Exploring Lake Windermere and Wray Castle

Last week we set off to the Lakes, Lake Windermere to be precise and spent a few days relaxing and having fun in each other’s company. Today I’d like to share some of the fun we had up there with you my lovely readers.

There are several boats that take you to various points of the region via Lake Windermere and we were early for the one we were aiming to catch to cross to Wray Castle owned by the National Trust. So I suggested we had a spot of lunch in one of the nearby cafes along the lake side. Inside the cafe there were shelves adorned with lovely cosmetics bags in off white and pinks and padded hearts hung over the fireplace giving the look a true country cottage appeal. Big scones were being served up at the counter some dripping with hot rum butter and a variety of other cakes that appeared to be homemade. We opted for a couple of paninis and teas before boarding our boat though.

The very helpful and friendly staff that helped us on and off the boat also surprised us by giving us a commentary of the area in which we sailed. This included how it varied in depth throughout the lake and that Wray castle was a present from James Dawson (a retired surgeon) to his wife using her money!

As soon as we set foot in the area we headed off in search of geocaches set out by the National Trust. They are very keen to get kids outdoors and this activity is just one of the ways in which they do this. Many of the geocaches that we discovered in the area were the size of lunch boxes and there were a couple of bonus caches in the area too. The caches took us on a circular walk of the area taking in the castle and the church.

Sadly we ran out of time to see inside the castle but having spoken to a fellow mum who did venture inside it was more geared up to entertaining older children who loved dressing up. I'm currently building up our girls’ collection of fancy dress but I've yet to see the girls’ get properly into it. Still it gives us a reason to go back one day when the girls can pretend to be princesses for the day.

On the way back to board the boat my eldest saw other children playing at skimming rocks across the water.  Of course she had to try it for herself for it looked like good fun but in the process she scared us as she darted back towards the water’s edge with her stones in hand causing her father to leap to her rescue before she took a dip in the lake.

My aim for the family that day was to visit Wray castle followed by Brockhole but sadly time slipped away from us and we just didn't have the time to explore both. The weather also looked increasingly threatening as the sky filled with black clouds so we made the decision to stay on the boat and head back to where we were staying.

Have you visited Lake Windermere and Wray Castle?