A Love Story?

Another wondeful day! This morning after breakfast another guest and I were chatting. She is a member of the Beatrix Potter Society and is a wealth of information about the area and "all things Beatrix". She asked if Sarah and I had time to take a short walk as she wanted to show us something. We headed out of Buckle Yeat and walked up a narrow, winding road toward Esthwaite Water. We passed lovely purple foxgloves by the side of the road, and fields full of golden buttercups. As we approached a signpost and crossroad, I realized that we were looking at a scene from one of the tales (though I wasn't sure which one). When I asked, Vicki smiled and said, Pigling Bland. Sure enough, we were looking at the place where Pigling Bland is gazing wistfully over the hills and wishing he could have a small garden and grow potatoes. I am not sure which page...I will have to check. The tale is a lovely one. Beatrix used her own pigs which she loved, as models. It is almost a love story, and at the end when Pigling Bland and Pig-Wig dance "over the hills and far away"...well, some people say that was Beatrix herself and her husband, Mr. William Heelis, but she denied it. Anyway...once again, we found ourselves in the middle of a story!

Later, Mr. Kirby took us to the ferry site (check out the Buckle Yeat blog link) where Sarah and I took a small launch boat across Lake Windermere to Bowness. The boat trip was lovely, complete with swans and cygnets swimming alongside the boat. Some of the guests had described Bowness as "tatty", but Sarah and I liked it. We visited The World of Beatrix Potter (a tastefully done Disney-like attraction), did some shopping (sorry Mr. Hawkins), and found a great Swiss Itailan Pizzaria. We finished up our afternoon with ice cream cones....black currant and cream and death by chocolate...oh my!

That's all for today, thanks for reading. I hope you are all well, and your gardens are not too full of weeds! (I hear mine are pretty bad...oh well!)

Your aff friend,
Kathy Hawkins