Yesterday the weather was beautiful- again! We decided jobs could go on hold, and we set off from White Moss, up to Brockstone Holiday Cottage, overlooking Rydal Water, and then on to Rydal, where we had our favourite Carrot and Coriander soup sitting outside in the sun at Rydal Hall tearooms. We then walked around Rydal Water , past Rydal Caves, then along Lughrigg Terrace and down to Grasmere, then back to White Moss House. You can follow this walk by looking at this Guide to walking the Rydal Round. Feel free to download it. Leave me a message if you like!

We are so lucky to have this walk on our doorstep. If you would like a short break before Easter, so that you too can do this walk, we have reduced the week of 23 to 30 March in Brockstone Cottage from £820 to £620. We are also offering breaks of three nights or more from 15 to 30 March at our lovely holiday cottage which you can see here on Holiday Lettings/Trip Advisor. Please email me ( sue@whitemoss.com) with your preferred dates and I’ll give you our best offer.

Here are some photos I took yesterday in the gardens of Rydal Hall. I was amazed to see so many different flowers in bloom .

We’re getting ready to open for 2013, which we reckon will be our 33rd year at White Moss House. Will we ever be able to tear ourselves away? We love it here!

The decorator has been painting, the carpet cleaner has been swooshing around, and we are polishing and dusting every nook and cranny ready for our first guests of the year.

White Moss House, Grasmere snowdrops

The weather has been beautiful in the Lake District for the last few weeks, and the snowdrops are out in force. The daffodils are ready to burst into bloom, and in a couple of weeks they will be fantastic.

We’re offering excellent offers for B & B from 15 to 28 March, with savings over £100 for 3 night stays. These offers apply all week- no weekend supplement. We also offer 2 night specials. The AA has just awarded us their Special Award for Outstanding Breakfasts.  This reflects the top quality produce, locally sourced when possible, and the skill in preparation and presentation. Our 2013 homemade Seville orange marmalade is delicious, our locally smoked kippers and cured bacon are simply the best.Come and treat yourselves before the Easter rush.

Please note that bookings at our special rate must be made direct by email ( sue@whitemoss.com) or phone (015394 35295). They are not available for bookings through any online booking sytem.

It’s noticable now that the days are getting longer. Today it was light before 8pm, and it doesn’t get dark until well after 5pm.

We’ve had a very heavy snowfall in the last week, but all the snow has gone, and the daffodils are well on their way. They must be very confused with the huge variations we’ve been having between very mild weather and very cold weather. Here’s a photo I took through the window of Room 3 on Saturday morning.

Rydal Water from White Moss House

Here’s another one of the terrace, where you’ll be be able to enjoy your complimetary afternoon cup of tea with homemade Lakeland tea bread when you check in at White Moss House !

For early bookings of three nights midweek, or four nights over a weekend ( including Easter and other Bank Holidays) we are offering 10% discount on our 2012 rates. For more details check our  White Moss House website.

1 January 2013, and it’s dry with a hint of sun over Rydal Water. After all the rain we’ve had lately this is great news. I’m looking forward to a walking round the lake this afternoon.

People tell me that New Year’s Day is a time for booking holidays. We’re hoping that you might like to visit us in our historic Lake District house in 2013, so we’ve put some special New Year Offers on our website for you. Check out our special New Year Grasmere Bed and Breakfast offers here.

If you would like to stay at our Grasmere holiday cottage with amazing views take a look here. We already have quite a few weeks booked in 2013, so please book early to get the weeks you want.

Here’s a photo of White Moss Terrace on a good day in summer. Have faith- we will have days like this in 2013.

This photo of Rydal is thanks to Cumbria Tourism, and may not be used without permission. You could be standing here soon! I’ll be there this afternoon…

For the second time in a few weeks, a couple have got engaged during their stay at White Moss House! They have been together for quite a time, and had stayed here years ago. They had happy memories of White Moss House, and the gentleman wanted to come back to the same room they stayed in before to make his proposal.

At breakfast we tried to gauge the mood- was the lovely lady smiling, what was the verdict? We weren’t sure…….then at check out I asked if they were going straight back home……?

“No- we’re going shopping for rings….she said yes!” Joy all round!

We wish them all the very best for their wedding and their future together.

The bad news is that if you want to get engaged here at White Moss House, you’ll have to wait until March 2013, when we reopen after our winter break. You could still come to stay at our lovely cottage up on the fell though. Brockstone , our self catering holiday cottage with excellent views of Rydal Water and the Lake District fells is still available from 1 December to 21 December, 3 January to 31 January, and 28 February to 30 March. Short breaks are on offer. We welcome dogs – the guests there right now have declared our Grasmere holiday cottage to be “dog heaven”

Rydal Water by David Willis, Cumbria Tourism. May not be used without permission.

This is one of the lovely views on our doorstep. White Moss House is just behind the clump of trees that go out into the lake, and Brockstone Cottage is on the path that goes through the trees above the barn that you can see in the field.

We are now taking bookings for 2013 in Brockstone cottage and in White Moss House bed and
 breakfast. Forward bookings are looking good, so don’t leave it too long to make your reservation.

Gone are the rocks, the tricky steps, the water, the mud, and in its place is a smooth super-highway.
This is supposedly for wheelchair access, but as there’s a tricky bridge at the start of the path, and the narrow kissing gate at the end, that’s not going to be easy ( plus, it’s quite steep)

Local opinion is unsure – some people think this is just making the paths too  bland. We certainly hope that they won’t tear the ancient kissing gate apart and replace it with a wide wooden gate as they are thinking of doing.

They ( the Lake District National Park) are also thinking about carving a path through the big rock that sticks out into Rydal Water- the one you have to walk over when the lake is high. Locals view the idea that the rock mught be blasted away with horror!

Anyway, this is what the path looks like now when you come off  Loughrigg terrace or the Rydal Water path, go through the kssing gate and into White Moss woods to walk back to White Moss House .

New path through White Moss Woods

The muddy area on the left is where the old path went. There were steep, uneven steps, that were very wet and in winter they became icy and very tricky. All the rocks have been taken out, and that area will be grass. The new path curves round by the wall, and you get a new view of Rydal Water ( you can just see Rydal Water in the background)

Here’s the Kissing Gate at the entrance to White Moss Woods- must they widen it?

We’re only open for guests at White Moss House until 5 November this year, but if you can get away this week you can see the new walk, enjoy the autumn colours, all at great rates. Click here to see our special offers, or email sue@whitemoss.com, or ring 015394 35295.

It was a glorious day today- maybe the last chance this year to see the wonderful autumn colours in the sunshine, as the forecast is for cloudier weather.
Here is a selction taken this afternoon on my favourite White Moss walk, described here as walk 2

Penny Rock Woods and Grasmere Lake from Loughrigg Terrace

Brockstone Grasmere Holiday Cottage from Loughrigg Terrace

Peter playing in the leaves in Deer Bolt Wood

Tree by the River Rothay, White Moss

River Rothay, last of the autumn leaves, White Moss

I’ve taken lots of pictures of the new path-coming soon- bookmark this blog!

For the last two weeks they’ve been working on the path from the bridge near White Moss House that crosses the river and goes up to the kissing gate leading to Loughrigg terrace.
All the rocks have been removed, all the water has been diverted off the path, and chippings have been laid. We now have a perfectly smooth 5 foot wide path, that you can ( in theory) take a wheelchair along. (Not sure how you get the wheelchair over the bridge) Also, it is still, of course, quite steep, so you would need to be pretty strong …..

Local opinion is divided as to whether this is making the whole area too bland. I think this new path is lovely- you’ll be able to go on a circular jog now from White Moss House on smooth paths for a really testing circuit. The old path was tricky- the steps and rocks were uneven, muddy, and very tricky in winter when the water froze and the whole path iced over. However, there is talk of removing the kissing gate and putting in a wide gate, again, so that wheelchairs can get through. I would hate to loose that lovely old kissing gate. Maybe a new wide gate could be put alongside?

I’m hoping to get photos later of the new path. Meanwhile, just to let you know, we still have a room for this weekend see here for our last minute Grasmere special offers. The trees are looking better than anyone can remember, and the weather forecast for the weekend is outstanding.

Here’s a taster of what you might see if you can get to the Lakes soon.

Autmn colours on White Moss walk

I’m always surprised when visitors mention that there were lots of sheep on their walk today. Those of us who are lucky enough to live in the Lakes rub along with these quirky creatures all the time. Visitors from cities, or from parts of the world without sheep, find this odd!

Here’s a picture from last week’s walk from White Moss House to Silver Howe, Grasmere.

What are you doing here?

You can see Grasmere Lake, Grasmere Village, Allan Bank and Dunmail Raise in the background. The sheep clearly felt I was on her territory!

We close for our Winter break on 5 November, but there is still time to come and see the Autumn colours which are spectacular this year, and take advatntages of our Last Minute Grasmere bed and breakfast offers.