Ullswater 2012

Our new tent, yes we have a thing for teepee shape tents ! This one is an Outwell Indian Lake and no, we haven't gotten rid of the Bell tent, I love it too much and it is still my favourite.

The inside bedroom compartments, two large double sized bedrooms. 

The unit in the middle of the picture is our larder unit where we stored all the dried food and drinks, on top of the unit is the board games for the evenings, we absolutely loved 'who what where' this year, it is a drawing game and conjured up some hilarious images, just don't mention King Kong to Robbie !

The tent is also carpeted, we have a footprint for underneath, a fully sealed ground sheet ( no nasty bugs or leaks) and a carpet for comfort and warmth.

On the left is mine and Neil's bedroom, our roll mats are tempur and attach together to make a king size mattress and we always take our lovely thick feather duvet and proper pillows. Glamping all the way for us.

The boys bedroom is on the right, they prefer sleeping bags, each bedroom section zips up for complete privacy and warmth, they are very very snug !

These photos were taken four days in, I like to keep a tidy camp and made sure everything was spic and span each day while they were all having their showers.

The all important essentials of camping, lots of reading matter, goodies, wet wipes and of course marshmallows for toasting. The butterfly patterned bag contains all the first aid stuff and tablets etc.

This tent has a decent sized porch area, I like to have mats down so everyone can take off their shoes, no mess inside the tent lol. We have a bin on the right and two large plastic containers on the left for shoes and wellies.

We also take a 'day tent', we use this for cooking in case the weather is not kind, you can roll up all the sides like a gazebo, or just one side if you are needing more protection from the elements. In here we have a multi tasking unit, which we use for storing all the eating utensils, cooking utensils and more food, the top is used for the trangias, we cook just about everything on here or on the barbie. In the corner behind the unit, I have a laundry container so the main tent is kept free of smelly socks. And all the cleaning and washing up paraphernalia is also stored in here.

And this was base camp, the main tent is to the left, the little dark green tent was our 'toilet' tent, then we have the day tent and finally the bright blue one is Amy's own tent, this year she wanted to have her own privacy. Behind our tent is the little wooden Pods which are available to hire on the site.

Playing 'pitch and put' at one of the most gorgeous little courses at Keswick

Rob

AJ

A small part of the course with all the mountains as a backdrop.

Ice cream after a lazy meander around Ambleside.

We make a point of taking the kids to a movie of their choice over the holiday, we like to visit Zeffirellis in Ambleside, they have three buildings in the small town all with a couple of very small screening rooms -  very charming and their restaurants are fabulous too.

This year we watched Brave and all loved it, we are all definitely Pixar lovers.

And a few shots of our award winning campsite, the site has won numerous awards for its 'green' code and is always a pleasure to visit.

The view from our tent looking towards Lake Ullswater.

The huge playing area, lots of little hiding places, naturally built features etc

And a little wooden play house for the kiddies, alongside a picnic area

The shower block, always immaculately clean and with constant hot water, there are also two washing up areas, and a laundry room, with washer, drier, ironing board etc

The entrance way and side of one of the cottages available to rent on the site.

The boys playing table tennis in the games room, they had this, air hockey and table football. In a little room to the back was also a telly and video games room but the boys preferred the table tennis side and didn't watch telly at all throughout the holiday.

One of the cute little bathrooms, available for all the guests.

The reception area and on site shop. The little wooden barn on the left housed the fridges and freezers we were all allowed to use and the site also does masses of recycling so all the different recycling bins were in here for us to use too.

Just behind the smaller building at front is the Inn which is also part of the site and where we spent each evening, playing cards and board games, by an open fire whilst we sipped our cider - heaven !

 

And  the setting. You can just see the pointy little top of our tent nestling in among the trees at the centre of the photo.

Finally -  about two minutes drive from out tent, on the edge of lake Ullswater - blissful peace !

And so we are back in Lincolnshire,  a walker once told us 

'If you step on a turnip in Lincolnshire you feel you have climbed a mountain'

I must agree everything seems rather flat in comparison.