The Lakeland home coming

Although I'm a proud Brixtonite having lived here for over 18 years I'm proud of my Cumbria routes too. I now go up to visit the folks and family in November rather than Christmas which is so less stressful all round. And I'm often really lucky with the weather. This year the storm clouds were out and for the most part the weather was awful.

Here's the view of the house from Dad's veg patch. As you can see grey and wet....

But dad's veg patch was looking good! He loves growing his veg and just look at those brussell sproats (which to me are the food of the gods!)

And look how red these sprouts are.....

Yes you read that right Dad is growing red Brussells Sprouts. Annoyingly they weren't read to eat so I didn't get a chance to sample them. But incredible!

But even in the rain the Autumn colours were so vibrant. Here are some leaves in the garden against the cold, wet stones of the barn with the fell in the background.   

Anyway on the Monday I jumped out of bed, put some clothes on and ran outside to try and capture the stunning light as the sun rose.

This is why I put the clothes on instead of just putting a coat on over my PJs, first frost of the year!  

 

We jumped in the car to try and take advantage of the perfect weather for a drive around the lakes. Here is Yew Tree Tarn just outside of Coniston (where I went to school).

 We then went to Derwent Water which is in Keswick. I love Derwent Water as I always get my waterbird fix. Love these geese feeding on  the grass next to the lake with the fells in the background.

 They really didn't care that there were people around as they're so used to them....

And of course the birds expected to be fed. Here's dad being quite brave kneeling down in front of a swan. I must admit I was petrified that they would peck me so I wasn't that fearless...

 

But this the view of the lake.

And the other way....  

I'd then requested to visit Castlerigg Stone Circle which I haven't visited since I was a kid. The colours were just perfect!

 I also jumped over this traditional lakeland style (love the dry stone work)

 

 To find another favourite of mine - sheep!

You've got to smile as this semi curious sheep

And these two looked as if they were behind bars!

Final lake stop was Ulleswater which in the right has amazing reflections

And views! Stunning

We then stopped near Lake Windermere and although the light was fading for landscape shots was able to take this shot of a leaf which looked as if it had 2 hearts cut into it!

Back home there were no sheep in the fields around the house but instead some heffers. They were reluctant models and a little jumpy.

And a little frisky to say the least!

Finally I went for a walk in the woods and found lots of mushrooms but on the way I stopped to take this photo of a traditional lakeland gate post. I thought I was going for a quite walk in the country (as mum and dad live in a very remote part of Cumbria) but within 10 mins saw 1 car, 2 walkers and the farmer on a quad bike  in the same field. It was like Picadilly Circus! Anyway it's always lovely to recharge the batteries but I'm always pleased to come back to London! Mum and I did some crafty goodness while I was up there too which I will blog about soon, promise.