Dad took some persuading this morning to get us out for a walk as he was heavily into some computer stuff however, we kept nagging him and eventually he gave in just before lunch.
With dark misty clouds on the horizon he decided we should not to go too far and so we decided to go to Lanercost near Brampton. We have been here before, however our visit today was timed to see if mum could get some apples.
Trees all over the country are weighed down with apples of all varieties this year and it was with this hope we travelled to a known apple source, or should that be apple sauce.
Near to the Priory is a large old apple tree in a garden of a private house and for a number of years the owner has had a small stall by his front gate selling, for a moderate sum, bags of apples.
With this in mind mum hoped she would be able to get a big bag full to make into pies and other apple produce.
You can imagine her disappointment however when, upon arrival at the garden gate, no apples were in sight.
All was not lost however as we followed one of the many public footpaths away from the village and up onto the surrounding fells as we came across some brambles.
Out came the bags kept for such purposes at the bottom of pockets and mum started harvesting.
She said that the fruit was firm and seemed a lot healthier compared to that collected two weeks ago on the other side of the city, that just became mush when you attempted to pick it.
About now the hazy mist started to thicken and as if like fog rolling in from the sea the air became soggy and the rain started. Oh well about 2 miles from the car, little cover and rain….. We are going to get soggy and in turn a little muddy… Yipeee.
At this moment we re-created a bit of history it seems, as from the sky, fell an apple almost hitting Charlie on his thick head.
Dad mentioned that a long time back, even before dad was a boy, and that is a long way, a guy called Isaac Newton had a similar experience with a falling apple. Mr Newton went on to research why the apple fell to the ground and came up with a theory called gravity.
Whilst mum continued to collect fruit Charlie, Dad and I wondered what would have happened if he had mis-understood the situation and researched luck, because he was not injured by the apple or genetics as to why the tree was unable to hold onto the apple in the first place.
The discussion became very silly and we started to become very wet so we headed back towards the car and it was here we came upon a caged beast.
Hidden behind a slatted wooden fence, which seemed a bit thin to secure such a terrifying creature, and pouring smoke into the sky was a roaring beastie.
It flashed bright lights at us and growled, a lot louder than either of us so, after a little bit of investigation we hid behind dad for safety.
Our worries however were soon put to one side when we sniffed the air…. and could smell meat.
Maybe one of the beasts had been turned into sausages and we set out to investigate, pulling dad along with us.
Around the back of a recently restored old farm, to the edge of the Lanercost Priory, was the source of the nice foody sniff.
Cooking away on an open air grill was sausages and other meaty assortments.
Dad kept us away from the cooking area however we sent mum in to investigate.
The cooking was part of a display celebrating local produce at the recently opened Lanercost Tea rooms and Farm Shop.
Mum went out of sight for a few minutes as she went into the farm shop only to return a few minutes later with a white carrier bag with sausages in.
Guess what we had for lunch?
Enough for now. We need to get warmed through and dried off.
Until next time
Buster and Charlie