Both of us had intended to visit the Lakes District the last time we were here but never made it. With a second chance, we were determined to spend at least one day there this time around.

We had read somewhere that Windermere was where most of the action takes place, so with nothing else to go on, we headed there. A typical little English countryside village, Windermere sits on the biggest lake in the country, and was also the home and inspiration for many of Beatrix Potter's tales of Peter Rabbit, Jemima Puddle-duck and Mr Jeremy Fisher!

Without a lot of time to spare, we left the tourist gimmicks behind and headed for the hills (and the lakes in between). Sneaking a peak at one of the tourist bus routes in the information centre, we followed the road north towards Grasmere and Keswick. It wasn't long before we found a little carpark with a map of the surrounding walks.

The weather was cold, grey and drizzly, just like England is supposed to be. We hiked past horses, cows and funny looking sheep, admired the centuries-old stonewalls and hedges and even found a dripping big cave opening into the hillside. Although much more wet, green and fertile than most of the Scottish landscape, it was not near as grand and majestic. Nevertheless, it still held a rare, typical English beauty which captured our imaginations and justified the praise awarded to this wonderful part of England.

We finished the day by scrambling up a mountainside (and jumping a few fences) for an amazing sunset view. The vast and immensely productive fields stretching between hills and lakes was evidence of why England has historically been one of the worlds most dominant empires. They have some of the luckiest farmers in the world!