Lakes

Even the names in the Lake District seem to grow out of the landscape - Blencathra, Watendlath, Ullswater Grasmere, Helvellyn, Stock Ghyll. Mountains rear up into the sky over long clear lakes. Acres of beech, birch and oak make a home for deer, red squirrels, and whole colonies of birds. Dry stone walls mark the hillsides. Farmhouses are stone and slate, clothed with lichen and look as if they grew.

We were there on Saturday, starting at Sawrey to pay homage to Beatrix Potter's house. Yes, you can visit Hill Top where so many of her stories were based. You can see the garden where Jemima laid her eggs, the landing where Anna Maria ran away with the rolling pin, and the Dolls House where Tom Thumb and Hunca Munca wreaked havoc. A log fire burns in the hearth and the house is exactly the way it was when Beatrix Potter Heelis lived in it.

We stopped in Ambleside for lunch and went on to Wray Castle. The National Trust has only just started work on the castle, so it's not full of Do-Not-Touch furniture. Instead it's got dressing up rooms, microscopes so you can look at what they've found, and an outdoor/indoor room where you can build a dry stone wall. It's not really a castle at all, it was built by rich Victorians, but they wanted it to look like a real castle complete with falling-down bits (which fell down.) The best things, though,are outside.

The trees are turning golden brown and we walked on beech husks. A path led down to Lake Windermere where a jetty led out across the water and a swan sailed by. It was a perfect afternoon, warm and soft and the air tasted clean and fresh. All too soon, we had to leave, but w can't wait to go back. in the meantime I can make the pictures in my head, with Urchin and Sepia looking down from the trees. Hope, Needle and Crackle are picking blackberries. Tipp and Todd skim stones across the still blue water.

Splash. Hello, Fingal. I knew you wouldn't be far away.