Yum, Yum Bearthday

High ho everybear, it's the bearable twosome again. No sooner had Jock got back from Germany than we had packed up again and set off on our travels. 

You see, it was Ann's bearthday on Thursday  and we went away for a couple of days to a tiny village about an hour away from here called Cartmel.  Alan said he wanted to treat Ann to an extra special meal so they had booked into a place called L'Enclume.  This is a picture of the place we stayed and where they ate on the first night. It was her bearthday proper  but that meal was only special, and normal 'cos they only had three courses. It was quite yummy if you ask me, but they wanted the extra special meal to be the following night after they'd had a bit of a rest..

Next day dawned bright and sunny and we found that the food market was in town. We went to the hunny stall and met lots more bears (and a fox).  Alan bought some yummy hunny and we made new friends.

Then we headed for the woods across the horse racing track.  We sat on the rail to see if we could see the horses, but we looked and looked and there weren't any. It wasn't a race day bears so the horses were somewhere else. Hmm, that snot fair. Bears, how rude, you mean, "That's not fair." We know what we mean.

Next we went to the woods and he said, "There's bears in tham thar woods." So we waited and waited and there weren't 'cos we couldn't see any. There were bears in the woods, you know. Oh no there weren't.  Oh yes there were - two bears as plain as can be.  Weren't I tell you.  You were there weren't you? Um, yes... Oh... That's not fair, either.

All the way along the road we saw lovely flowers and we asked what they were. Ann told us they were fox gloves, so, remembering our friend from the food fair, we decided to stay and wait until Mr Fox came to put on his gloves.  Well, he didn't come, so we just had to move on to Holker Hall, a lovely stately home and gardens.

Before we got there we met this Wol, but he was much less talkative than Pooh's friend.  Then we saw a sign that said,  "Park." We tried, but it was very uncomfortable so we gave up and went into the gardens instead.

Here we are with our fellow travellers. You can hardly see us, specially in the one with his nibs, but you can see in the picture below that we were there. The thing we're sitting on is a sundial and you can tell the time by looking at the shadow, so it's just as well it was a sunny day.  Not a bad timepiece, but a bit bulky to go on your wrist if you ask us.

 Nearby was a fun labyrinth with standing stones. Can you see us? We are there. No, really, we are.

 What about now?












Told you we were there.

After we'd had a little snackeral and a lick or two of ice-cream (Thunder and Lightning flavour, with caramel and hunnycomb in it), it was back off through the woods so that they could get ready to go out.

 We waited for the horses again, and they still didn't come.  Same reason bears, sorry.
And so to food.

 Here's the me and you. Yes, that is 17 items (plus the unmentioned chess board) Oinkety, oinkety, oink is what we say.  Jealousy will get you nowhere, and the servings were very small. 

 Here's just some of the offerings

 Turbot grilled over spruce, mussel, salsify and sea vegetables

 Lamb, during

 Lamb after

 Ginger bread, nuts and stuff, left and gooseberry stuff on the right

 Strawberries and things

Apple?
It was a fabulous meal, fantastic food, amazingly different wines and theatrical service. No wonder it took four hours - not fast food, but wonderful.  The oyster pebbles as part of the starter came served on a bed of pebbles (we were warned they weren't as tasty) accompanied by oyster leaf. Now this sounds odd, but oyster leaf does taste of the shellfish. Incredible. Some of the herbs and flowers get picked from the hedgerows by foragers employed by the restaurant. Will we go again - you bet. 

Well we only heard about it, 'cos we didn't get to go, so maybe next time.  Still we did enjoy ourselves and Ann had a memorable bearthday.

We came home yesterday and Ann and Zeke are already on their way to Pontiac and Alan and I won't see them till next weekend.  Then he and I will be off to France in Ian's long car (his E-Type) to Le Mans for a few days. See you then.
Hugs,
Jock and Zeke