A Day in the Lakes

The bathroom refit still isn't finished, in case you were wondering - although we had some good news yesterday: the replacement glass for the shower finally arrived from the glaziers and should be fitted early next week. In the meantime we've been trying to find a mirror and other assorted small items of bathroom furniture that are smart and modern yet still in keeping with the classic style of the porcelain we've chosen.

A secondary objective is to put as little on the walls as possible - those smooth clean newly plastered & painted lines are still a rarity in our house and we want nothing to interrupt the cool blue surface if it's avoidable.

We found some attractive free-standing towel rails and loo-roll holders locally, but Nikki discovered some even better designs online. To be sure of a perfect match for the suite we felt we needed to see them in the flesh, but the nearest stockist is in Ulverston, in the Lake District. What better excuse for a day in the Lakes? We haven't been for about eighteen months and with Spring well and truly sprung, the views should be spectacular. It was a "girls weekend" too, so it gave us a chance to have a family day out - something we haven't done since last year.

I can't remember ever visiting Ulverston before, but we couldn't have chosen a better day for our first trip: St. George's Day and the town had organised a pageant!

The town square was full of market stalls, with a stage rigged at one end where a court jester in tricorn hat and stripy leggings was cavorting for the amusement of the crowd. I say cavorting, it was more like flirting with the visiting young ladies really, one of whom was eventually dragged up to take part in a contest.

As we walked around the town we passed a dragon, closely followed by St. George and his squire on horseback.

We found Aqua Accessories without too much trouble and within a few minutes had selected the range that best complemented our bathroom fittings. Sadly when we came to check them over the mirror had a blemish on one edge and it was the last one they had in stock.

Ordinarily I would have accepted an offer of increased discount, but the bathroom mirror is something you have to stare at several times a day and the fault was very obvious. We're determined not to compromise on any of our fittings, so it had to be perfect. We took the other pieces - a glass shelf, and the freestanding towel rail and toilet roll holder - but the mirror will have to follow on once the new stock arrives.

Apart from the pageant and the bathroom supplies, there appeared to be very little in Ulverston worth looking at. We did have a quick gander around the indoor market, where a stall sported this rather strange sign. Some kind of local code, perhaps? I half expected to overhear someone asking "have the special pies come in yet, Hilary?" but I never did.

Leaving Ulverston and looking for somewhere to lunch, we realised Ambleside was only a short drive away, which meant we could indulge our passion for the excellent Bath buns to be found at the Apple Pie tea shop on the main street. It also gave us chance to take the lovely scenic route along the west coast of Coniston Water. As usual Ambleside was busy, but not unpleasantly so, and the bath buns were every bit as good as we remembered. We brought some home with us for tea tomorrow too!

On a previous visit to the Lakes many years ago I saw an original painting by a local artist in one of the art shops. Done in acrylics, it was the most incredible rendition of waves breaking on a shore I have ever seen, before or since. I've always regretted not buying it, although it would have been a stretch. I've never seen it again, nor anything to approach it, and I can't remember the name of the artist. Nevertheless every time we visit Ambleside or Windermere we check out the art shops in the hope of finding something similar.

On this occasion, we were lucky. Stopping off in Windermere on the way back, we found a really unusual black-and-white print of a rock formation on the coast of Grasmere. The picture, in portrait orientation, leads your eye up and into the lake - a perfect optical trick for the wall at the end of our landing, outside the new bathroom. That short corridor can feel a little claustrophobic, but with the view of Grasmere at the end, it will now stretch almost to infinity! I'll need to sort out some extra lighting, but we were very pleased with this find and with the other purchases we made today.