We woke up bright and early to climb back on the bus to go to William Wordsworth's home, Dove Cottage. Our hostel had several cereals, toast, jam, and honey spread for us to eat for breakfast which was really great.
On the bus and away we go!
That's the cottage! It's so surrounded by foliage that you can't really get a good shot of it. I couldn't take pictures in the cottage itself (not allowed), but the surrounding gardens and walks were beautiful.
Alexis and Collin!
Behind the cottage was a hill and there was a great viewpoint from up there.
Here's the gang, enjoying the weather, soft grass, and Wordsworth poetry we read out loud.
Me at the front door of Dove Cottage!
Next we walked down the road to see the town, grab some lunch, shop, and look at the cemetery. I got the DELICIOUS ham and cheese Panini you see below, while Malori and Alexis shared a chocolate shake that was to die for.
Here are William and Mary Wordsworth's graves, as well as one of their children.
Here's the back view of the pub we ate at. Our BYU group pretty much took over the deck looking out over the river. Could this be any more idyllic?
And thus ended our Dove Cottage section of the day. I bought the MOST ADORABLE hedgehog at a shop!!! Its so so so soft and fluffy and cute!! You'll have to ask to see it when I get back. Or...most likely I'm going to carry it around with me and show it to everyone anyway. :D
Back on the bus to go to John Ruskin's home, Brantwood!
Our drive there was very exciting. We were in a huge tour bus, driving down tiny winding roads. (Family, think York but more overgrown) We were literally driving through tree tunnels and squishing other cars up against the side of the road. Our bus driver was amazing though, and after turning around (we had gone the wrong way...2 hour detour!) we finally arrived. I really enjoyed the bus ride though, even if I did have to cover my eyes twice.
Everyone taking a couple minutes to recoup after the bus ride. Can you believe that view?!
Ruskin had many beliefs on how man and nature should coexist, and there was a room devoted to his view on music. Matt would've had a field day reading these info posters!
Instead of going into the house, we decided to go back into his gardens and take the circle walk around the property. It was gorgeous! Think a slightly less tropical, ferny Washington walk and you have a pretty good idea of what it was like. It was cool because Ruskin believed in naturally cultivating the existing environment with as little alteration as possible.
This is the back of the house. I didn't have time to go in because of the walk, but it looked really interesting.
We found out we had another hour to spend, so we went on a different walk and found this cultivated patch of grass in the middle of the forest. It was so beautiful, fenced in by trees but still able to see the lake.
Thus ends Brantwood! Once we got back to Ambleside, we hopped on a boat to sail up the to the other end of lake Windermere.
Scott, Melissa, Megan, Ben, Michael, Amy, Neeko, Elizabeth, and Caitlin!
Aw! Look how cute we are!
On the other side, we stopped for dinner and I bought a hot dog. But not the delicious hot dog you see below, a very suspicious what-meat-is-this hot dog that was white....I threw most of it away and was very sad. So I bought some delicious ice cream instead to stave off the hunger. Then we got back on the boat, on the bus, and back to the hostel. Then we walked down into Ambleside and found the only restaurant that was still open and I bought a REAL hot dog. And it was absolutely delicious. I was very satisfied.
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