The Daily Diary of a Wandering Restaurateur
The Lake District

It seems that when we're in a rental house or apartment, our day's activities seem to start at the crack of noon and last about four hours! I notice that when we stay in a hotel or B&B, we feel more pressure to get going earlier and stay out longer. Very curious. There's no logical reason to support that difference in activity level, unless it's that we feel more transient when we don't have comfortable chairs to relax in.

Today was sunny and warm so it seemed like we really should get out and about to see more of the area. At the crack of noon (natch!) we headed north toward the town of Keswick (KEZ-ick) to see what was going on up that way. On the way up, we saw hikers and bikers everywhere! The British really do love their hiking and were my knee a bit more stable, I would have loved to be out there myself today ... although the trails might have been a bit crowded. (Hey, it's a weekend and probably one of the last temperate and sunny ones of the year, so it looks like the entire population of northern UK is out and about today!

But it was a delicious day for a drive, even if hiking wasn't on the agenda. The views are spectacular and it's easy to see why this is such a popular getaway area. We had no real destination in mind and after circling around Keswick town (and not being drawn in by anything we saw, we headed to one of the historical spots in the area ... and got a few surprises!

Then we headed south to search (unsuccessfully) for a great pizza. We did, however, almost find one a lot closer to home.

We took a detour on the road north to drive through the little village of Grasmere. There wasn't all that much to see, but the place had a good feel and seemed like a comfortable spot to hang around. The main attraction on this particular mini road trip, though, was just the spectacular views around every corner.

One of the attractions in the Keswick area is the Castlerigg Stone Circle. For some reason, 70% of England's stone circles are here in Cumbria. Castlerigg is one of the best and oldest in Britain, dating back 5000 years. It seemed to be a popular spot for a picnic, although it is also a working sheep meadow so you have to watch where you step! What we didn't notice is the hang gliders taking off from the top of the big peak in the background of the third photo. At least we didn't notice them until one, then two, then a third came in over our heads and two of them landed in the middle of the circle! A great treat for the spectators and, I suspect, a rush for the pilots as well.

When we left Colywn Bay, we asked Seunghee (our hostess) her recommendation for the best pizza in the Lake District. She raved about a place called Villa Positano in the town of Bowness-on-Windermere. Our pizza itch still unsatisfied, We drove down looking forward to a memorable pie. Instead we found the restaurant closed ... with a town teeming with hungry people! While I'll take Suenghee's word for the quality of their product, their business thinking leaves a lot to be desired. Their Facebook page (they have no website) lists their location only as Ash Street, no street number and no mention that Ash Street is actually a pedestrian-only alley. It does not include their postal code (the key locator used by GPS systems in the UK), no operating hours and no menus. It makes me wonder about the thinking (or lack of same) behind their marketing.

Disappointed but hungry, we saw a place next door offering tapas. We are great fans of tapas so trying it out was a great idea, but a bad choice of restaurants. I was hungry enough to eat what we ordered, Margene was not. So we retired to the deck at Costa Coffee, the UK equivalent of Starbucks. The streets were packed with families enjoying the sunshine while they could and every place with outside seating was jammed. In retrospect, we probably should have eaten at Sutherland's. It had an ageless look on the outside, a well-worn, comfortable look on the inside and an interesting menu. Maybe next trip.

We still had an unsatisfied craving for pizza so we tried Tarantella, an interesting-looking Italian restaurant on the main street. They asked us to wait in the bar next door (which they also own) while they prepared our table. When they were ready to seat us, the server put our drinks on a tray and lead us back to the restaurant. It was rather a strange service sequence ... and one I'm sure is a real bear when it's raining!

We got our pizzas, though. Margene opted for one with proscuitto, mushrooms and mozzarella. I was drawn to the combination of caramelized onions, goat cheese, pine nuts and spinach. The product was tasty and I liked the rustic look of the finished pie. My only complaint is that the crust was tough and a struggle to cut. This was, after all, a knife and fork sort of pizza and I'm sure we weren't the first to find it problematic to eat. You'd think someone in the place would be watching, asking, and fixing such things.

What I did notice about their pizza combinations is that they all showed some culinary consciousness ... something more interesting than the standard offerings you'd find in most every other pizzeria on the planet. It gives patrons a reason to see you as different ... a reason to give you their business.

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