10 April 2012
To Windermere in the Lake District, to the Troutbeck youth hostel, to be precise. The whole family have sailing lessons Saturday and Sunday mornings; then I spend the afternoons walking, up and round the valley to Jesus Church with its Burne-Jones east window, down to Brockhole activity centre, to the viewpoint at Orrest Head behind Windermere, and on a long one to Ambleside and back up and over Wansfell in a horizontal rain storm.
I discover that standing in freezing lake water in the morning and being pelted in the face with sleet all afternoon seems to be a perfect recipe for Man Flu.
I asked a taxi driver why there were so many Chinese everywhere, the hostel was heaving with them. He replied, It’s Beatrix Potter. In Windermere is the Beatrix Potter World Attraction (and her house is somewhere nearby) and it turns out the Chinese learn English using Beatrix Potter’s books. And so Windermere is stuffed with Chinese people all year and frequently to be seen walking round holding enormous fluffy Peter Rabbit cuddly dolls.
View over Lake Windermere
Books & Boots 