We thought lets have a look at Pooley Bridge which the village at the top of Ullswater. It like a mini Windermere. lots of gift shops and tea rooms. We went in one for a brew. See sat there, the staff walked past us. We some more but no one came so we left, a bit bemused. We stood on the bridge over the river. Looked over. No fish. Walked back to the car and that was Pooley Bridge. The weather had perked up. It was even sunny. We saw a sign for Martinsdale and took it. I did spot that Martinsdale was at the end of a five mile cul de sac and just at the end is a one in four hill. There is a church there and that is it. It was a peaceful spot so we took a short stroll. After all it had been a busy day so far an we did not want to over exert ourselves. We got back in the car and trundled back towards Pooley Bridge. We came to the sign for the Howtown Hotel which we had passed on the outward leg. It looked really smart. Being dressed for lounging about rather walking we presented ourselves in the lobby. It was a lovely Lakeland building probably constructed in the Georgian period, low, wide door nicely proportion rooms with names such as the Smoking Lounge and the Public Bar. The bar area was panelled in Mahogany with a hatch for drink to be passed to the waiting staff leading to long corridor to the Dining Room. The bar proper was panelled in yet more Mahogany with stain glass lights and the far side of the bar area was the Walker's bar. Stone flagged floors and built in wooden benches with a big fireplace at the far end, well the far end of a twelve foot square room, and all the bar served by the one little bar.
A very thin but beautiful Russian young lady, dressed all in black with jet black hair came to attend us. We asked for afternoon Tea. That would be no problem and would we like to be seated. She showed us into room off the lobby and would we mind waiting for Tea as the scones were not quite ready. The room was exactly what you would expect from a Jane Austin novel. We looked out across the view to Ullswater. We made ourselves comfortable, which was no great task. Presently the nice lady returned with tray of tea and scones and all the usual paraphernalia for high tea. The scones were still hot and light as a feather. Certainly in the same league as H's scones. We had very civilised hour or so. The Tinterweb says that the Hotel has been in the same family for 100 years. The same report said that the bedrooms do not have televisions or telephones. Sounds perfect.
Feeling that we had found a new favorite place we trundled off in the car, back through and excesses of Pooley Bridge and its adjacent camp sites back along the lakeside road back to Deepdale. An odd day overall. Still no sight of the top of High Street.
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