On our second day exploring we had a tip off from our hosts to visit Chesters by the River at Skelwith Bridge. Morning tea sorted! Chesters consists of a restaurant, cafe, bakery and gift shop set on a flowing river. This was just a special place nestled amongst nature and great walking trails. We shared a coffee and our freshly baked currant scone with the friendly black bird. He was eager to share with us. A walk afterwards along the river made this a memorable spot for us.
The narrow winding roads around the Lake District are just glorious. Heavenly!! Colours blend and pop at every turn and farm animals frolic in the winds and rain. These animals could be a postcard for resilience!!
We loved watching the grazing sheep with grey or black bodies and white faces.
Grasmere was a real stand out quaint village that we loved exploring. Full of stone mossy walls that are overgrown with vines and a defibrillator set in the vintage red phone box, in case you overdo it hiking!
What rural village doesn’t have young calves grazing happily. The stone building are wrapped in vines from the ground up to their roof tops! Autumn colours sway and flutter from the branches of mature wise old trees that could tell many stories.
A historical and gastronomical find was the tiny gingerbread shop called Grasmere Gingerbread which has been in the old school building since 1854!!! The small church school was opened in 1630 by William Wordsworth. The small cottage building was hardly big enough to swing a cat in remained the village school for a further 220 years. The principle of the school was to shelter young children from poverty and ignorance.
We brought some ginger biscuits and mulled spicy ginger wine. We had know idea of what to expect. The gingerbread was wrapped in a vintage style paper wrapper with an elastic band to build anticipation of the unwrapping!!! We stood in the church graveyard with saliva drooling from our mouths, as Rob slowly unwrapped the gingerbread biscuits.
They looked more like rye bread with a toasted brown sugar top. Once unwrapped the delectable smell of ginger rose and drifted up through our nose cavity. We each held a gingerbread in our hands. We knew this was going to be a new sensory experience. Just two senses left! We simultaneously bit through the gingerbread which could be described as something between a biscuit and a cake. Soft with a little chew and a tiny crunch. As we tasted the soft gingerbread swirling around our palettes Rob and I locked eyes….and shook our heads grinning in acknowledgement at the amazing 150 year old gingerbread recipe! The gingerbread recipe was created by a lady called Sarah Nelson. Her recipe still to this day is heavily guarded and kept in a vault!!!Wow……mmmmm …. with lots of nodding were our first words.
Now these gingerbreads were something out of this world!!!!! Our regret was that we only brought a 6 pack not 12, but the crowds were looming outside the tiny shop that once sheltered students from poverty. The only thing left to do was knock back the mulled hot spicy ginger wine which had a real kick or should I say, mean punch of ginger that was better than a caffeine shot. What a burn that started in our throat and reaches your eye balls and descended out our nose like the fire from a dragon. Wow…We are glad that we are big, no huge ginger lovers.
Another highlight of our day was exploring the narrow hedge roads that lead us to the ancient stone circle of Castlerigg.
Neolithic people constructed and used this area for ceremonies. To Rob and I this was better than visiting Stone Hedge. We were the only ones standing in the mud, looking out at the mountains with the cold wind blowing in our face. This is one of those moments when you know you are alive! I think another one of those bucket lists that just hits you unexpectedly without warning.
Well as we were leaving we discovered that we were not alone. Badgers inhabit these fields.
We ended our day at the Keswick market.
