Beautiful country and cheese

I was up in the beautiful, rainy Lake District this weekend for a swim. The swim didn’t go as planned – my day was cancelled and I wound up swimming a mile in choppy water on the Saturday and getting the biggest calf cramp I think I have ever had. But, aside from meeting some nice fellow swimmers (and the safety kayaker, who chatted with me as I clung onto his kayak), the nice thing about swimming in Windermere, is that you are in the Lake District. It is home to Wordsworth, Beatrix Potter and the glacial ribbon lakes and valleys, which my better half detailed the geography of, as we drove by the various tarns, meres and waters.

We decided to head north to Keswick yesterday, and while wandering around we came across the Cheese Delicatessen. Ah, a cheese shop. I went and in and was delighted by the selection – in addition to some Continental cheeses, they had a good crop of local products. Too often, we in the UK forget we are a land of 700 cheeses. Like Belgium and its 500 beers, you should be able to travel from town to town and see a completely different set of cheeses available. And these were cheeses I had not had the pleasure of consuming before. All wrapped up by a very friendly person who helpfully labelled the cheeses for me.

There were cheeses from both sides of the Pennines, although we stuck to the side we were on with our cheese buys. (Sorry Mrs B.) These included the smoked Hootenanny from Appleby, Thornby’s Crofton and Blue Whinnow, a Kendal Creamy from JJ Sandhams and Carron Lodge’s True Grit extra mature cheddar. I have sampled these and am looking forward to serving up a cracking Lake District/Lancashire cheeseboard next weekend. My souvenirs of a place do not last, as I wind up eating them, but they are memorable. I look forward to my next trip up north.

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