At the beginning of September, we stayed in a great cottage called Hardheads Cottage which was on the edge of the town of Egremont on the west coast of Cumbria.  It was handy for me working up there and also had excellent access for some lovely walks on the Western Lake District Fells and nearby beaches. Adjacent to the cottage was a large enclosed paddock with a resident warren of rabbits.  It was fun walking around there with Olaf as his instincts went into overdrive! The cottage was right next to the disused Florence mine now an Art Centre and the old mine workings made for excellent pictures when the sun was setting.

We arrived on Friday after a stop in Penrith at my favourite farm shop, Cranstons, and lunch at Basecamp North Lakes which we found was much expanded, improved since our last visit.

On Saturday we had planned to walk in the fells by Buttermere but when we got there I realised I forgotten all the water (for Olaf and I) and as a warm day was on the cards we thought better of it and had a change of plans… We went back to the cottage, filled up the water bottles and headed up to Dent Fell (which was much closer than Buttermere) via Lowther Forest instead.  The views from Dent are uninterrupted and although it’s not super high, it offers an excellent vantage point.

On Sunday we drove up to Cold Fell (only about 10 minutes from the cottage) and walked into the fells off the fell road.  We completed a circular route taking in Blengdale Forest on the edge of Gosforth and Calderbridge before returning to where we’d parked on Cold Fell.

We also had a chance for a walk on Drigg beach later one afternoon – which is always a treat for the 3 of us with its long, quiet stretches of sandy beach.  We stopped at Seascale for kebabs from Pizza 40 on the way home that day too which was a nice treat – there was enough food to keep us going for a couple of days!

Egremont is probably not the most obvious place to spend a few days but we really enjoyed the cottage (including the rabbit paddock!), the convenience of the amenities being close by and the nearby walks both in the fells and on the beach.

Here are some pictures from our time there.