" New Year in Buttermere "

Date & start time: Sunday 1st January 2012. 3.45 pm

Location of Start : The Buttermere car park, Cumbria, Uk ( NY 174 169)

Places visited : Mill Beck, Nether How, Long How, Buttermere.

Walk details : 1.25 mls, 150 ft of ascent, 1 hour.

Highest point : Mince Pies and a large pot of tea at the cafe.

Walked with : Jo, Ann and the dogs, Jodie, Harry and Bethan.

Weather : Dry and reasonably calm (but the ground was very wet under foot).

The second weekend of Christmas is a time to welcome in the New Year

We were able to do this with friends again this year at our cottage in Loweswater.

Myself, Hilton, Dee and John.	David, Jennifer, Maggie, Jo and . . . John in the background again !

. . . creeping in for second helpings ?

In full . . . Hilton, Dee and John, David and Jennifer (Hall), Maggie, Jo and Ann (plus my plate).

Dinner for nine around our extended dinner table.

Everyone brought a contribution to the before's or the after's and Ann cooked a fine curry as a main course.

Chattering away to midnight.

At the appropriate time the Kirkstile set off their New Year firework display.

The rain had stopped and the wind eased . . .	. . . in time for a fine celebration of pyrotechnics.

- - - o o o - - -

Next day Ann, Jo and myself took an extended walk around Buttermere Village.

Parking at the bottom of the National Park car park opposite the entrance to the Syke Farm campsite.

The Park have re-surfaced the car park in the last year

and have laid a drier section of path alongside the river to enable visitors to walk down towards the lake.

Keeping closely to the edge of Mill Beck we made our way carefully across the fields.

The photos totally fails to show how wet and muddy the field was just a few feet from the top of the slight embankment.

Through a major puddle . . . and up onto the drier high ground of Nether How.

This gave us a slightly elevated view northward, along the length of Crummock Water.

Above us the wind was blowing the clouds quickly across the tops of the High Stile Ridge.

Harry eyes up the large log . . . but opts for a smaller stick to chew.

Crossing Mill Beck on the repaired footbridge.

The stream was in good spate after recent rains.

The off-season . . . and the National Trust boats at Wood House are stored away for the winter.

Our circular walk took us back towards Buttermere via Long How and the National Trust car park.

The upper section of Mill Beck before it flows under the road bridge . . .	. . . to emerge beyond and pass the Bridge and the distant Fish Inns.

White Christmas lights at the Bridge Hotel front . . .	. . . and in colour at the rear.

The end-objective of today's walk was to visit the newly re-furbished Croft House Farm Cafe

situated between the two hotels, on the green in the centre of Buttermere.

A colourful Christmas wreath on the door . . .	. . . and a colourful display of food and drink inside.

The Cafe (and the farm) are under new ownership

as the Staggs have retired from sheep farming and running the cafe here in the village.

New fixtures and fittings, quite a few tins of paint and a new menu later

and we have a lovely "new" cafe in the village.

This New Year's Day was their first day open after their closure for refurbishment.

Congratulations to Suzanne and all her staff for coping with the hustle and bustle of a major bank holiday on their first day.

- - - o o o - - -

Technical note: Pictures taken with either Ann's Fuji Finepix Compact or my G10/1100D Canon cameras.

Resized in Photoshop, and built up on a Dreamweaver web builder.

This site best viewed with . . . a choice of two cafés in the village once more.

Go to Top . . . © RmH.2011 . . . Email me here

Previous walk - Sunday 25th December 2011 Our Christmas Day

A previous time up here - 8th December 2010 Buttermere and Fangs Brow

Next walk - 5th January 2012 Ist Wainwright for a while