I can’t speak too highly of our wonderful stay with our lovely friends in the Lake District last week; in fact, I can hardly speak at all because I have a cold and a sore throat – not that I’m blaming either Stephen or Janine, with whom we stayed, or Roland (from Australia) who is visiting us at present and still suffering – not from us (hopefully), but from his cold. Anyway, Chris and I have had such a busy time since we returned on Wednesday from up t’North that I’ve scarcely had a chance to tell you about our Lake District break.

Perhaps you’ll remember that late last year my blog featured some photographs of my sketches of Arthur Ransome, the renowned journalist, storyteller, sailor, fisherman and author of “Swallows and Amazons”; well, those drawings now live with Stephen and Janine at “Hill Top”, the house formerly owned by the great man between 1960 and 1967, and which was Arthur’s final home. Stephen, an astrophysicist (really!), financial analyst and writer himself, is currently in the process of co-writing a book based on the diaries of the famous author at the time he lived at “Hill Top”. Interestingly, Arthur’s six-foot tall wife, Evgenia, used to be Trotsky’s secretary.

Stephen and Janine have spent the past year restoring and renovating the house and gardens, and building plush rental accommodation for guests, but Chris and I stayed in the main part of the house. Every time I took a shower I thought of old Arthur, whose bedroom had been transformed into our bathroom – I fancied that Stephen was a little too quick to assure me there were no ghosts. With the weather being mostly fine we ate most meals al fresco at a table under a parasol in order to enjoy the soft air, the atmosphere of the garden and the beautiful views of the hills and mountains in the distance. In the evenings we sat with our “G and T’s” in the conservatory and watched the setting sun. One night – it was eleven-thirty – it seemed that the sun would not give way to blackness and we marvelled at the pale green glow that rose up from behind the mountains. Our friends explained that it’s because we were so far north.

One afternoon two elderly gentlemen arrived at the door; they were, perhaps, members of the Arthur Ransome Society, or maybe they were just ordinary fans in the vicinity and interested to see “Hill Top”. I thought it was lovely of Stephen to invite them in and give them a guided tour.

One day we went to our local Coniston Water, where Arthur set his novel (I believe) and where we saw little sailing boats, some with white sails and some with red sails ; another day we walked to the Hoad Monument, Ulvaston – naturally, we sang “Galveston, oh Galveston…” when we weren’t puffing our way up the steep hill (we thought we were being original until Stephen said that everyone did that!). The monument is a replica of Eddystone lighthouse. From our vantage point we looked out over Morecambe Bay, still beautiful under grey clouds, and then we beat a retreat to a Buddhist temple retreat for afternoon tea before the rain came down. ‘Twere right grandly (and unusual).

Here are some of the photographs I took with my little mobile phone camera but if you’re interested in seeing more go to Stephen’s site at www.hilltopvista.com