spent almost all of our time at the trials watching the Beagle Show and the Sheepdog trials.  The Beagle Show was special to us because our dog Brownie is a beagle and we’re missing her quite a bit. 

The Sheepdog trials were fascinating and mesmerizing.  During a trial, a farmer and his or her sheepdog have to work together to lead and corral four sheep that are let into one end of a large field (I’m guessing two-three acres) down the middle of the field, through a couple of posts, to the other end where there is a wooden coral.  The dog then moves them around the corral, back through another set of posts in the middle of the field and back to and into the corral.  The entire time the farmer is standing at one end making calls or whistles that instruct the dog. It is AMAZING to watch the man (or woman) and the dog work together. If being in a family could only go so smoothly.

Scott struck up a conversation with this farmer so we were really hoping would win. Unfortunately, his dog didn’t meet all the markers. In fact, only two of the six or seven we watched did. If you’ve ever worked with sheep, you know how difficult they are to get to do what you want or what’s best for them. The scriptures in the bible comparing us to them mean much more when you have experience handling sheep.

That afternoon, we rested at the Hostel and then walked around the park across the river from the Hostel, then heated up and ate dinner we’d bought at a grocery store in the kitchen.  By this time, we’d decided we wanted to stay longer in the Lake District, but there was no availability at the hostel for us to extend our stay.  We still decided to shift from our plans to head to Scotland the next day and reserved a room in a town close-by (more on that in the next post.)

Friday morning we ate breakfast, packed up, and stashed our bags at the hostel office so we could hike to the top of Latrigg, the fell that’s just across the river from the hostel, before we left town.  It was a pretty strenuous hike and very windy at the top.  We saw a couple that was easily in their mid-seventies if not early eighties at the top! 

Three take aways from the Lake District: 1) We were encouraged by seeing many elderly couples walking or hiking here and in the Cotswolds. 2) Our souls were fed by so much time in nature; we need to keep making that a regular part of our trip. 3) I usually do a solo hike for my birthday so I can pray and evaluate how I am doing on my walk with God and my family; this year’s hike was different since I was with Scott, John, Abe and Arlie but it was easy to know I am right where I want and need to be for this season of life.

May each of you have time in nature soon and be able to hear God’s voice and what He wants to say to you.