Top left is the view from Gummer’s How, overlooking the southern end of Lake Windermere, with Morecambe Bay on the horizon, awesome, but sadly you don’t get the full effect with this resolution. Top right is further up the hill, looking the other way, with Ray Mears in the foreground. Bottom left is the Lakeside to Haverthwaite steam train trundling through Newby Bridge, which just happened to pass us as we were on our way to High Damn, bottom right, one of the Lake District’s best kept secrets. It’s a small tarn that was damned up to supply water for a bobbin mill down the hill. Now, it’s just a little piece of heaven, quiet, secluded, and beautiful. I’ve swum naked in this lake, rowed around it in a dinghy, camped out here with friends, and have enjoyed exploring the surrounding woods since I was about eight. I just had to take Pip here, I love the place.

What a super day, lots of walking, lots of scenery, quaint little country lanes, wonderful weather and a pub lunch thrown in for good measure. Neither of us were too exhausted when we got back, in fact we felt rather fit and healthy, and certainly refreshed, mentally, physically, spiritually.

We had a good dinner again, and I even made us pudding. (Have I EVER made us pudding before, Pip?) Baked apple sponge (my own home-grown organic apples of course) and my recently discovered home-made custard. Another piece of heaven, this time in a dish, and just what you need after a long day’s rambling.

The next day we got up in the morning AGAIN, and after breakfast went for a ickle walk to see if there were any mushrooms around. Not many, perhaps because it’s been quite dry here of late, but we found enough for my breakfast today.

I don’t expect we’ll get such good weather here for quite some time, so it really was great to get out and enjoy it, especially with the man I love. The whole weekend has done me the world of good, talking, walking, laughing, cuddling. Just wonderful. Thanks for coming, babe. xx

Not a great deal has happened in the couple of weeks since I last blogged, though I’ve been out a few times in town. Oh and I made some jam. I should go into business cos it’s yummy, "Lucy’s Organic English Hedgerow Preserve" I will call it, comprising of blackberries, pears, apples, elderberries and sloes. See, I really am a country girl; I make jam and everything!

And last week I went out with 3 of the girls who work at the pub, Penny, Rachel and Carol; a proper girls’ night out. We went to the local Italian restaurant for happy hour, and to a few pubs afterwards, ending up with a "lock-in" at their place. Do I even need to say how great it was to be invited out with the girls? No, course not, but it just was. It was so nice of them to ask me to join them, and it was such fun. Hanging out with the lads, talking about beer, football and women’s tits is really not for me. That’s something I’ve been subjected to for many years whilst playing in bands, and generally keeping my female persona hidden. But this, this felt right.

Looking out over the lakes and mountains, one really gets a feeling that the world is at our feet. And so it is. It’s there if you want it.

xx