A few weeks ago, Milly found three Beatrix Potter videos in the charity shop for 20p each! A couple of nights prior to finding them she had asked Alan to read some of the stories again from her boxed set we bought her many years ago. We had talked for quite some time about visiting Hilltop (We had taken out a home educating family yearly pass to National trust properties when we visited Fountains Abbey in Ripon and haven’t used it yet.) seemed as good a time as any to do it.We decided it would be nice to visit the World of Beatrix Potter while we were in the area. The plan was to go to Bowness first and take the Car ferry over to save a twisty drive round the lake. I checked out all the details, opening times etc. I rang Hilltop to give them the seven days notice required as a Home ed member (due to a significantly reduced rate can only go with advance notice and in school hours, no school holiday or weekends) Alan booked a day off work as it was too far for me to drive.
Milly was looking forward to going, but on the two nights before we were to go she had trouble sleeping. She had been on two very long hikes with Al and Beauty on both days but was unsettled and was up till 11 and not asleep before 12 and then woke up quite a few times during the night.In hindsight probably coming down with something.So come the morning we had planned to go she was not on top form:-( Journeys longer than 45 minutes are difficult for her; she feels sick and add tiredness in to the mix and it becomes even harder.She will fight sleeping in the car(or anywhere for that matter)even when she is exhausted .
To cut a long story short we got to Bowness and not knowing where we were going, ended up missing the ferry turn off TWICE, Then we finally made it only to find the Ferry which runs all year round except in adverse weather conditions was closed,there was hardly a breeze!!! Then the plan we had had to have our picnic near the water before boarding was foiled when we realised we would have to pay £5 to park!! We were all hungry and pretty pissed off and Milly was feeling very inflexible! We talked about the passenger ferry's that were running but we didn't know how far from the terminal Hilltop was and Milly wasn't keen on that one as it would make her sicker than the car one!She had been looking forward to getting out of the car and being near the water and we were just dreading going back round to try and find a park near the lake as it was madness, so busy, Would really hate to see it in high season.
When we finally found a parking space Milly was quite vocal about her disappointment and decided it was horrible day, you get the picture! I went to the boot to get her walking boots and could quite easily have let rip. She was being so unreasonable.I was feeling annoyed that she was tired and had not gone to bed early.I could hear the negative voices in my head of people saying "oh well it's all well and good letting children choose when to go to bed but then this is what you end up with!"I knew it was illogical because even if I had "made" her go to bed at a set bedtime I could not have made her sleep!!
I choose to breathe deeply and then went round to her. She was angry and I could see it would only get worse. I asked if she would like a big hug, I know she wasn’t expecting that:-) She reached out, we hugged, I empathised with how she was feeling, she melted into me, and I could feel the anger ebbing away. I showed her a takeaway hut nearby and the fact that we could still sit out near the water for a picnic and even better, there was somewhere to get a cold drink. So not a great start, but we had a lovely time in The World of Beatrix Potter.Milly was around 3 the last time we went and it had been extended and had a new garden section.It had lost a very boring film I remembered from last time and had some interactive boards near the exhibits with details about the characters and stories.Lots of info about Beatrix and her life.We all found it enchanting and very atmospheric. We decided the journey around the lake to Hilltop was not an option and we would come back another time.
Now I obviously had to do a slideshow, I know, bear with me I am sure I will tire of them soon.. Practise makes perfect don’t they say.? Any how if your not a Beatrix Potter fan best to miss the next post.
I had to do them on separate ones because I couldn’t upload from blogger so took it from you tube. I got the slideshow over but all the text on the post disappeared!!! So I have re written this. Can I just point out there is no spell check on the new posting layout thingy. Not good ,I really need it ,especially late at night when the few brain cells that seem to be firing at the moment take a holiday as well.
1 comment:
We spent a couple days in the Lake District last month and visited Hill Top. I must say, seeing your You Tube vid, that I wish we'd gone to the Beatrix Potter World instead - looks fabulous. Glad your day turned out good in the end.
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