The Lakes again

We had an uneventful drive up, stopping at the Bowes Museum for a picnic lunch and to break the journey for the boys. It was better for this purpose than we remembered; there is an excellent, large playground and picnic tables, which were not there last time we visited, years ago. Have a look:

http://www.thebowesmuseum.org.uk/

The boys had a good time climbing and swinging, and then we went into the museum. Obviously, taking two young boys to a museum for fine and decorative arts means you have to be pretty responsive to what interests them, and also to help them engage with the exhibits. Luckily the museum has acquired two large Canalettos of Venetian festivals, and they really enjoyed the plethora of interesting details, and the explanation of the ceremony of the Doge wedding the sea. They were also fascinated,  without any prompting at all, by a thoroughly gloomy, grimly Spanish, altarpiece showing the crucifixion and the deposition from the cross, which led us into theological discussions  which I didn’t expect to be having with a five year old.

The best bit was the silver swan. If you haven’t been to the Bowes Museum, it is an automaton, believed to date from the eighteenth century, of a stunningly beautiful, life size, incredibly detailed silver swan, which “swims” along the “water” and catches and eats a small silver fish.

It is wound up only once a day, and the performance lasts only about thirty seconds, so every visitor to the museum takes their place around the swan well before. It was worth the wait, though. The boys loved it, looked at the films explaining the workings and went in search of a clockwork mouse, also lifesize, made in gold all set with small pearls. It has garnet eyes. It’s a lovely thing.

After this highly enjoyable break, we drove on, with the wind getting wilder and wilder, through flurries of rain. We had just unloaded the bags and got safely inside when the heavens opened.  The evening got chillier and chillier as the wind got wilder and wilder, and I must say our hearts sank rather. But we got up to a lovely day, sunshine and clouds, and dry.

So we decided to do open air things. First we went to Aira Force.

Aira Force

 We went there last year, but it is a lovely walk with lots of boy appeal, and it was very quiet in the morning. After the walk we had a picnic lunch and the car park was really filling up, so we’d had the best bit of the day.

The water - older grandson decided it was actually
beer, being mixed a la Willie Wonka

Then we drove down Ullswater and climbed Hallin Fell. Younger grandson was very keen to climb a mountain, preferably Helvellyn, since older brother has climbed it, but Phil isn’t up to it, and I feel it would be rash for me on my own to take both boys up a proper mountain. Hallin Fell is a mountain, but only just, and it’s possible to get a reasonable distance up from the lake by car. So we all four climbed the mountain, and younger grandson was very pleased with himself indeed. Actually, it was worth doing anyway as the views were spectacular. The Lake District really is beautiful.

The view from Hallin Fell

The next day, rain was forecast in the afternoon, so we decided to go to the Roman Army museum. The morning was fine, so we drove over to the Wall, and went  for a walk along the wall at Walltown Crags. 

It was a bit windy, but I don’t think I’ve ever known the Wall not to be windy. The museum was aimed at kids and was great value – fun, highly educational, and for the pedantic (Phil and I), completely backed up with archaeological evidence.

We drove back to Penrith via the A686, which is the most spectacular road, especially heading towards the Lake District mountains. The A66 across the Pennines has fantastic views, too. It's just as good as the Beartooth Pass, even if it is lacking in snow, and the great advantage of sightseeing in England is that you are never far from a pot of tea and a scone. 

 When we came out of the museum, it hadn’t rained and so we had a go at kite flying, but, naturally, the wind had dropped and we weren’t very successful. The weather is completely different from the forecast. As it’s erring on the side of being much better, I don’t mean to complain.

On the Wednesday, we were booked in to see a puppet show. There is a puppet theatre near Penrith, which has an excellent vegetarian café attached, and the proprietors have recently acquired, with the help of a lottery grant, an entire puppet circus, dating from, I should think, the 1950s. There were clowns, dancers, an elephant, jugglers, tightrope walkers, a lion and tiger act (cages were erected round the big top, which made us laugh) a trapeze artiste which was a triumph of the art of the puppeteer, and the grand finale was Zippo, the human cannonball, which was frankly hilarious.

The wind was stronger, so we had another go with the kites, and this time were  highly successful, and some other children came out to join in. Thinking that they would get on better without me, I went in, only to hear shrieking. A little girl had been given a go on the delta kite, and had let go. We could see it, flying strongly at the very end of its line, which was caught in a tree, but it was completely out of reach. So we dealt with the very embarrassed father of the little girl, and promised the boys, that when the wind dropped, we would try to retrieve the kite.

The next day we went to the Lama Karma café, where they have lamas, naturally, but also lots of other animals, which you can handle – under supervision of course. The excellent guide tried to tell us that Madagascan Hissing Cockroaches make good pets.  Her commitment is commendable, but I much preferred the miniature donkey.

Madagascan Hissing Cockroaches

Lama, donkey and miniature donkey

Then we had to make good on our promise to try again for the kite. By now, it was caught in a silver birch. Phil hurled up a big lump of wood, over and over, and it did drop lower, but we still couldn't reach it. A boy of older grandson's age assured his dad would help, and the poor dad was forced to take down the awning of their caravan in order to obtain poles. It was all a bit embarrassing for us, but I have to say that all the kids had a whale of a time. Anyway we eventually did manage to grasp the kite. And, the very helpful dad even managed to reel in the string - all of it! I really didn't think we had a hope of getting it back.

On the way back we stopped at another museum, where a violin maker was working. He clearly loved his work, and we were there ages. He has a plane which is doll’s house size, and he showed us the raw wood and the templates and thickness gauges he uses, and it was truly interesting, but perhaps not so much for the boys, although they were actually very well behaved and attentive. I would have liked to ask about making the neck, but I didn’t dare.

So all in all, a highly successful week.