What?
A relaxing, incredibly wholesome weekend in the Lake District.
Inspired by Sandi Toksvig’s Extraordinary Escapes, I was joined by two of my favorite women for a relaxing retreat to a gorgeous chocolate box cottage in the Lake District.
On arriving at Low Longmuir cottage, the fizz was flowing as we celebrated many things and life in general, out in the beautiful wildflower garden in the evening sun. As the light faded we moved inside into the cozy kitchen to prepare dinner; generous comforting bowls of Za’tar Cacio Peppe and salted caramel brownie bites afterwards. We continued drinking red wine into the night until our beds called us.
After morning cups of tea and bacon sandwiches we headed out into surrounding woodlands to do some foraging with professional forager Ellie from Forage Box. Ellie was incredibly knowledgeable and I definitely wouldn’t have wanted to risk picking the right or wrong mushrooms without her! During the day we had little homemade foraged treats from Ellie and learned lots about what could be foraged from the forest and the physical and mental benefits of doing so. We reminisced about our childhoods when picking blackberries and gathered lots of leaves and mushrooms (with Ellie’s supervision!) for that nights dinner.
After a few half pints of cider at the local White Lion pub, we headed back to the cottage where we each curled up and dozed off while it rained outside.
After ours naps (and some more fizz!), together we cleaned, chopped and fried our foraged mushrooms along with leeks and pancetta to have in an orzo pasta bake. We rubbed together oats, flour and sugar until resembling breadcrumbs to top our foraged blackberries for our apple and blackberry crumble. Dinner that night was so good! We finished our evening with a few Botanist G&Ts garnished with out blackberries.
As in Sandi Toksvig’s Extraordinary Escapes, the weekend was very relaxing, de-stressing and wholesome one, reconnecting with nature and good friends.
How?
Train from London Euston to Stockport, just outside of Manchester Piccadilly, where my friend then drove us to Low Longmuir cottage.
How long?
We spent two lovely evenings, Friday and Saturday night, at Low Longmuir cottage.
The train from London Euston to Stockport took 2 hours and the drive from Stockport to the cottage also took 2 hours, so the total journey time was 4 hours.
