Celebrations in Cumbria

Happy birthday to my father! He's been living up North again to help with the renovations at Allerton House, so to celebrate, Sam & I headed over to The Lake District to spend a few days together. It was just what we all needed, fresh air, beautiful countryside and sketching in the hills... When we arrived, we definitely couldn't resist a brief walk up the nearby Mount Ida to shake off the long drive...

After braving the biting wind for a little while longer, we promptly decided after the icy rain that it was time to head back to the warmth for some coffee & birthday cake and a cosy evening in front of the fire. 

Monday saw us re-energized and ready for a productive day in the office... perhaps the fells surrounding Haweswater Reservoir might not be the first thing that springs to mind when I say office but it certainly was the perfect inspiration for some creative contemplation...

Having not been before, we decided to take the path to Nan Bield Pass which looked like it might head off towards one of the nearby tarns, Small Water.

It really was a lovely walk; surrounded by hills and gorgeous sunshine you can't help but unwind and get lost in your thoughts along the way.

This was my favourite part of the creative lifestyle we strive for; we each took a sketchbook out with us to stop and sketch along the journey; plein air sketching is something I don't do nearly enough of, so it really felt good to slow down and draw in the moment.

A well earned spot of coffee and cake never goes amiss either... this was a delicious fresh cream sponge cake which one of dad's neighbour's had very thoughtfully baked for his birthday. 

n.b These wonderful journals are all handmade by my very talented father who has recently launched his own Etsy shop over at Neelzexpressionz . I absolutely love the variety of them and how differently we've all used them!

Full of cake and coffee, we were ready to continue our explenture, where we stumbled upon these pockets of frogspawn, before continuing uphill, along side the stream.

We kept going just to 'see what's over that hill' and then 'just what's around the corner...?' until finally, curiosity won out in the end and we reached the top! We were rewarded with the discovery of Small Water Tarn, our initial determined destination. It was incredibly eerie, as the sunlight didn't quite reach this little pocket of the world when we were there, but what a beautiful sight.

After a moment of peaceful reflection, we headed back into the light and over the rocks, homeward bound. This will definitely be one to return to; When we got back, I couldn't resist briefly researching into the surrounding hills and where we could carry on next time. I believe if we continued going straight up across Small Water Tarn we'd be over Nan Bield Pass, from which there's quite a few starting points to carry on walking, which look interesting.