mybigadventures.com

Half term has rolled around again and this year I headed off to Amsterdam with mum for a few days. We headed off from Doncaster aiport on Saturday and after just a 45 minute flight we were back on the ground. As it turned out, that was the short part of the journey with it taking us about the same amount of time again just to get through the airport. We stopped in a pretty central location with tram and metro links pretty close by which was handy for getting about. On our first full day we set out on a bit of a walk, which turned into a pretty long walk along the canals, through the red light district, past Anne Frank's house and along the nine streets. By the time we got back we had covered nearly 11km and were feeling pretty knackered. We decided on the next day to make use of public transport and caught the tram across to the Rijksmuseum. There was a special Rembrandt exhibition with lots of his early work spread across a series of rooms, so having managed to get some timed tickets we went in. It was really interesting with a huge selection of drawings, paintings, prints and engravings in the collection. Whilst there, we also popped in to the cafe in the museum for some tea and cake which was nice, it was pretty busy but very nice. 

On our last day we had tickets booked for the Anne Frank House, but as they weren't until the evening, we decided to drop by the Heineken experience. I actually managed to book tickets and save a few Euros on the way there which had the added benefit of skipping the queue when we arrived. I really liked the brewing room most with the big copper tanks and all the dials and guages! In the evening we went to Anne Frank. We arrived a little before our time slot but didn't have to wait too long before we went in. Despite the evening timeslot it was still really busy and we moved along in a queue most of the war around. It really is amazing that the two familys managed to keep hidden in the house for two years. We stopped for tea and cake in the cafe which has been added since me and Dani came just over a year ago.

Then it was time for home. We had a great time and were really lucky with the weather with blue skies and sunshine every day apart from the day we were leaving when there was a bit of rain. I've added a few photos to the album, let me know what you think. 

Today was 'red squirrel day'.

We didn't have a firm plan or destination for the day, so we thought we would set off in pursuit of red squirrels, a rarity in the area and only seen in small colonies in certain places. We set off to Dodd Wood near Keswick, a place mum and dad have been to many times, where red squirrels are being carefully nurtured and where ospreys can also be seen over Bassenthwaite Lake, at the base of the wood. We walked up towards the first osprey viewing platform where the squirrels can also be seen and it was quite an uphill walk! Once we got there we looked and we looked... but not a single squirrel to be seen!

Not to be dispirited, we continued up the hill - an unexpected mountain climb - towards the second osprey viewing platform. There weren't many signs so it was a bit like the blind leading the blind, but we got there eventually. It wasn't quite what we expected - we had anticipated a hide but it was an exposed picnic table with a small fence to prevent any unsuspecting visitors from plummeting down the mountain. We sat for a bit and looked out over Bassenthwaite. The views were glorious and you could see a long way - the weather was fair although overcast so visibility was good, with some cloud just nestling on the peaks. So, we were sitting and looking - but to no avail.

We gave it a bit of time, but decided to give in and set off back down the mountain, planning on calling at the lower viewing spot again, just in case. And it was a good job we did! Two little red ones crept out of the undergrowth to feed at the feeding station! It was awesome! A lady there had said that she's put some food out for them a bit earlier in the day and it was nearly all gone. And the squirrels were really brave, coming pretty close and feeding from the tree stumps nearby. We stood and watched for about 30 minutes, completely absorbed by their activity.

We made it down to the car park again, just before our pay and display ran out. We sat in the car, eating our picnic before heading off towards Grasmere, where we were aiming for Allan Bank, an unknown (to me) National Trust property, also known for red squirrels. We made it there for about 4pm - not giving us long, but we didn't really know what to expect. We were surprised to find a bit more than we expected - it isn't a conventional historic house, and (although we didn't go in) the house is set up very much as a family home to relax in. The gardens, which we did explore, seemed quite expansive, rising up into the landscape behind the house. We toiled up, for a while, admiring the lovely views as we went, and also trying to spy out the red squirrels. But no such luck. 

However, that quickly changed as we descended to the lawned area behind the grass. We saw at least 6 squirrels, dashing and scampering and chasing each other through the trees! It was truly awesome! We speculated that they might be siblings, as there was a lot of chattering and bickering going on. And they came quite close, feeding from the stashes of nuts that had been left about. We stood and watched them - even past closing time! It was at least 5.10pm by the time we felt we ought to move on and the property had closed at 5. Ben got lots of photos, although these squirrels were quite a lot livelier than the previous ones. 

From now on, this day is to be red squirrel day. A day not to be forgotten.

Today we decided to branch out and go to the other side of Lake Windermere! So far, our adventures have focused on the northern part of Windermere, but today we explored the southern end - well, at least a bit of it!

We set off for Hill Top, the historic home of Beatrix Potter, creator of the Peter Rabbit tales. It was a pleasant drive there, and we even made an impromptu stop to photograph a bouquet of pheasants (I've just found out that this is a collective noun for them!). The males were being quite temperamental and squabbling a lot, but the colours of their plumage looked beautiful against the bracken. When we arrived, we managed to park our little car in a cheeky corner spot and headed to the ticket office, securing entry to the house for 20mins time. We 'pottered' in Beatrix Potter's garden for a bit, watching some birds and admiring the autumn colours, and having a quick look in the shop. From there, we went in the house. It was quite dark inside, quite typical for the National Trust, but lots of interesting things to look at, including a lot of original art by Potter's brother. There weren't a huge number of rooms to look at however, so we weren't there very long.

From there, we went to Claife viewing station, a castle-style tower, constructed to offer lovely views over Windermere, with coloured panes of glass to look through. Apparently, it was linked to the Picturesque movement - as it offered perfectly composed views of the lake. However, it was risky to offer the public such views as they might be overcome by the perfect beauty and faint... Risky business, looking at views... Getting peckish after all the perfect views, we decided to have lunch in the cafe. We shared a ploughan's sausage roll picnic lunch (with some cheese, cherry tomatoes and chutneys) and a scone with jam and cream. 

Then, we decided to head to Grasmere - mainly on a quest for Grasmere gingerbread. It took about 30 mins to drive, with only a couple of near misses on the narrow and winding roads! Found a place to park easily enough and then wandered into the town centre, trying to recall where the gingerbread shop was. And we found it! And the queue that streamed from it! Hmm... We didn't have to wait long through, and got some gingerbread! We then carried on wandering, seeing some nice bits and bobs in the local shops but only buying a couple of books from the local bookshop. Had a little piece of gingerbread in the car before setting off back to the cottage, stopping at Booths in Windermere for some more food.  

We decided to go to National Trust Wray Castle today. The sun was shining and the sky was blue and it looked like it might be a rathre nice day. Having had a look how to get there yesterday, we decided to drive to Ambleside and catch the cruise boat across to the castle as some reviews suggested the car park was pretty small. It was only about about 20 minutes drive to Ambleside and we pparked down by the pier. As we were leaving the car, we could see that one of the cruise boats had arrived, so we quickly bought tickets and managed to dash through the gate before it departed. We sat inside as we were the last people aboard and we were quickly on our way. There were some nice views across Windermere on the cruise to the castle with other boats silhouetted against the bright sunshine making for nice photos. As we neared the castle a couple of jets flew quite low across the lake, sadly I wasn't quick enough to catch them on camera. 

Having docked, we had a quick look at the return cruise times which seemed to be every 40 minutes or so and then made the short walk up the hillside to the castle. Wray Castle is a Victorian neo-gothic building dating from 1840, but is unfurnished inside. There were a number of rooms set up for children including a Peter Rabbit burrow that seemed to make use of the warren of rooms upstairs and a Forest Folktales room which featured a dark room with some fairly amateurish decorations. The castle interior was pretty underwhelming overall and we left feeling that it could be very nice if some more money and time was spent on it. I certainly would have been disappointed as a non-member paying over ten pounds entry. 

We had a wander around the surrounding land, skimming stones across the lake from the shingle beach, and clambering over rocks to get a selfie in front of the lake. The weather remained fine, although the sun kept dipping in and out behind cloud. The wander through the woods took us up to the cruise boat pier and to our suprise there again was a boat just arriving. We joined the queue and once again were the last people to get on the boat, this time scoring a seat in the front outside. On the journey back I kept my eyes peeled for the elusive jets but sadly they didn't appear, the cruise stopped off at Brockhole before continuing back to Ambleside. Feeling a bit peckish on our arrival we droppped into a fish and chip shop just behind the pier and wouldn't you know it, whilst we were queing the jets screamed by again!

We decided to have a wander around the shops in Ambleside before heading back to the cottage. There were lots of nice things and we ended up coming away with some glass Christmas decorations and a new lamp from a shop that had just opened and then a glass tea light holder for another place. Took a few photos of the bridgehouse before heading back for the evening.  

Half term has arrived at last after another busy start to the year. We've headed north for the break and are staying near Windermere in the Lake District. The weather today was a bit changeable with some rain and drizzle through the morning and some patchy sun later in the afternoon, we were however treated to a rainbow across the lake which was nice!

We had a wander around Bowness on Windemere and then a potter about Windemere town. Saw a few nice bits in the shops and enjoyed the views across the lake. The autumn colours are looking pretty spectacular and we're hoping to catch a bit more of it on some of our wanders later in the week. Enjoy the photos!

This is just a quick one to let you know I've added in the photos from our last day in Dorset. We went to National Trust Montacute House which was only about 20 minutes away from the cottage. The sun came out shortly after we arrived which was nice and gave us a good chance to have a walk around the gardens and into the field just beyond the house.

Sadly the weather didn't last and shortly after we had entered the house it begain to pour with rain. We had a good walk about the rooms including a hunt for the writing that had been etched into some of the window panes in the library and a walk along the long gallery with art from the National Portrait Gallery. It was still raining when we had been around the house, so we got a bit wet on the way back to the car. We had decided to head off today rather than in the morning so that we could get a lie-in tomorrow. The journey home was pretty good with fairly minimal traffic getting home just after 8.30. Enjoy the photos!

We had another late start today but after a check on the MET office app, National Trust's Kingston Lacy seemed to be our best chance of avoiding the rain so that's where we headed, arriving just after 1. We had a cream tea each for lunch in the cafe - which was as ever overrrun and under-staffed (a common trait of National Trust properties we've found). The house has timed entry tickets and it was suggested online that we should have booked these in advance, fortunately they seemed to have plenty left for all of the timeslots (which are every 15 minutes), so after our cream tea, we went for a wander inside.

The house is pretty vast and is set over three floors with the usual grand rooms, although these seemed to be more dimly lit than usual so the guides were using torches to highlight things to the visitors. The real highlight has to be the bedrooms in the ceiling, these are described as tented bedrooms, decorated to look like the inside of a tent. The effect was amazing - I wonder if it would work in our top bedroom...

We decided to try the White Lion, which is a short walk away from the cottage, for tea. The restaurant was fully booked but we were able to order food and sit at a table in the bar area. The food was very good, Dani had a burger, whilst I had steak and kidney pie, both were served with huge chunk chips. It was very nice, but incredibly filling, so after a rather slow walk back to the cottage, we spent the rest of the evening slothed on the sofa, nursing a food baby before calling it a night. 

We're kind of at the half way stage with the exams at school, but thankfully half term has arrived and we can breathe a little. We booked a little cottage in Dorset for the week called the Old Shop, and arrived here yesterday. The cottage is really nice having quite recently been renovated and on our arrival we were treated to a welcome pack of scones, jam and Dorset tea - very nice indeed. Today we went to National Trust Stourhead which is about 10 minutes away from the cottage.

It's a pretty vast estate with large gardens to wander through and the rooms on the ground floor of the house. Although the weather this morning was a little cloudy, by late afternoon it was really hot and sunny as we wandered through the gardens. The garden was really colourful with lots of Azaleas and Rhododendrons in full flower and we saw Goslings and a Coot sitting on a nest with eggs underneath. A great start to our break away! 

It was the first day of mums holiday today, and we were off to a busy start with the gas man servicing the boiler. We then had a few more jobs to complete including a trips to the tip, library and bank before we were on our way to Bolsover. It's not very far away but neither of us had ever been before and given the blue skies and sunshine I was keen to get out and about. You can see the castle from quite a distance before you get there as Bolsover it located at the top of a steep hill, so finding it was no problem, parking on the other hand was a little more difficult. The main car park seems to be fairly tiny and located just off the high street right next to a weatherspoons, consequently it was full, as were the other three car parks that we found as we did loops of Bolsover. Just as we were about to give up and call it a day, we finally managed to secure a place in some additional castle parking that mum spotted based just a little further down from the castle entrance - hooray!

The castle is managed by English Heritage so members get in free - unfortunately me and Dani let our membership lapse this year as we found that we weren't using it enough, but it was a pretty fair £10.80 adult entry so not too bad. The castle looked pretty picturesque in the sunshine and commands a splendid view of the surrounding areas; it was a very clear day and you could see for miles.

We sat and ate some lunch enjoying the view and then spent the afternoon having a good walk around. There were lots of kids about dressed up for haloween as they were due to be running a "Haloween Specatular" event later in the evening. Feeling pretty knackered we headed back. I'm glad we went and it's most certainly worth a revisit! 

The massive pile of leaves in the back garden has spelled out the inevitable, autumn is here. We spent Sunday with the leaf blower having a bit of a clear up and out came the robin that we think nests nearby. He's often out and about when we're in the garden so I decided to get a quick photo of him this weekend. Enjoy!