We had been meaning to get to the Lakes District for a while and finally made it up for the Easter 2014 long weekend. We headed up with Sally and Whit on a very packed train on Thursday night (it was so heavy they couldn't take the breaks off in London!). We were staying at an amazing B n B in Windermere with the nicest owners for the weekend. Good Friday we drove into the North part of the Lakes District where we took a nice leisurely walk through Whinlatter Forest with some great views across to Bassenthwaite Lake. We headed back to Windermere via a stop at Aira Force (a waterfall) and a game of mini golf in Ambleside. After a rather strenuous day (not really) we headed for a sauna/steam room/ice room break at the lovely MacDonald Hotel & Spa in Bowness on Windermere. Feeling all refreshed we tried some alfresco drinking in the beautiful garden of our B n B. It wasn't long before we had to grab our puffer jackets and then thought it would be best to head to the inside of a very cosy country pub for some dinner - the Brown Horse Inn. The next day we thought we needed to burn off our dinner from the night before so Darin and I headed to Grizedale Forest where we hired mountain bikes and did a loop of one of the courses there, whilst Sally tried to sleep off her cold. It was quite hilly but gave great views across to Coniston Water and was quite nice biking on forestry roads on really nice bikes. It was then back to Windermere via Tarn Haws - a small lake which along with the surrounding area was owned by Beatrix Potter (as was much of the Lake District!) we took a 20 minute walk around the tarn. Back in Windermere we walked to Bowness - the closest town to Windermere and right on the edge of a lake. We hired a row boat and went for a little paddle. This was nice for the first 20 minutes but we were both over it (especially Darin who was rowing) for the last 20 minutes. Easter Sunday we had another drive around the Lakes District stopping into the World of Beatrix Potter attraction in Bowness then taking the car ferry across to New Sawrey to visit Hill Top - Beatrix Potter's former house. Unfortunately the weather then decided to pack up so after a really good Sunday roast lunch in Hawkshead the boys headed to the pub to watch the football and the girls headed to the B n B for some tea and cake. After a great weekend with some amazing scenery it was time to head back to London on Monday via another very packed train - we were clearly not the only ones to enjoy an Easter Weekend away in the Lakes District!