HOLIDAY

Our last week's holiday in the Lake District was fantastic. We couldn't have wished for a better cottage, which was a large converted barn 3 miles equidistant from Eskdale and Ulpha in the Western Lakes. The kitchen was simply a cook's dream replete with aga and every cooking paraphenalia you could think of. There were three HUGE sloppy sofas to slop out on in the evenings and we had the full sky package, although as the weather was simply gorgeous last week we didn't do much TV viewing, other than watch a quarter of the first series of '24' which Fiona at work lent me.

We had a week of exploration, walking, mountain biking, pub visiting, cooking and eating. Surprisingly we didn't eat out in the evenings once but that is testament to how great the cottage was. We didn't want to leave! I loved being surrounded by cows, herdwick sheep, hens and even a lone horse on the small farm that our cottage was bounded by and then with the view out onto the fells and mountains. To wake up to that was amazing. It was great to be able to walk directly from the cottage straight onto the fells.

One day, that just so happened to be the one and only day it rained and rained heavily at that, we did an assault course up in the trees at Grizedale. This was hugely challenging for me but to K it was a walk in the park which was frustrating.

I have come home with a damaged knee but lots of great memories and a wish to be back in that lovely place of contentment. Instead its a bit of a shock to be back to work sitting amongst overworked, discontented, grumpy people!