Travel: Weekend in Yorkshire Dales and the Lake District

We were due to have a holiday in Scotland in early September, but as my mother in law unfortunately passed away, we cancelled it, but did retain the halfway stop that we had planned in the Yorkshire Dales and the Lake District.

It’s a part of England that I don’t know at all and I was absolutely delighted with it. It seems that just a five minute drive from the motorway you are immersed in the wonderful fells and dry stone walls of the Dales. 

We had a two night stay at the Black Bull in Sedbergh, renowned for its restaurant (and we were not disappointed). The restaurant is quirkily decorated with hanging sea urchins and has a partial dry stone wall complete with nettles in the window. The food was exquisite.

Sedbergh is such a pretty little town and calls itself England’s Book Town (I’m not sure what Hay on Wye would think of that), but it certainly does have a few bookshops. I love browsing in a bookshop, and restrained myself to purchasing just two books (The Mummy at the Dining Room Table and the Walkers Guide to Outdoor Clues and Signs). 

There were several walks that started in Sedbergh, we did two - a short steep one to Winder and a long one to Cautley Spout, England’s highest waterfall, and back.

On the Sunday we moved across to Windermere, staying in the Lamplighter Dining Rooms. The walk down to Lake Windermere itself was about 30 minutes from where we stayed. It was the last Sunday of the Summer holidays, and a hot one too, and the world and his wife were at Lake Windermere. However, just a short stroll away from the centre and it was much more tranquil. We had lunch on the marina just watching the yachts sail by. 

The following morning, before our long drive home, we hired an electric boat out on Windermere. At such an early hour, we pretty much had the lake to ourselves.

It may not have been the week in Cairngorms that we were expecting, but it was a refreshing long weekend nevertheless, and an area that I would love to return to.

Love Mrs Jones x