June 12--Lake District

Cloudy all day but no rain.  Headed south to Ambleside which is a very cute but touristy town, and then to Hawkshead which is where Beatrix Potter's husband had a law office, but it's now used as a gallery of Potter's art.  Betsy went through the gallery and I walked up to the old church and wandered around the town.  On the way back toward we stopped at the biggest garden center I've ever seen.  It was like a mall with nothing but plants, garden tools, furniture, clothing, anything and everything garden related.  Then another drive through the country via a "mountain" pass.  This was our last day in the Lake District and our weather wasn't good, but even with the clouds and rain it was a pretty place.  Must be spectacular with sun.

June 11--The Lake District

The weather was (again) a little rainy.  Drove into Keswick which is the main town in the district and found a laundry where we washed the clothing we'd worn for the past few days.  After finishing that duty we walked the town and I swear every other shop was selling hiking, climbing, mountain biking stuff.  Betsy discovered that an art pencil she uses is made here and they had a factory outlet! Apparently about a hundred years ago a couple of sheepherders found a deposit of graphite which they thought might be a form of coal.  That didn't work out for them, but they discovered that it left a smudge on their hands that was pretty much waterproof so they started using it to mark their sheep.  Someone else took it step further and invented the graphite pencil. 
After Keswick we took a drive through the Newland Valley which was beautiful despite the rain and clouds.
We've gotten into a routine of eating which would probably kill us at home, but we're doing so much walking that we will probably survive.  In the morning we have an English breakfast which consists of eggs (scrambled, fried, or poached), incredible English bacon (much thicker and more flavorable than ours), sausage, beans, toast, and coffee or tea.  After the first couple days we tell our hostess that we'll just have eggs and one piece of bacon, one sausage, toast and coffee or tea as we can't eat all that food.  About 1 or 2 PM we'll stop at a tea room and have a little something.  Betsy usually has tea and scones with clotted cream and jam.  I'm on a mission to try every Lemon Drizzle Cake that I run into along with coffee.  About 5 or 6PM we'll find somewhere to have dinner.  If we're in the country we'll try and find an inn with food or if we're in town we'll find a restaurant or pub. The food over here is much more flavorful since they don't put all the chemicals in it.

June 11-- Mosedale End B&B

Most of our travel day yesterday was rainy but shortly after checking into our B&B the clouds parted and we were able to walk around the town of Mosedale, which consists of maybe 15 old stone farmhouses, and the village inn.  This region is known for it's beautiful "fells" which the locals define as mountains, but for us they were big hills.  Lots of hikers and bikers in this area.  There are lakes, but the weather was cool and rainy so we skipped the boat ride. In the  picture of our B&B the right end of the building would have been used for livestock housing back in the 1600-1700's, but the upper portion now houses 3 guest rooms and down below is storage.  Our hostess, JoAnn is a baker and we had delightful baked goodies delivered daily to our room.

June 10--Conwy to Keswick Travel Day

Yesterday was absolutely beautiful--sunny and warm. Today it's raining and the wind has returned. We decided that if we changed plans based on a little rain we'd end up seeing very little. That's one thing I've noticed about the UKers--they don't let rain stop them.  They've got good raingear for people, babies, and dogs.  So we headed to our next castle--Caernarfon.  This is another Edward I castle and this is the Big One.  The story goes that Edward I, the King of England, built a series of six castles to subdue the Welsh (Conwy castle was also one of the six).  While the castles and the might of the English army slowed down the Welsh it never completely conquered them. To buy time Edward told the Welsh that in the future a prince would be born in Wales who spoke not a work of English and that prince would rule Wales.  Edward then got busy and impregnated the queen.  Shortly before she was to deliver he sent her to Caernarfon and thereafter a prince was born in Wales who spoke not a word of English.  Hence we have the Prince of Wales. 
In addition to the castle we found an onsite museum dedicated to The Royal Welsh Fusaliers, an army unit, that was quite interesting.
After touring Caernarfon we hit the road to the Lake District and our next B&B.

June 9--Conwy, Wales

After our long drive yesterday we decided to take it easy today and just stroll through town.  After another great breakfast we left the B&B about 8:30AM.  We walked the walls that surround the town,  walked through part of the town and found ourselves at the quay so we took a boat ride around the harbor,  while in the area we stopped and looked at the smallest house in the UK, then off to Conwy Castle, then lunch, then a tour of Plus Mawr which is a preserved Elizabethan merchants house.  While going from one point to another if we saw a charity or thrift shop or antique store we'd stop in for a look see.  Arrived back at the B&B about 4:30PM totally exhausted.

June 8--Travel Day Bath to Conwy

Leaving the Bath area, but before we do we're making a very short side trip to Wells which is only about 6 miles from the B&B.  To be called a city in the UK there must be a cathedral.  Wells has only 12000 people but it has a cathedral and therefore is the smallest city in England.  While the city may be small, the cathedral is not.  Both of us were very impressed with the beauty and grandness of both the exterior and interior, especially the stone carving elements.  In addition to the cathedral we also took a quick look at the Bishops Palace which was almost next door.  The palace had a mote which was a first for us.  After a couple hours we headed north to out next stop--Conwy, Wales

June 7--Cotswold area

One of Betsy's must do items was Hidcote Manor Garden which was the first garden to have "rooms".  The garden is made up of separate rooms with different themes in each room.  The rooms are divided from each other by walls, hedges, trees, etc.  I must admit it was a beautiful garden, but just a too few many people.
Once again we found that our travel times were much longer than anticipated so we had to cut the day short in order to get home at a reasonable time.  We did stop in at Stow-On-The-Wold for a walkabout and afternoon tea.  Both were pleasing.
We decided that rather than drive through Bristol again as we had in the AM we'd go back through Bath.  After a couple of missed turns I'm not sure we saved any time or stress.