We lived in the little cottage near Silloth while in England. This was a very nice little two bedroom cottage with a tiny kitchen with a very tiny under counter refrigerator but nice big electric cooker. There was a nice sunny conservatory with a washer/dryer, an online water heater in the bath... Which I adored!
The heating was radiators heated by the fireplace... It took a bit to get used to, as I have lived in the desert for many, many years, but the change was very nice. I had forgotten what it was like to have humidity and actual rainy days.
The house didn't have a lot of furniture, so a visit to the Carlisle car boot sales and charity shops, and one foray down to Bristol, came new furniture and coverings. I bought a drop leaf table that had to be moved every morning and evening so we had something to set table for meals, which I rather enjoyed. Living in a larger house has some nice amenities, but, having everything at hand is really nice. There was a bench that doubled as a chest of sorts, holding games and puzzles, and a love seat and overstuffed chair.
I also bought a portable sewing machine! Lol... Then I found a lovely antique, hand cranked machine on a trip to Bristol. Beautiful and useful! I set off making covers and pillows, because I found the bookstore in Carlisle, a wonderful old, used book store. The oversized chair was wonderful to curl up in in front of the fireplace and have a leisurely cup of tea and a nice read.
My favorite part of the cottage was the flowers. Tulips, bachelor's buttons, Lillie's, and so many others. I cut flowers every day when I wasn't out and about. I had bought a couple of vases at the car boot sale and also used tea cups, My son was impressed that the grass grew at such a fast rate. The electric lawn mower was new to him, and he was fascinated by it. He also loved grabbing a handful of green grass to take over to the calves across the street from the cottage. The babies loved him, and would moo loudly until he would come visit.
My son loved riding his bike without worry about traffic, except for the occasional sheep moving day, or cow moving day... He enjoyed the cows a lot, and the horses, hedgehogs.... The only worry was the farmers driving their tractors at high speeds, but, with the bend in the road nearby, it seemed they slowed a bit more.
I generally spent a lot of time either reading or cooking if I were at the cottage. I baked bread after finding a couple of bread pans at the car boot sale. I loved those pans! Finding some fresh currents in Annon, I made jelly to go with the bread. We tried the local sausages, local eggs, local fruit, and anything we could get our hands on. With Carr's in Carlisle, we were happy to have freshly made sweets. One visit into Keswick, Sheila and I found a sweets store, I suppose she knew where it was all along, since she and James would go there to shop she said.
I loved places like the Gincase and Wheyrigg Hall, where the Coes took us to have such nice meals. But, I also loved the out of the way pubs and restaurants that we found in odd places. Most of them had wonderful food, like Allonby, Jack's Surf Bar. I had the most wonderful roast beef dinner, quite the best I've ever had! The Balmoral Hotel in Silloth proper had a wonderful afternoon tea. When I thought I couldn't stand another minute, after shopping on the green, I sat in the lovely tea room, had a nice cup and some pastries. Silloth's Kebob place and the little corner Chinese food takeaway, what wonderful lemon chicken!
Another place we stopped in at was on the road to Carlisle, a filling station as it were, John's Place, had wonderful full breakfast, complete with black pudding, and the dinners there were marvelous! The Fish and Chips "Paul Fontana's on London Road. Best fish and chips ever. The Chinese place we ate at several times, Shanghai Shanghai, had wonderful duck. The Gosling Bridge Inn had amazing steak and ale pies. I ate my weight in them! And Giani's Pizzaria, on Cecil Street in Carlisle was a very welcome change of pace.
I sound like a walking billboard for food in England, but those times, eating with friends, was so much fun and so memorable. I unfortunately didn't think to take photos of all the lovely food. I did take a few pictures of the places. I am still hunting through all the photos, and will some day gather the thousands and thousands of photos together and make a book. maybe...
Kayak, just in case!
View from the front garden. The rhododendron was huge. I cut flowers off it every day to have in the cottage. 
The library/visitor center at Silloth
No comments:
Post a Comment