The Lake District: England

It was a dark and stormy day. We had been driving for quite a while. There were sheep fields as far as the eye could see. Various emotions stirred: Jez had a craving for lamb kebab whilst I had declared myself a lamb vegetarian but both of us just wanted to find this pub already! We knew the pub was on a hill somewhere in the yonder. We knew it was situated at the highest elevation of all the pubs in Britain. It was called the Tan Hill Inn. But we didn't know what we were in for!

On arrival, we saw this fellow being fed a packet of chips through the pub window. In the picture you can see me inspecting its wool. I felt satisfied that sheep were indeed very well protected against the elements. Inside the pub a dog barked, a goat bleated, and a rooster crowed. It was surreal, and we thought we might have stumbled into Old MacDonalds farm rather than a pub. This turned out to be ironic, as another fast food chain (KFC not McDonalds) is suing the Tan Hill Pub for using the phrase “Family Feast” when advertising their xmas lunch!

Inside we hunted for an empty table. But what was that lamb doing under the table?
We went to investigate. It turns out the lamb was rejected by its mother and is now being raised by the bar staff. Every now and then it would wonder into the kitchen but to my relief it always came out alive. Jez on the other hand kept wishing it would come back in kebab format.

After our lunch and mid way through a game of scrabble, we were invited to gather around the fire with the locals and hear a rendition of Tan Hill Inn's anthem to the tune of a banjo.

Click on the photo to your left to see a panaramic view of the country side in Ulswater - one of the beautiful lakes in the district.