The recent weekend was spent gathered with family at Mums. She didn’t want a big celebration, just time spent together with children and grandchildren on her 70th Birthday. Country walks, playing games, visiting some lovely gardens, and a Birthday Cake. It was a happy couple of days!
Mum lives at the foot of Askham Fell near Penrith in Cumbria. Its a comparitively little explored part of The Lake District, but well worth a visit. On Saturday morning before my sister and niece and nephew arrived, Wil and I armed ourselves with a Askham Fell Marsh Kelpie Tale Trail Map, and headed for a walk up the fell.
There are various Tale Trail maps of different places in The Lake District, aimed at younger walkers ….and the young at heart. 😁 The Marsh Kelpie is a fictional character that lives on the fell. We didn’t find him of course, but we did see lots of wildlife and a stone circle.
Its a good job my family are all wildlife lovers , as we also spent a lot of the weekend pouring over Mum’s Bird book, trying to identify the birds we saw. 🙂 My sister and I forgot our phone chargers ( there’s not much of a signal or wifi anyway) , so it was nice to Id what we saw , the old-fashioned way.
On Saturday afternoon we took Mum to Holehird Gardens near Windermere. She loves gardens and this one which is run by volunteers, is home to the Lakeland Horticultural Society. June is a good time to visit for the rhododendrons and blue Himalayan poppies.
I’m not very well up on my garden flowers, but as you can see the beds were abundant with colour. 🙂
On Sunday we visited somewhere closer to Askham. Acorn Bank gardens and Water Mill at nearby Temple Sowerby. The National Trust looks after the property and the manor house dates back to 1228, its first owners were the Knights Templar.
There is plenty to see at Acorn Bank. We walked along a forest trail to the working water mill, looked for frogs in the lily pond, found fairy doors, enjoyed the gardens, had a lovely brew and cake, browsed the second hand book shop and found Newtopia. 🙂
There’s a pond full of Great Crested Newts in the Sunken Garden at Acorn Bank. We had plenty of fun trying to spot them!
Thanks for joining me on a fun family weekend…with lots of wildlife thrown in for good measure. x
sunshine and celandines 
Looks and sounds like a fun weekend with lots of wildlife thrown in. I like the blue Himalayan poppies and the bright pink flowers are lovely 🙂
Those blue poppies are quite something. 😁x
Some brilliant photos there, looks like you had a lovely time. 😊
We did and thank you. Xx
Great photos! 🙂
Thank you! X
What a fabulous post of a lovely family get together. You really did see some wonderful wildlife. I’ve never seen a skylark so you photographing one is fantastic! Those Himalayan poppies are gorgeous! xx
I didn’t know what it was until I looked it up afterwards. The poppies are gorgeous arent they. 🙂 x
Thank you for a lovely post on your walk & garden visits. I love visiting gardens & have done quite few in UK, but my list grows ever longer after reading my favourite blogs. A belated happy birthday to your Mum, & she beats me to that big 0, by a year. Have a lovely week & take care. PS. Some colourful birds on my post yesterday too.
Thank you. I will bob over and take a look. Xx
Absolutely beautiful photos and lovely post – Cumbrian fells have been on my to do list too long, would just love to visit and see the ponies in the wild. Sounds like a lovely family weekend! 🙂
It was. The Lakes is very family friendly. You will have to visit sometime. Xx
Wil isn’t shaped like a barrel!! Great pics.
Haha. I should have made that comment clearer. Lol. 😉
Looks like you all had a lovely weekend 🙂
We did, thank you. 😁x
Wonderful place as the photos show. Always stay in Askam or one of the neighbouring villages. Much prefer the northern lakes to southern.
Thanks Ian. Im lucky to have family in Askham so go there quite a bit. Always new places to discover too. 😁
Super weekend and some stunning pictures- butterfly, skylark, newts. I bet your Mum loved having you all.
Thanks and yes it was good to get us all together. Xx
What a brilliant way to celebrate your Mum’s birthday weekend and the weather was good to you too! I love a dapper Dipper, haven’t had a good sighting of one yet this year, so lucky you.
Quite lucky that I have many sightings of dippers here in Northern England. Its just rare that they stay still long enough for a clear photo!
What a wonderful weekend! I like the sound of the kelpie trail!
yes, I think we will try it again …and try not to get lost. lol. 🙂