On the Saturday, we had a party and cake cutting for my CM and the 2 year old who had turned 2 only a week earlier. I had carried decorations over and spent the early morning decorating the entire place with little T's help.
Post the celebration, we went to Ullswater for a boat ride and the two 8 year olds had a go at steering the motor boat ( with K right next to them of course) and really enjoyed the same.
We went exploring into the woods and unfortunately we spotted a fish struggling for breath by the lake. It was a silver and golden fish and my 2 wards were frantic with worry. Though as a life long vegetarian, I had not handled fish before, I took the poor fish by the hand and dropped it into the water. Unfortunately it kept gasping upside down and never did flip back. The 2 kids were quite subdued on the walk back.
But then, on the way back, there was a wishing well full of coins and the tree next to the wishing well had roots and branches in which the coins were firmly entrenched. ( Am not sure if they got sucked by the roots along with the water or something else was going on there). This aroused their curiosity and the sadness of the fish was soon forgotten!
We were driving and dining in areas officially declared as ' Areas of outstanding Natural beauty', so we took our time doing both. I was meeting the rest of the families properly only for the first time, but luckily we gelled well. The men were good friends already from K's time in Glasgow some years earlier.
The next day, we went to Kill Hope lead mining museum. I first got it clarified from the local expert that Kill Hope is from an ancient Anglo Saxon language wherein Hope meant valley and Kill referred to the mining 'Kiln'. The kids had fun sieving for green, pink and purple coloured rock crystals. We all then went underground through a very small, dark tunne with water upto half our wellington boots. We were properly equipped with miner's hats and torches. It was a bit scary initially, but Michaela , the guide was really friendly and knowledgeable.
It was a truly adventurous experience, having to duck for some of the way trying to experience what the miners had to do a 100 year ago. We saw the underground water mill, the 'thunder box', the gallendas and much more. The CM was scared but coped well and dealt with it maturely.
Post this adventure, we made our way to High force water falls, It was very similar to our Amicalola experience in Atlanta with a wonderfully green and leafy path leading to the majestic water falls, Post this visit, my CM surprised us all with some really good cart-wheels that she has been surreptitiously practising for a while!
We all then took a very long walk at Derwent Reservoir just for the beauty of the view.
We then headed to an Indian Restaurant in Allendale and while we were all nodding our heads off at the table, one of the dads passionately regaled us with his childhood escapades in a Kodaikanal boarding school ;)
The next day, we cleaned up the place good and proper and left for our pony trek adventure at Hexham. The ladies including the girls went first. I went on a tall and sturdy male stud called Blaze and the CM went on a cute pony called Blue bell. Once again, the view from the horse back, on the trail, was spectacular.
The families then had a picnic lunch, said our goodbyes and we proceeded to Dudley to celebrate the CM's birthday at the temple.
After a long drive back, we did just that and reached home exhausted but glad of the good time we had.
...To be continued
Post the celebration, we went to Ullswater for a boat ride and the two 8 year olds had a go at steering the motor boat ( with K right next to them of course) and really enjoyed the same.
We went exploring into the woods and unfortunately we spotted a fish struggling for breath by the lake. It was a silver and golden fish and my 2 wards were frantic with worry. Though as a life long vegetarian, I had not handled fish before, I took the poor fish by the hand and dropped it into the water. Unfortunately it kept gasping upside down and never did flip back. The 2 kids were quite subdued on the walk back.
But then, on the way back, there was a wishing well full of coins and the tree next to the wishing well had roots and branches in which the coins were firmly entrenched. ( Am not sure if they got sucked by the roots along with the water or something else was going on there). This aroused their curiosity and the sadness of the fish was soon forgotten!
We were driving and dining in areas officially declared as ' Areas of outstanding Natural beauty', so we took our time doing both. I was meeting the rest of the families properly only for the first time, but luckily we gelled well. The men were good friends already from K's time in Glasgow some years earlier.
The next day, we went to Kill Hope lead mining museum. I first got it clarified from the local expert that Kill Hope is from an ancient Anglo Saxon language wherein Hope meant valley and Kill referred to the mining 'Kiln'. The kids had fun sieving for green, pink and purple coloured rock crystals. We all then went underground through a very small, dark tunne with water upto half our wellington boots. We were properly equipped with miner's hats and torches. It was a bit scary initially, but Michaela , the guide was really friendly and knowledgeable.
It was a truly adventurous experience, having to duck for some of the way trying to experience what the miners had to do a 100 year ago. We saw the underground water mill, the 'thunder box', the gallendas and much more. The CM was scared but coped well and dealt with it maturely.
Post this adventure, we made our way to High force water falls, It was very similar to our Amicalola experience in Atlanta with a wonderfully green and leafy path leading to the majestic water falls, Post this visit, my CM surprised us all with some really good cart-wheels that she has been surreptitiously practising for a while!
We all then took a very long walk at Derwent Reservoir just for the beauty of the view.
We then headed to an Indian Restaurant in Allendale and while we were all nodding our heads off at the table, one of the dads passionately regaled us with his childhood escapades in a Kodaikanal boarding school ;)
The next day, we cleaned up the place good and proper and left for our pony trek adventure at Hexham. The ladies including the girls went first. I went on a tall and sturdy male stud called Blaze and the CM went on a cute pony called Blue bell. Once again, the view from the horse back, on the trail, was spectacular.
The families then had a picnic lunch, said our goodbyes and we proceeded to Dudley to celebrate the CM's birthday at the temple.
After a long drive back, we did just that and reached home exhausted but glad of the good time we had.
...To be continued
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