Grasmere

Wednesday
A glorious day in the Lakes today - warm temperatures, blue skies and sunshine. Roger's family made an early start from home, so by the time we'd had breakfast, packed our overnight things and checked out of our B&B they had arrived. We headed first for Tarn Hows. which lies approximately two miles northeast of Coniston. It is one of the most popular tourist destinations in the area and is managed by the National Trust. The Tarn Hows area originally contained three much smaller tarns, Low Tarn, Middle Tarn and High Tarn. James Garth Marshall, who was the Member of Parliament for Leeds, and third son of the industrialist John Marshall, gained full possession of all the land in this area after an enclosure act of 1862 and embarked on a series of landscape improvements, including expanding the spruce, larch and pine plantations around the tarns and the construction of a dam at Low Tarn that created the larger tarn that is there today. There is a nice flat path around the tarn which provided a pleasant gentle walk for Roger's parents, while the rest of us went on a longer loop down to Coniston Water and back. The tarn looked picture perfect this morning, since there wasnt a breath of wind, so the reflections of the surrounding trees in the still water were perfect. Janet and John left Roger's parents the keys to their car, so that when they returned from their stroll, they could get the chairs out of the trunk and go and sit and enjoy the view. When we met up again we went and had lunch in Coniston, which we ate sitting outside in the sunshine, then we drove over to Grasmere. We parked in between Grasmere and Rydal Water and found a nice grassy area by the stream where we could leave Edna sitting in a chair with a magazine, and the rest of us set out to walk around Grasmere. By the time we reached the far end, Bernard decided he'd had enough, so we left Janet and her Dad there while we went to get the cars.It was tough choosing a blip for today - I almost went for the reflections at Tarn Hows, but finally opted for this delightful view of Grasmere, nicely complemented by the yellow rowing boat. In the evening we had dinner in Bowness before driving back to Appleton.

One year ago: First signs of Fall