Vesna Armstrong Photography

During our week's holiday at Ullswater earlier this month we stayed at Mellrigg - a  most delightful, old cottage sitting on a quiet country lane, about 10 minute drive from the lake. Except for a house to the left of the cottage there were no other properties nearby. I absolutely loved the piece and quiet of the isolated location surrounded by nothing other then glorious nature. And the cottage itself is a bit of a dream home to me. I was so looking forward to spending a week at Mellrigg that, as we drove up and it finally came into view, I squealed with excitement. Just loved its white washed walls and the stone barn attached to it. This is the front view you see from the road but I took the photo from the property's large side lawn. There are also big lawns to the front and the back of the cottage making for an amazing amount of land. The back of the cottage -  just as pretty as the front. We loved popping out through the back door to enjoy the outdoors. A

Last Friday I returned from a lovely week's holiday at the lake Ullswater in the Lake District. We stayed in a charming old cottage with stunning gardens which I will be blogging about next. Today I would like to share our first and longest walk of the holiday. Ullswater is the second largest of the Lakeland's lakes and meres, and arguably the most beautiful of the English lakes. It is often compared to Switzerland's Lake Lucerne. It is a "narrow ribbon lake" formed as glaciers gouged out the valley floor during the last Ice Age. When you look at a visitor map of Ullswater one of the first things you notice is that there are steamer trips spanning the length of the lake with three stops. You can have a ride the full length of the route or you can hop on and off at the three piers. Of course, going on the steamer was a must, and we opted to go on a linear walk between two of the stops -  Glenridding and Howtown and then take the steamer back. It was a 7 mile wa