Lake District Trip

Plane tickets are purchased. Pet Nanny appointment confirmed. Time off from work is approved. And as of this morning our hotel accomodations are confirmed. This grey stone building below is the Beatrix Potter Gallery...

...which is next door to the Red Lion Inn (white stone), where we are staying the 1st 3 nights. This B&B is in Hawkshead which is also the town where William Wordsworth was born and spent his childhood.

The Red Lion's 15th C. pub is the oldest one in Hawkshead.

Wray Castle is within walking distance. According to http://www.wraycastle.com/ it was not a real castle but a private home built (Gothic Revival style) in 1840 by a retired Liverpool surgeon who used his gin heiress wife's money to finance construction. Apparently his wife took one look at it when completed and refused to live there. The architect H.P Homer drank himself to death. Dr. Dawson died in 1875 (at the age of 96) and left this estate to his nephew Preston Rawnsley. In 1877 Preston's cousin Hardwick Rawnsley took an appointment as Vicar of Wray Church (also built by Dawson). Beatrix Potter's family rented this home in 1882 when she was 16. Now it is the National Trust Headquarters. The grounds are open to the public and sometimes the insideis available for tours. Wary Castle exterior

The drawing room. The library.

The Morning Room.

The view looking up to the 1st floor and the Music Room.

This Mulberry Tree was planted by William Wordsworth in September 1875.

Last is a picture from Wray Castle of Derwent Water Lake.

Beatrix Potter's family rented this property in 1882 when she was 16.

The last 3 days in the Lake District we will stay at Howe Keld, a B&B in Keswick. My brother and sister-in-law stayed here in the 90's and recommended it.

Keswick is near Derwent Water Lake.

A picture of downtown Keswick Our last 3 days will be spent with the Birkholds at their home in London.

We have found some podcasts that seem like they will be helpful walking guides. I love my ipod and all the free podcasts you can access online. In my opinion it is better than almost anything on tv, including most news programs.

So our plan is to travel really light for this trip. Only carry on luggage. This won't be a challenge for John but will be for me. I'm going to use Rick Steve's packing list but also planning on bringing my laptop. Should be interesting. This will be my 7th trip to Europe but 1st time traveling without checking luggage. I'm thinking of this packing light adventure as practice for our trip to China.