Day 424: Rabbits and rain

22/09/2022

Today was forecasted to be the wet day of the week and boy was it ever. It was always a gamble visiting the Lake District in Autumn. Lets hope the forecasts continue to be correct and the rest of the week is dry. After a casual start to the day the skies opened as we made our way to Windermere. That was a good enough excuse for coffee on arrival. The kids were happy with a “spoooooky cat”. Dad grabbed another mega coffee and Lachlan was prepared with his oat babyccino jacket, his second in three days.

With warm bellies we made our way out into the wild and to The World of Beatrix Potter Attraction. Lachlan was looking forward to this one.

After a short Beatrix Potter introduction video, we then walked and giggled our way through a large number stories, perfect for the kids.

After no luck in our squirrel hideout yesterday searching for the elusive red squirrel, we had to settle for The Tale of Squirrel Nutkin.

Helen Beatrix Potter (28 July 1866 – 22 December 1943) was an English writer, illustrator, natural scientist, and conservationist. She is best known for her children’s books featuring animals, such as The Tale of Peter Rabbit… Born into an upper-middle-class household, Potter was educated by governesses and grew up isolated from other children. She had numerous pets and spent holidays in Scotland and the Lake District, developing a love of landscape, flora and fauna, all of which she closely observed and painted. Potter’s study and watercolours of fungi led to her being widely respected in the field of mycology. In her thirties, Potter self-published the highly successful children’s book The Tale of Peter Rabbit. Following this, Potter began writing and illustrating children’s books full-time. Potter wrote thirty books, the best known being her twenty-three children’s tales. With the proceeds from the books and a legacy from an aunt, in 1905 Potter bought Hill Top Farm in Near Sawrey, a village in the Lake District, in the county of Cumbria (then Lancashire)… Potter died of pneumonia and heart disease on 22 December 1943 at her home in Near Sawrey at the age of 77, leaving almost all her property to the National Trust. She is credited with preserving much of the land that now constitutes the Lake District National Park.

The World of Beatrix Potter Attraction was much more fun than Beatrix Potter Garden in Dunkeld, Scotland. After driving the whole way through Cornwall twice a couple of weeks ago and not seeing a single Cornish Pasty, I settled my appetite for one, not quite as I had imagined. As a bit of a Cornish pasty connoisseur, I thought they were supposed to be half fruit as shown below in the slideshow of Eloise full sass on the mini golf course (yeah, it was a bit of a slow day).

In the 17th and 18th centuries, the pasty became a staple part of the diet for most Cornish miners, fishermen and farmers. The pasty became an all-in-one meal with one half being filled with meat and the other half a sweet or fruity dessert. The crimped edge also served a purpose, as a handle for the workers who had less than sterile hands after a hard day’s work. The Cornish Pasty was the original, portable, easy-to-eat convenience food!

After seeing as much of Windermere as we could with the weather we pushed on to Kendal. We think these wee towns look quite nice, although it was difficult to see with all the rain. The wellies were well overdue.

We thought it might be tricky swimming through Kendal but Lachlan was living his best life. Lachlan brought joy to the wet people of Kendal who realised they were not half as wet or happy as he was.

Dripping from head to toes we squelched back to the car and returned to our cabin to dry off.

On the other side of the world, Australia had a public holiday today to remember Queen Elizabeth II, “crowds have gathered across the country for ‘abolish the monarchy’ protests on the national day of mourning for Queen Elizabeth II”. Also “Socceroos shake off the rust with 1-0 win over New Zealand in first friendly”.