It was a horrible morning weather wise but it didn't bother us too much because we had planned to go and visit The Dalemain Estate. Anne's Father used to work here as a farm hand so there was a personal connection for her.

Firstly we had a coffee in the gorgeous Medieval Tea Rooms because we had to wait a short while before we were to join a tour of the mansion. There was about 20 of us on the tour and our guide was a lovely lady who had extensive knowledge of the estate and the family. It has been the home of the Hasell-McCosh Family for over 300 years. Dalemain means "manor in the valley" and there has been a settlement here since Saxon times. Dalemain is near Ullswater, on the Northern fringes of the Lake District and is a real treasure. This fantastic Lake District historic house and gardens contains behind its Georgian facade, a wealth of Tudor and Mediaeval rooms and buildings.

The Old Hall in Dalemain was added in the 14th century, along with another tower. In the 16th century, two projecting wings were added creating a typical Elizabethan manor house and in 1744, the impressive Georgian front was constructed to enclose an inner courtyard. Very little change has been made to the buildings since these times, and Dalemain remains a very special Lake District Historic House and gardens. So beautiful and impressive!

We were keen to find a place for some lunch after we had our tour of the house so we headed to Keswick where we found a pub as quickly as we could because it was pouring down and we just wanted to get inside somewhere where it was warm and dry.

After lunch we decided to head back to Carlisle and visit the Catheral before we went to the train station to catch our train back to London and Anne and Richard were travelling off to Newcastle. The Carlisle Cathedral totally exceeded my expectations and I am so glad that we were able to visit here because it was incredibly beautiful!

We ended up being a tad pushed for time but we all managed to catch the trains we had planned to and sadly said goodbye to our amaing hosts! We will be in touch with Amy and David and hopefully we can visit them or meet up with them in the near future. We loved our weekend up North with a few surprises thrown in and we are so thankful to have had such special people/family to share it with. We can't thank them enough for the time and effort they put in to make this a long weekend we will never forget!