Pania Visits an Arts and Crafts House

Monday July 19th

Surprisingly Mary found she could still connect to Peter’s wireless internet connection even though she was in the house next door. This was remarkable as both places are built of dry stone walls that are at least two feet (60cm ) thick. She was able to publish her blog, check her email and read some NZ news before getting up.

After a very comfortable night staying at Tommy’s, Mary and Alan went and had breakfast next door at Peter’s and also managed to have a chat to Mary’s mum on Skype. Peter was pleased to actually see Lois and she enjoyed being able to see him as the last time they had actually seen each other was when she stayed with him in 1993.

They set out in Peter’s car to visit Blackwell, an Arts and Crafts house built as a holiday for a prosperous brewer in Manchester. It is built overlooking Lake Windermere. The house is considered to be Ballie Scott’s finest surviving work in England and it is a stunning example of this type of property. Many examples of arts and crafts in the house were from leading designers and craftsmen of the day. In several of the rooms upstairs there was a temporary exhibition featuring William Morris.

Peter then took them for quite a drive around the local area and they drove up through Bowness and Ambleside. It was still raining steadily so they didn’t get out of the car. They drove past Coniston Water but it was still raining and misty. They made a stop to get a few food supplies and some take away sandwiches for lunch and then set off back to Lowick Green to eat lunch and pack up.

Hemi Finally Goes Camping

Mary made Alan back me off the side the road he had parked me on as it was so wet she was afraid I might get stuck. Alan programmed the Tom Tom to take them to Ravenglass. It was a very straightforward journey, but the “Lakes” were on the road. There has been so much rain here that there is water everywhere. It is running across the roads like rivers and there are huge puddles like fords to drive through creating a lot of splash and spray. Everyone on the road was, thankfully, driving to the conditions. The trip took them longer than the Tom Tom said it would but that was understandable.

The campsite was easy to find and they booked me in into a nice piece of hard standing so I won’t get stuck. It is quite large and everyone has big white vans that look new and expensive. I have had a few funny looks. Alan plugged me in and the power works which they seemed to be relieved about. At the moment they don’t seem to be able to get my fridge going on either electricity or gas. They may need to get that looked at. The gas hob goes so they were able to cook okay.
These people need to get tidy fast. They already have too much stuff and just haven’t got their act together with using my many storage compartments efficiently yet. Because of that they can never find anything.
Mary has decided that her best ever purchase was her Net book. Last night they got out the travelling hard drive that contains all the entertainment that Craig had put on it before they left. They will need to be away several years to be able to watch it all. It is better than having TV. There is an amazing menu to choose from and no breaks and no ads. They settled down, with it still pouring outside, and watched an episode of James May’s Toy Stories about Airfix.

The netbook connects to the internet, deals with the photos and video and now provides the entertainment. They have to carry a technology bag with them with all the hard drives, chargers, adapters plugs etc for all the cameras, phones, GPS, computer etc. Honestly they could put a man on the moon with the computing power they have in that bag! Mary did go over to the camp office to ask about connecting to WiFi. It is not working properly. They are waiting for someone to come and sort it out. She didn’t think that would be today.

Hopefully it will stop raining soon! But the good news is, I don’t let the rain in so they made the bed up and settled down to listen to the rain on the roof.