Autumn on Ullswater
Autumn on Ullswater
This sounded like a very imposing residence. Approached by its own footbridge, indeed! That was a first, anyway. Although the outside was imposing, our welcome was rather cool, as the owners had forgotten to put on the storage heaters the night before. Luckily, the wood-effect gas stove in the living room threw out enough heat to heat the surrounding area, and the storage heaters proved efficient, once they had been turned on.
The views from the house were breathtaking, looking out across Ullswater and the hills beyond. It would have been easy not to stray too far from the immediate area, as Martindale was only a few miles along the road, and in the amazing light of Friday afternoon the photo opportunities were endless.
The meal on Friday night was booked at the Brampton Country House Hotel, sadly the directions given to some of us were less than complete, and we spent some time racing through the countryside, looking for our destination. Thank heavens for Liz’s competent driving. Thanks also to Cy, who took the trouble to look at a map, and then followed us to let us know where we should have been. Otherwise, we may have ended up eating in Penrith, which would have been a shame, as the food provided, when we finally arrived, was of excellent quality, and very pleasantly served.
On Saturday we woke to the smell of a wood fire, which was strange, because we didn’t
have a wood fire! As Cy has no sense of smell, he’d been sitting in the living room reading since 6.a.m. whilst a raffia coaster slowly smouldered on top of the incredibly hot gas stove. We won’t go into who put it there will we, Keith? Luckily Janet quickly spotted the problem and removed the smouldering article. We did wonder where the smoke alarm was located, and why it didn’t respond to the smoke!
Saturday was a reasonable day, though the light was frustratingly patchy. There is so much to see around Ullswater itself that some of us didn’t even complete the drive to Patterdale, but there was plenty of time, and even better light on the Sunday. Ken had a an unprofitable visit to the Car Boot Sale, some people even managed to join a Remembrance service, having arrived spot on 11 a.m. For those of us who braved the Kirkstone Pass, the rewards in terms of photo opportunities were immense. However, it was so very cold, with a brisk wind, that we couldn’t hang around for long. We were a little concerned to see the gritters out on Sunday afternoon, and not a moment too soon, as the cars were well frozen up the next morning.
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John served his usual high quality meals, no mean feat as the kitchen was somewhat under equipped. How hard is it to work out that 12 people are going to need at least 12 desert dishes, and that it needn’t necessarily involve washing out your soup bowl in between?
We were a bit horrified when, on opening up the dishwasher, which had been turned off by accident halfway through its programme, Dave revealed the hideous state of the filters, which had probably never been cleared since the machine was installed. At least John didn’t suggest making cream of leftover soup from the contents!!!!
We all enjoyed the slide show of various programmes, on Saturday night, thanks for bringing the equipment. Edward, who seems set to be a big prizewinner, showed us some of his pictures, thanks for that Edward.
John Hilton on his first trip with the club, was definitely an asset to the group, as he quickly became John’s number one kitchen boy. Janet, too seemed to do far more than her fair share of time at the sink. You did a grand job Janet, although some people still believe that the kitchen fairy came in the night and cleared up ready for morning.
We had quite a rowdy time at the table on Sunday, as we HAD to finish all the wine, not to mention Liz’s damson gin, Mike’s damson wine and various other liquid assets.
The weekend was gone all too quickly, and for once we left the Lake District on a dry bright day, which gave us all extra time to get our prizewinning shots on the way home. For Dave and me, the lure of the Lakeland shop at Windermere, proved too strong to resist, so we had a pleasant lunch, spent some money and decided we already had enough prizewinning shots for one weekend anyway.
Once again, our thanks are due to Ken, for his careful research, and for taking charge of all the booking and organisation. We all appreciate your hard work, Ken, and are looking forward to the next trip.
Joyce Hollows
