We stayed in Braithwaite<\/a>, a village in the mountainous part of the Lake District which consists of a handful of cottages, two pubs (the Royal Oak<\/a> and the Coledale Inn<\/a>), one restaurant, and a general store that had all the basics and even saved the Times<\/a> and the Independent<\/a> for us each morning. For the first few days, we rented a cottage<\/a>\u00a0in the middle of the village, right on the side of the Coledale “beck” (local term for a stream) with fantastic views of the “fells” (a.k.a. mountains) nearby.\u00a0For the final two days, after the discovery of a few too many beetles in cottage #1, our rental company moved us to Ladstock Hall<\/a>, a country house in the next village that was converted recently to condominiums and offered great views of the countryside plus a taste of country gentry life.<\/p>\n Our daily routine was to wake with Claire, usually around 8am, make tea and toast then spend the morning pottering around the cottage or walking on the nearby fells<\/a>. Most days we would then take\u00a0a three- to five-hour drive exploring the Lake District’s rural splendor on a country lane far too narrow, steep, and filled with sheep for a car like ours.\u00a0We particularly enjoyed the remote and mountainous Wasdale valley and having dinner at the Wasdale Head Inn<\/a>.\u00a0We took Claire to a pub just about every day and she quickly learned the difference between bitter and stout and has gotten pretty good at telling which ale is real<\/a>. We usually got back by 7pm so we could get Claire to sleep and then enjoy our books, a movie, or an early night.<\/p>\n Otherwise, we caught up on many fun things about England: warm beer (among our favorites was the delightfully named Snecklifter<\/a>), fish and chips,\u00a0McVitie\u2019s biscuits<\/a> (including extensive taste testing that determined Plain Chocolate are better than the sweeter Milk Chocolate), cream tea<\/a>, steak and ale pies,\u00a0Rowntree\u2019s Fruit Pastilles<\/a>, Stilton cheese<\/a>, Cadbury Dairy Milk<\/a> chocolate, and endless cups of tea.<\/p>\n Click on the photo below for a slideshow.<\/p>\n We are back at home in Menlo Park and getting caught up.\u00a0Here’s a quick rundown on\u00a0the first week after London; we’ll post another in a few days covering our visit to Wales. The second stage of our vacation was five days in the Lake District in\u00a0northern England, an idyllic rural vacation spot made famous in … Continue reading Lake District<\/span> ![\"Claire](\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/farm3.static.flickr.com\/2415\/1794559450_cbed324f98_m.jpg?resize=240%2C239\")
<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"