A Room With A View

This afternoon finds us in the Lake District -- gorgeous countryside, and the home turf of Beatrix Potter and Wordsworth!

We are staying at a rather unfriendly, diffident hotel with iffy service, but at least our room has a beautiful view of Grasmere Lake.  One of the "services" offered here, we were excited to see, is laundry.  We have quite the bulging bag of dirty clothes, and we were looking forward to having it taken care of during our 2 day stay here, but when we called down to inquire (at 4:30 p.m. on Wednesday, July 13th), we were loftily informed that it would not be returned until Friday, July 15th -- even though they call this "24-hour service".  Also we were greeted upon arrival in our room by someone else's inside-out damp swimsuit draped over the desk chair.  Weird.  Unhelpful. Won't be staying here again!

We visited Sizergh Castle on the way here -- a fascinating place that has been lived in by the same family for over 800 years.