Hollin Root
The back of the farmhouse, taken from what would have been the farm yard.
Here’s dad and Margaret sitting in the fireplace nook. When we holidayed here twenty years ago, the area now containing the fire and the flue was entirely filled with an old wood-fired range and the grandfather clock stood in the hallway. On the beam at the top of the shot is inscribed the date 1691, the year the farmhouse was completed.
Here’s mum heading over to the barn, which pre-dates the house and is divided by a wooden screen that would have kept the animals out of the family living-space when it served as the farmhouse.
This is the barn, taken from the rear.
Half a day on the Hill
Here’s the view from the guesthouse.
It started out quite grey and damp, but stayed dry throughout the day for us, just beginning to drizzle as we got back to the cars.
There was still some snow lying on the hill, so once we reached a certain height we were tramping through patches of snow or very boggy terrain as a result of the snow-melt; you wouldn’t believe it’s nearly April!
We climbed up from Rosthwaite towards King’s Howe. After lunch we reached Dock Tarn (below) which still had some ice cover, before dropping down quite a steep incline to a bridleway which took us back around to Rosthwaite.
Despite all the snow and ice in evidence, the weather was quite mild and pleasant and although the sunshine was limited we did get some quite stark, striking views of the surrounding fells. We also came across a colourful toad lurking on one of the leeward tracks.
There was one moment of ‘excitement’ when the path gave way beneath Brett and he slid a way down an incline. Fortunately no injuries resulted and he was back on his feet in no time at all, albeit somewhat muddier than he had been.
K-9 Returns
I am still a child at heart. Amongst all the lovely gifts people bought me for my birthday, I’m still thrilled with the smallest; this little die-cast model of Doctor Who’s Dog, K-9; one of my favourite robots of all time.
(Seen here alongside a pen to give you an idea of the scale!)
A snowy morning in St. Helens
A crisp snowy morning today in St. Helens. Below are a few photos of my parents’ garden. The first two taken by my dad around 08:40 while the snow was still almost pristine and the last one was taken on my phone from the bathroom window around 09:45, after the sun had come out.
As I write there is a clear blue sky with sunshine blazing down. A lovely day.