Dreams Can Come True

♫A Hard Day's Night♫

In February 1964, when I was 13 and in love with the Beatles, going to England was what I dreamed of.  I adopted a British accent mingled with my Southern and Mid-western accent, grew my hair long with bangs, straightened it with an iron (yes, a real iron--those were the days before flat irons made just for the hair!), and saw "A Hard Day's Night" at least a half a dozen times.  Fast forward to 2012 when I "followed" Susan Branch to England on Twitter.  She wrote about the trip in her book, "A Fine Romance - Falling in love with the English Countryside," stirring up that long ago desire to go to England.

Then last summer Susan invited us all to attend her Bring-Your-Own Picnic Basket in May 2018 at Castle Cottage, the home of Beatrix Potter in Near Sawrey.  This is just what I needed--two women who have inspired me coming together to spur me on to fulfill that lifelong dream.  My husband and I decided this would be our gift to each other to celebrate our upcoming 50th anniversary in February 2019.  We'd met and fell in love through our love of the music of the Beatles.  It was only fitting we should celebrate immersed in all things British.

We arrived at Heathrow airport in London the morning of the 9th. . . .

Yes, Heathrow made our journey better (see sign above)--but not without some tense moments.  We were supposed to fly directly from the States to Manchester where we'd get the train to our final destination--Windermere in the Lake District.  We'd arrived at the Baltimore airport at 5:00 p.m. the day before with time to spare.  We were told our commuter flight to Philadelphia was on-time so we went off to get a bite to eat.  This is when we received the text that our flight had been delayed and we'd miss our connecting flight to Manchester.  I will spare you the details of getting rebooked (Manchester was not an option), retrieving our luggage, going through security again, making new train reservations, contacting the B&B about our late arrival, and the long wait in the airports.  I knew travel could be subject to changes-in-plan, but not MY lifelong dream, if you please.

We eventually got to Manchester and made the last train of the day to Oxenholme where we would change trains--except on this particular day there was a strike action and would instead be bussed to Windermere.  This was my first real view of England from the train. . . .

We chatted with two Brits on the train and almost missed the announcement:  Oxenholme next stop.  I don't even want to think about what we'd had to do if we hadn't gotten off in Oxenholme.  It was 7:00 in the evening by now.  We should have been at our first night's stay at 2:00 p.m., if all had gone according to plan..... and we still had a bus to catch. . . .

We had 30 minutes to spare.  It was raining by now, looking very British Isles to me.  This would be our first encounter with the narrow roads. . . .

The driver made the 33-minute trip in 25 minutes.  He was eager to end his shift and it was obvious.  I began questioning the wisdom of sitting up front. . . .

But we made it to Windermere!  The local bus was no longer running and it was still raining, so we made the last leg of our journey to the Bed & Breakfast in one of the waiting taxis. . . .

I can't say enough good about this lovely B&B, Storrs Gate House.  Vince and Shirley welcomed us wholeheartedly after our long journey.  Their home was as warm and welcoming as the photo conveys. . . .

I took a peek into the breakfast room to see what awaited us in the morning. . . .

Then it was up the stairs to our room. . . .

I'd chosen this room because of the very comfortable-looking bed and blackout curtains according to the room's description.  We would only be spending one night here, but it would ensure a good night's sleep and fresh start in the morning. . . .

I opened the doors to the balcony and relaxed into the sound of the falling rain. . . .  

                       

Up Next:  First Morning - Storrs Gate House