"You may leave the Lake District, but once you’ve been, it’ll never leave you…”- Anonymous
Paid collaboration with Another Place The Lake Hotel
We were invited to come and stay at Another Place the Lake hotel perfectly placed on the bank of Ullswater which is England’s second largest lake in the Lake District National Park. Another place had organised a weekend full of activities for us and we couldn’t wait to get up there and see what was in store.
The drive to Another Place The Lake was just under 5 hours from where we live which is just North of London. We arrived in the evening and carried our bags through the beautiful doors of the Georgian main building. The staff were extremely friendly and and our first impressions was that we felt right at home.
We were shown to our room on the top floor of the new contemporary wing. It was beautifully secluded and peaceful. The double glazed doors backed out onto the gorgeous gardens and views out onto Ullswater and the hills surrounding it on the horizon. We had one of only two beautiful rooms on the top floor and the design details of the room were beautiful, functional and most importantly comfortable.
The next morning we had the best start to the day having breakfast with a choice of fresh waffles, fruit, yoghurt, cereal or even a full English if you felt like treating yourself! After breakfast, we went to explore the beautiful grounds and found some rabbits along the lakes edge. We then headed off full steam ahead on the Ullswater Steamers boat to take us to Howtown, as we were steaming along the water we watched the birds gliding low to the water just as the rain started to come down. On our way to the top of Hallin Fell we passed many sweet little lambs and we found an epic viewpoint over looking Ullswater. We got soaked to the bone (check out Hannah’s 6 pack in the photos below), but it was well worth it and we managed to get down and run to the pier just as the return boat was about to moor! We did a quick pit stop at the hotel and changed into dry clothes before heading back to Pooley Bridge town for lunch. We had seen a little cafe called ‘Granny Dowbekins Tearooms’ there which served fresh food and was a reasonable price. We needed a hot dish to warm us up and had tomato soup with some oven baked bread which was perfection and to top it all off they also made their own gingerbread so we had to give that a go.
We spent the rest of the afternoon in the pool and the outdoor hot tub. It was the perfect place to relax after a busy morning. Time for dinner and and we both chose the shepherds pie and it was honestly one of the best meals we’ve ever had. The flavour was perfection and the mash on top had a gorgeous crispy layer we couldn’t fault it! I could have easily eaten another dish of it but we had an appointment with the RSPB Haweswater to watch their Badgers; Beatrix, Porridge and Gremlin. The hide was dug into the ground so that you could see them much better and looking through the hole they got so close you could hear them munching, what an experience that will stick with us for a long time.
After another tasty breakfast, we ventured to Lowther Castle to hire some bikes. A hail storm hit just as we arrived at the Castle and for the first hour of our ride we were rained on by heavy showers. We were almost about to give up when we decided to follow another route. As we cycled along a river the sun came out and we explored the most beautiful paths which looked right out of a fairytale and made our way to Askham fell with dramatic skies and a fantastic ride downhill! We were very lucky with the weather and the riding was fantastic.
We were having so much fun on our bikes we’d almost forgotten the time and raced back to get ready for our paddle boarding lesson with Adrian at the Sheep Shed. They provide you with everything you need including wetsuits, life jackets and of course a paddle board and paddle. Adrian was awesome, laid back, the sun came out whilst we learnt to keep our balance and do a couple of tricks it was an amazing experience paddle boarding on the Ullswater with him - definitely recommend doing this even if you’re unsure which Hannah was!
We had been up since 7am and tiredness had started to kick in, which was perfect timing for our scheduled massages. The treatment rooms at Another Place were calm and very relaxing. We have had a fair few massages and once you have a great one it’s really hard to top it or compare but we can honestly can say that these were the best massages we have ever experienced, even the lady before us said the same thing! We both kept drifting in and out of sleep and we were so relaxed we sleep walked back to our room. It was such a great way to end a long day full of activities.
Our last evening was spent eating in the Rampsbeck restaurant for a 3 course meal. Hannah had lamb and I had venison, the quality and flavours of the food were fantastic. After dinner we went back to our room and reluctantly packed as we would be getting up early again in the morning.
The morning light was soft and the water was calm and had a glass like reflection, it was so peaceful watching the birds dancing above the water. After capturing some video and photos we headed back for our last breakfast. For our last day we planned to hike Helvellyn and meet up with my mum and Derek for the hike as the weather was perfect. We met at the carpark (basecamp) in Glenridding and started out at 10 am and walked upwards towards Stridding Edge. As soon as we got up and over the first section we could see Helvellyn and Striding Edge. The walk had breathtaking views and walking over Striding Edge definitely got the adrenaline pumping. The views from the top carried on for miles with rolling hills, trees and lakes. The Lake District stole our hearts, it reminded us what we loved about Scotland and we will be planning our trip back soon!
