A Mini-Break with just Sylvie | The Lake District

I was absolutely over the moon to get to the Lake District this year.. It’s honestly my ‘happy place’, and arriving there just feels like quiet bliss. I love nothing more than going for a decent walk, finishing with half a pint somewhere, doing a food shop at Booths (please can the North East get Booths too??) or the farm shop and watching DVDs because the signal won’t allow for anything else.. 

I’m not one to take ‘social media breaks’, so I do find the lack of phone signal frustrating and freeing at the same time. I worry about not responding to work messages and I do like to be ‘on call’ because of the girls..

My Mum and Grandma very kindly offered to take Vivienne to Mallorca with her only cousin on my side (that kid doesn’t know how lucky she is!), so it was just me and Sylvie while she was away, with David at work during the week. I had work to do, but it was possible to work remotely without wifi for a few days, so I decided to head over to the Lakes and stay in my Grandma’s caravan with Sylvie and have a change of scenery. I thought a static caravan would be a reasonable safe environment for a toddler as it’s all on one level and in the living area I can see where she is at all times. It’s also between Keswick and Penrith, and near Ullswater, so only a short drive from different things to do. I packed the travel cot, did a food shop, brought a big bag of toys for Sylvie and off we went. We arrived in the rain (it is the Lakes, after all) unpacked and relaxed. The day after poured down too, so I went for a drive with Sylvie before taking her to soft play and exploring the shops at Rheged.

Sylvie’s at the age where spending money on her doing some things just isn’t worth it - on the campsite she was genuinely happiest in her wellies splashing in puddles and walking her doll in its buggy up and down the paths.

David arrived (slightly hungover after a golf day!) on the Saturday. Saturday was actually sunny and warm - a beautiful day to go walking. Sylvie and I had walked up to Aira Force that morning after breakfast, and we met him that afternoon in Keswick (with two bloody minutes to spare) before catching the boat across Derwentwater to Lodore Falls and we walked round the lake with Sylvie in the carrier and caught the boat back just as the temperature was dropping. David gets equally as excited about Booths as I do, and we bought some amazing steaks and sauces and stopped at the chip shop before having a glass of wine and heading back.

I was determined to do one more decent walk while we were there and we attempted Cat Bells. I’d been up as a child and looked to see whether it was appropriate to do with a wriggly toddler strapped to my front.. when we reached the first hill top, after some scrambling, the wind really hit hard and suddenly I was nervous about doing any climbing further on uneven ground with Sylvie.  She really didn’t like it, and started looking pretty grumpy about the whole thing too. When we got back to the car it really started chucking it down and we went for a drive out to Windermere before having one last little trip to the pub for some hot snacks.

A change of pace, particularly when Dav and I are both self employed and never fully ‘clock of’, feels wonderful. We were so worn out by Sunday, probably by the Summer on a whole too, that we struggled to stay up until 10pm and then we woke at 8am the next day - when in real life do people have ten hours’ sleep? I think this was a trip that the three of us needed and I always love my time in the Lakes. We are so lucky that we have the option to pop over (big thanks to Grandma and Grandad!) and I’m always so grateful to have time quieter time away from the norm.