A Quick Getaway

Being dairy farmers we don't get many chances to get away (or even have a whole day off!), but that's one reason we have a caravan - we can get away at almost a moment's notice.

So last Thursday, as the rain poured down, and I looked at the calendar and saw a few blank spaces, we decided on a few days R & R. The caravan was more or less ready as we had recently spent one night in it as a substitute holiday - pretending to be away while pitched in a field behind the house and working as normal.. All we had to do was throw some food, drink and clothes in and set off on Sunday afternoon.

We didn't go far - just about an hour's drive to Englethwaite Hall. It's one of our favourite sites and maybe because there's no toilet block we can always get in. It doesn't feel cramped, the pitches are well spaced out and the surrounding trees and expanse of grass make it a perfect site for us. The only noise is from the birds. The office is only open for a few hours a day, but if it's closed you just put your membership card through the letter box and find a pitch. We know which area we like and found a spot and set up camp. The weather was better than expected (we always say it changes when you go over Shap) so the chairs, sun hats and cool drinks were quickly unloaded and we were ON HOLIDAY!

As we would only have two full days away we hadn't made any plans, and could quite easily have sat around going nothing much all the time. But the forecast on Monday was poor, so we put Plan B into operation. I'm a bit of a Gin Fiend and love finding new ones to try. Some I buy once only, some I buy time and again. I blame my mother. She had a very generous hand with G & T's (more G than T), long before Gin was fashionable. Or maybe it has always been just bubbling under. Earlier this year I bought a bottle of The Lakes Gin at Kendal Festival of Food. It came with a batch of vouchers that it would have been rude to ignore, so we headed West over to the Distillery at Bassenthwaite. The sky darkened and the rain came, but after a quick dash thorough the downpour from the car park, we were immune from it. We had timed it right and joined a tour. It's a working environment so after an introductory talk about the background we could see the processes in action. We ended up in the tasting room and were offered samples of Whisky, Gin and Vodka, with our guide explaining the nuances of taste and smell. I was not driving so did rather well out of it. I don't really like whisky, but managed a few sips (and could probably get to like it).

Having used one half price voucher, we used the other in the Bistro - on a wonderful Afternoon Tea. Serviettes were deployed to take some cakes "for later". Then, the final voucher went some way towards a couple of bottles. I know now it's a "sipping Gin" and should be kept in the freezer.

By we got back to the caravan the rain had moved on, so it was time for more of doing nothing. In fact we had a whole day of doing nothing on Tuesday.

We would have liked to have stayed longer, but there is too much to do back home, and we can look forward to out next slightly longer break in a couple of weeks.