mybigadventures.com

We decided to go to National Trust Wray Castle today. The sun was shining and the sky was blue and it looked like it might be a rathre nice day. Having had a look how to get there yesterday, we decided to drive to Ambleside and catch the cruise boat across to the castle as some reviews suggested the car park was pretty small. It was only about about 20 minutes drive to Ambleside and we pparked down by the pier. As we were leaving the car, we could see that one of the cruise boats had arrived, so we quickly bought tickets and managed to dash through the gate before it departed. We sat inside as we were the last people aboard and we were quickly on our way. There were some nice views across Windermere on the cruise to the castle with other boats silhouetted against the bright sunshine making for nice photos. As we neared the castle a couple of jets flew quite low across the lake, sadly I wasn't quick enough to catch them on camera. 

Having docked, we had a quick look at the return cruise times which seemed to be every 40 minutes or so and then made the short walk up the hillside to the castle. Wray Castle is a Victorian neo-gothic building dating from 1840, but is unfurnished inside. There were a number of rooms set up for children including a Peter Rabbit burrow that seemed to make use of the warren of rooms upstairs and a Forest Folktales room which featured a dark room with some fairly amateurish decorations. The castle interior was pretty underwhelming overall and we left feeling that it could be very nice if some more money and time was spent on it. I certainly would have been disappointed as a non-member paying over ten pounds entry. 

We had a wander around the surrounding land, skimming stones across the lake from the shingle beach, and clambering over rocks to get a selfie in front of the lake. The weather remained fine, although the sun kept dipping in and out behind cloud. The wander through the woods took us up to the cruise boat pier and to our suprise there again was a boat just arriving. We joined the queue and once again were the last people to get on the boat, this time scoring a seat in the front outside. On the journey back I kept my eyes peeled for the elusive jets but sadly they didn't appear, the cruise stopped off at Brockhole before continuing back to Ambleside. Feeling a bit peckish on our arrival we droppped into a fish and chip shop just behind the pier and wouldn't you know it, whilst we were queing the jets screamed by again!

We decided to have a wander around the shops in Ambleside before heading back to the cottage. There were lots of nice things and we ended up coming away with some glass Christmas decorations and a new lamp from a shop that had just opened and then a glass tea light holder for another place. Took a few photos of the bridgehouse before heading back for the evening.  

Happy halloween everyone. We've had a nice weekend wandering around pinner and taking a few photos of the autumn colours - they do look nice this time of year. We also found a bit of time to have a go at some annual pumpkin carving - can you guess which one is mine?

This is just a quick one to direct people to today's new pictures. Click here or have a look under Nottingham 2006 / Chris 24th Birthday. Enjoy!