Of Misty Mountains and Kendal Mint Cake

When the Ginge asked me what I wanted for my birthday, I half expected myself to suggest a long list of much coveted things such as this, this and this. When it actually came to it, however, my answer was somewhat different. What I truly wanted, perhaps needed, was some time with my boy in beautiful, quiet and simple surroundings. So, this weekend, the Ginge and I took ourselves off to the Lake District. It was nothing fancy, but then neither are we. We stayed in a restored miner's cottage near Coniston, spent our days walking in the mountains and our evenings cooking hearty food, playing with maps and revisiting our love of the Lord of the Rings. I took my birthday cards with me and made sure I had regular slices of my two delicious cakes; my friend Claire's famous lemon drizzle and a coffee and walnut battenberg, which we're pretending was made by the Ginge (he was actually too busy, so I made it instead so that he wouldn't feel bad). Its simplicity was just the restoration that my heart needed and we both feel invigorated by the balance of rest, exercise and fresh air. We missed out on the spring sunshine, which some of you have been enjoying, but weirdly I think we enjoyed the ethereal mist and our nipped pink cheeks just as much. We really must do this sort of thing more often.