Bed & Breakfast

(4th day)

It was raining again by the time we reached Keswick town which is just a few kilometers from Castlerigg Stone Circle. We felt this northern part of England is colder than any places we have been so far. So, there we were, cold, tired, hungry.

The first thing to do was of course to find a hotel or something. We drove around the town, didn't see many hotels but B&B. Appearance wise, the B&B seems pretty attractive, so I went down to knock on their doors. Surprise surprise, the 1st B&B told me that by law, a standard family room can only fit max 3 guests. Otherwise, the owner may be summoned and fined if get caught. We have checked 2 more B&B and got the same answer.

In view of time was getting late, and it's raining outside, we were very desperate. KS simply drove around and we thought of giving thing the last shot. If we still couldn't find a hotel, we got to leave for another town as soon as possible.

This time, KS went out to try. Sitting in the car, I could see that he was rejected by the 1st B&B. He continued to knock on the next few doors, before he finally came back to us. He pointed to the most good looking B&B where we've parked our car just in front of it, said the landlady was willing to take us in, with a quote £90 per night. Wow, that's a very good deal. I expected it would easily cost more than £110.

I didn't know how KS got it, maybe because of his miserable handsome look at that time? Well, whatever...We couldn't be more happy but to say YES immediately.

Amongst all the B&B that is located along the same street, this one is the most eyes catching one. But most importantly, the landlady has such a big heart. It's called Burleigh Mead, a luxurious 4-star bed and breakfast accommodation overlooking Hope Park in the charming Lake District town of Keswick.

There is a beautiful garden in front of the lodge. All of the flowers and plants are so well maintain that can probably reflect the landlady is such a person too.

This is the reception area. I made a low 'wow' sound when the landlady opened the door to welcome us. I would described my feeling as love "at the 1st sight".

After a quick check in, the boys ran to upstairs very quickly, in hilarious. Actually, we were as thrill as they did too. The interior setting of the house is so different from the Asian house see.

Burleigh Mead is a 3-stories Victorian house. I think there are around 6-7 guest rooms, including 1 family suit (at the 2nd floor) and 1 family room (at the 3rd floor). Our room is at the 3rd floor.

The family room, contains 1 double bed and 1 single bed. Although the room is not very big, it's very very homely and cosy. We just love it instantly.

The boys like this corner very much, probably because they feel like home again, too.

Our bed, clean and soft.

I can laze here for a long time to enjoy the peacefulness, definitely a good place to isolation myself from the world outside.

Looking out from the window, there is the Hope Park and the miniature golf course, and can see a small part of the nearby lake too. The time by then was 7 pm something, and people were still playing golf down there in rain. They really take this kind of weather easy and enjoy summer time to its fullest.

The room has all the things that we need, TV, water boiler, complimentary coffee/tea/cookies, hair dryer, iron...just convenient enough.

After settling down the luggages, we walked to the town center which is 10 min away to find foods for dinner. Lucky we, we found 2 Chinese restaurants in the town. We were so happy to take home fried rice and fried noddles that night.

I tucked the boys to bed soon after I bathed them. There is one extra bed lay beneath the single bed. The landlady just pull it out and unfold the 4 legs to get it done.

When I came out from the bath room after washing myself, they have slept that soundly already.

What a silent night without the boys shouting, running, jumping here and there. I made a cup of English tea for myself, and a cup of coffee for KS. I just like being there, I just so like it. KS said we could stay there for 1 more night if I want to. I told him I would think about it.

Same like the previous every night, KS would need to spend some time to study the road map for the next day. He said he got to memorize the important names and junctions so that he won't make too many wrong turns. And I'm usually very impressed of his good memory. Truly, I don't know what to do without him. I guess I'm just so dependant on him, especially in overseas.

So, I sat on the sofa there, sipped my tea quietly, watched him so focus reading the map. I just like to look at the people who's so concentrate in doing thing, ok.

After I finished my tea, I picked up the camera to check the photos and the battery level, made sure they were all fine. Then, I took some photos for this room. The door on the left is a store room, we hang our clothes and shoes in there. The door on the right is for bathroom.

The bathroom.

The carpet in the room is a supreme quality, better than the carpet used in many hotels. At 1st glance, the pattern look like flowers, but the more I look at it, the more it resemble the face of an alien.

KS and I slept at 11 pm that night, never that late before. We woke up nearly 7 am the next morning, never that late before too. Anyway, that didn't matter cause the breakfast time will start from 8 - 10 am. After brushing, we still have time to go out for a drive before the breakfast time.

We took a family picture before going out too. I want to make believe this is our home, though just for 1 day.

We came back to the B&B at around 9 am. Feeling fresh, William found this strawberry plant in mix with the others in the small garden there. He especially asked me to take a good picture of it.

Emm...the red one looks so fresh and yummy.

They looked at each other for quite a long time. Finally, the cat moved away.

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He was pretending the black cat he saw just now.

When we entered the dining room at the ground floor, the landlady came to us to take the order for breakfast. Apparently, she is the chef for all of the guests too. Wow, she is really like running the 1-man business here. Amazing.

Breakfast is served in our pleasant dining room and caters for all appetites big or small! Fruit juices, fruits, yogurts and cereals are followed by a full English breakfast.

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15 min later, our breakfast came. This is a typical full English breakfast, toast and marmalade with a choice of tea or freshly brewed coffee.

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On the plate, there are 2 slices of bacon, sausage, fried egg, bake tomato and potato. And this is the best English breakfast I've ever eat in my whole life.

This English breakfast is such a big difference if compared to the breakfast we used to experience when we stayed at the B&B in Switzerland and Germany many years ago. They only served bread, fruit juice, coffee and tea for breakfast. And their bread is all so hard and cold. I held this perception in mind for a long time that initially, I have no high expectation for the breakfast in England too. But it turn out to be a very pleasant surprise. This hot, fresh and homemade breakfast is definitely worth 4-star.

Enjoy a leisurely breakfast admiring the views over the park is fun. We took a very long time to consume all of the foods on the table. By the time we finished, all of the other guests had left already.

This is the living room next to the dining room, very homely decorated. The boys played there for a while KS was settling the bill with the landlady in the reception area out there. I thanked her sincerely for her hospitality and good breakfast, then I walked upstair to our room to take the backpacks. We finally checked out the place around 10 am.

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On the way to our next destination, KS told me this landlady has 3 children. All grown up. One of her daughters is helping her in running this family business. I think it is a very good family business, especially when the house is too big that it can't be fully utilized by the family members. I would do the same if I were her, in that kind of place of course.

Before we came back to the hotel for breakfast, we drove to this lake where we can overlook it from the window in our room.



I don't know what's the name of this lake.

We moved on to our next destination at around 10.30 am. The rain started again, I need to pray hard again too.

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