Grasmere, Lake District vs anything bigger than a village
So, I have recently returned from a three day stay in Grasmere which is a tiny village within the giant district of the Lakes. As lovely as it was, with the beautiful scenery surrounding this tiny place, sheep filling the field and lambs laying on the backs of their mums, Grasmere did give me and my friends a few laughs along the way!
Coming from a rural background, it was not too different to what I expected until I took a stroll down to the center of the village to find that there was one single pub, which happened to be where both teacher's were staying. Yes, the next closest pub was 3 miles away, surrounded by nothing but fields on a B road which had about two vehicles travelling along it every hour - one of which was the local bus service delivering bored teenagers to the nearest and slightly busier "town", hourly. We did seek out this pub as one of the only decent places to eat which sold reasonably priced beverages and this was such a good idea until after a few drinks later, we noticed that it was pitch black outside and there were no street lights to guide us home. The walk was terrifying.
It was difficult to tell which people (if any) were locals and those that were braving the stormy, wet weather were dressed from head to toe in attire from one of three outdoor clothing shops, all of which are within the tiny village of Grasmere. You did read that correct: one pub, three outdoor clothing shops - these people have it the wrong way around! The other shops were mostly gift based and when googling 'top ten things to do in Grasmere' one of these gift shops selling porcelain sheep mugs came up as an attraction. TOP TEN. Seriously?! The most modern shop to sight was the Co-op which I agree was a bit of an eye-saw and I am sure caused much commotion upon its arrival - probably making front page on the Grasmere Daily Times. The average age was about sixty five and when searching on Tinder for a bit of a laugh to find where all the young people were at, I had to increase the age to 55+ in order for the poor bugger to find anyone. 46 was the lowest. 46.
Don't get me wrong, the Lake district is a beautiful place, calm and peaceful (when the sun shines which is very rare) and I did enjoy my stay. I also realise that Grasmere is just one location of many other beautiful and much more vibrant locations within the district. Just a word of warning folks, if you're thinking of moving somewhere permanently and you don't like rain, walking, lack of pubs and the smell of sheep poo, do not even consider Grasmere. Below is a picture to show that Grasmere is beautiful in the sunshine however...
Coming from a rural background, it was not too different to what I expected until I took a stroll down to the center of the village to find that there was one single pub, which happened to be where both teacher's were staying. Yes, the next closest pub was 3 miles away, surrounded by nothing but fields on a B road which had about two vehicles travelling along it every hour - one of which was the local bus service delivering bored teenagers to the nearest and slightly busier "town", hourly. We did seek out this pub as one of the only decent places to eat which sold reasonably priced beverages and this was such a good idea until after a few drinks later, we noticed that it was pitch black outside and there were no street lights to guide us home. The walk was terrifying.
It was difficult to tell which people (if any) were locals and those that were braving the stormy, wet weather were dressed from head to toe in attire from one of three outdoor clothing shops, all of which are within the tiny village of Grasmere. You did read that correct: one pub, three outdoor clothing shops - these people have it the wrong way around! The other shops were mostly gift based and when googling 'top ten things to do in Grasmere' one of these gift shops selling porcelain sheep mugs came up as an attraction. TOP TEN. Seriously?! The most modern shop to sight was the Co-op which I agree was a bit of an eye-saw and I am sure caused much commotion upon its arrival - probably making front page on the Grasmere Daily Times. The average age was about sixty five and when searching on Tinder for a bit of a laugh to find where all the young people were at, I had to increase the age to 55+ in order for the poor bugger to find anyone. 46 was the lowest. 46.
Don't get me wrong, the Lake district is a beautiful place, calm and peaceful (when the sun shines which is very rare) and I did enjoy my stay. I also realise that Grasmere is just one location of many other beautiful and much more vibrant locations within the district. Just a word of warning folks, if you're thinking of moving somewhere permanently and you don't like rain, walking, lack of pubs and the smell of sheep poo, do not even consider Grasmere. Below is a picture to show that Grasmere is beautiful in the sunshine however...
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