Europe Adventure: Day Seven, Part One- Hill Top Farm

We woke up on Monday, April 11th full of expectations. 

I was worried as today would be one of the things I was MOST looking forward to. 

We had pre-ordered breakfast at our B&B (they leave a paper in your room to do that) and we did not do a good job of it. I ordered poached eggs thinking they were fried eggs (duh) so they were so runny I couldn't eat them. My mom ordered salmon thinking it was cooked salmon. It was raw. Yeah, we felt extremely picky this morning as neither of us could finish our food. I wish I had a picture of it but I don't. It was completely our fault and I have no doubts that if we would have ordered something else we would have loved it. We had some toast and fruit and then grabbed some Zone bars from our room on our way out afterward.

We decided to take the small car ferry across Lake Windermere (only a few pounds) to Far Sawrey. 

It was pretty fun. It was a short ride but cool to ride across the lake. 

 

At Far Sawrey we drove off the ferry and made our way to Near Sawrey to visit Hill Top Farm, the home of Beatrix Potter. 

We got there early so we sat in the car and just got more and more excited while we waited for the ticket office to open. 

When it finally did open we were only behind one family that got there while we were waiting and stood in the rain by the ticket office until it opened - we didn't want to do that. It was quite cold. 

We were able to get a 10am tour time. 

You walk down the street from the parking lot to get to the entrance for Hill Top Farm. 

It was a wonderful walk. 

So beautiful and so peaceful. 

At this point my worries started to fade away. It was no where near as crowded and it was so quiet. Just what I imagined it would be like. 

I've always thought sheep were cute... but after this trip I love them. 

Sheep, like daffodils, were everywhere in England. 

On our way down the road we passed the Tower Bank Arms. It makes an appearance in Jemima Puddle Duck. 

I love that about Beatrix Potter's art. Everywhere we went here we saw scenes from her books!

I was keeping an eye out for Castle Cottage. It is where Beatrix lived after marrying William Heelis. It is across some fields from Hill Top. 

I found it!

the little babies...

Soon we walked through a little gate to the pathway past the gift shop and up to the house. 

We were so excited!

We couldn't believe we were here!

We went right in and explored this wonderful house. 

I couldn't take pictures inside unfortunately so I will just have to say we loved it. 

This house had a special feeling in it. 

It felt happy. It felt calm. It was amazing. You could feel her there.

We were able to see so many of her cool things and the spots she painted into her books. 

There was a wonderful doll house that some children were playing with. 

It was just a fantastic experience. 

After touring the home we spent some time in the garden and took more pictures of the outside.

I took the bag I got for my birthday the year before with me to use this day. 

I had to get a picture of it in the garden. 

The gift shop was small but so much fun and I bought a lot there!

I got the two postcards to frame and put on my book shelf next to my Beatrix Potter books. 

I got a Peter figurine and a Mrs. Tiggy Winkle figurine to match them. They look great on my shelves!

I also got a little Lilliput Lane figurine of Hill Top itself. 

I bought a pencil for each of my daughters- blue for Maddy, pink for Abi.

And I also got a leather bookmark. 

We started out the day worried but were quickly so calm and happy. 

This experience was exactly what I needed at this moment. 

We went on to have such a wonderful day which I will write about more in the next post. 

Hill Top Farm is still one of the best things we did on our trip. 

I will always love this place. 

Next up: Grasmere

Europe Adventure: Day Six, Part Two- Haworth and Bowness

After York, we said goodbye to our B&B and set out. 

It didn't take me long to get lost. I turned down one wrong road and we had to turn around to get back to the main road. We were kind of glad it happened though as we ended up on this road that reminded us a lot of Privet Drive!

The roads were pretty good until we got close to our first destination: Haworth.

Then they started getting REALLY small again. 

It is so scary to be driving down a teeny road that in the United States would be the size of a small one way road with hedges and rock walls along the sides so that it makes it hard to see what is coming or have anywhere to go if you need to and have another car come at you from the other direction going 60+ miles an hour. 

Terrifying actually.

But soon we made it to Haworth. 

It wasn't quite what I expected. 

I imagined it out in the middle of nowhere, very isolated. 

But in reality we drove through a city to get to the house. 

It was very hilly and I was, again, so glad I wasn't driving a stick shift. These hills were steep!

Online I have seen so many people going here and being the only visitors so we were shocked when we got there and it was packed. It took us forever to find a parking spot in the little parking area near the Bronte's house. 

Afterward I thought it was probably because it was a Sunday. If I ever make it there again I will go on a weekday!

I was pretty excited to see the sign and the home!

The Bronte Parsonage

I really wish that I could do this activity over. 

I love the Bronte's. This was one of the things I was looking forward to the most on this trip. 

And it ended up not being what we expected. 

The house was great. They had so many cool things belonging to the family and it was amazing to think about walking around where they walked and wrote their novels. 

But there were just SO many people. 

And, the church was closed. We couldn't go in. I was so disappointed. 

But, now I just have to look back and be grateful for what we were able to see!
And the fact that we were there during the 200th anniversary of Charlotte.
 

My favorite part of the house....

The Dining Room- where they did most of their writing

Mr. Bronte's study

The kitchen: where the young Bronte children would gather to hear tales of the Yorkshire moors from their servant Tabby.

In the hall, the painting that Branwell painted of his sisters. He also painted himself into it but then painted over himself. You can see where he was in the middle. 

In Charlotte's room we got to see a lot of her teeny clothes. 

paintings...

Charlotte's writing desk...

The Children's Study:

Tamar Stone created this small "Bronte bed" embroidered with their words. 

It is displayed in the Children's study where they played and sometimes slept. 

The view from the window...

Mr. Bronte's bedroom

The Exhibition rooms were full of artifacts that tell the story of the Bronte family. They had so many things and it was really cool to see. 

Examples of their tiny writing...

After exploring the house we went down to the gift shop. 

Then we went out to see the other buildings, the church, and the graveyard. 

I wanted to go into the church so bad to see where they attended and sat and where their graves are. 

But we couldn't get in. 

We walked around Haworth for a few minutes and then went back to our car. 

This drive was the worst one of the entire trip. 

The roads were so small and there were so many cars. 

I could not go the speed limit. It was way too fast for this road. So I would end up with tons of cars behind me every few minutes. 

That was making me even more stressed out because I didn't want to be holding people up. 

After a a little while I saw a place I could pull off the road and took advantage of it to let them by and to de-stress for a minute. 

I was so glad we were able to pull over  because we also got this stunning view. 

It was nice to remember where we were and take it all in for a few moments. 

After a few minutes I got back out on the road. 

My mom tried to take some more pictures as we drove along...

My mom captured my joy as we finally ended up back on a dual carriageway. 

They were my very favorite kind of roads there. They were basically two lanes going each way and separated from the other direction. Woo hoo. 

The thing about England was that everywhere we looked was stunning. 

We kept saying over and over again, "This is so beautiful!"

My mom was in charge of taking pictures as we drove along. 

We were getting closer and closer to our destination for the next few days: The Lake District!

Soon we were entering Bowness-on-Windermere. 

This would be our home in the Lake District. 

We were staying at the Oakfold House B&B.

It was a beautiful place and we were excited to stay there as it has won a lot of awards over the last year.

Our room was a nice size and pretty. 

Our view: 

After settling in we walked down the steep hill to the lake. 

The lake was beautiful. 

For the second time today we were shocked at the crowds. I do a good job of keeping them out of my pictures but trust me, there were people everywhere. 

I asked our B&B guy about it because I imagined the Lake District at this time of year being quiet and empty. He told me that when they moved there they thought that too but that this particular town was like this every day of the year. 

Lake Windermere

 

We were hoping to have Sunday Roast at a pub and got a recommendation from our B&B to go the The Albert. 

It was about halfway back up the hill from the lake so we stopped on our way back to Oakfold House.

We ordered our food and found a table. 

As we waited I suddenly felt really sick. 

It was REALLY hot in there and I felt like I was going to pass out. 

I went outside and got some fresh, cold air and then went back in. I went to the bathroom and took off my sweater but I wasn't feeling any better. 

My mom suggested we leave. 

I went up to the bar and explained the situation. 

I asked if we could take our food to go but they said there was no way to do that. 

But then the cook said someone else ordered the same thing and they could give ours to them and they reimbursed us. 

I thought that was so nice of them as they did not have to do that. 

I felt so bad that we were missing out on this experience and hoped that I wasn't going to get sick. 

We stopped at a little store on the way up the hill and got some food items.

We went back to our room and I laid down for a while. My mom gave me a massage and I started to feel better. 

We made peanut butter sandwiches and Pringles for dinner which was no where near as fun. But we did read while we ate and it was really relaxing. 

This was my first night of feeling really homesick. 

I think it was a combination of not feeling well, being tired, and having been stressed for a couple of hours while driving. But I just felt spent. 

Some day I want to go back here and do it over!

Part of me was so worried that the next day would be a disappointment too because of the crowds. I was so worried that I would have a repeat of the Bronte house experience at Beatrix Potter's house... spoiler... I would not have the same experience!

I got a few souvenirs at the Bronte Parsonage. I bought Agnes Grey by Anne Bronte and the bookmark with a quote from her. Then they gave us the Charlotte Bronte book for free with purchase as part of the 200th celebration. 

 

Next up: Hill Top Farm and one of the best days