Nature Guide
The Lake District, a Remote Coastal Cottage and a Day in Aberdeen
Our September trip in photographs and short videos: beautiful but busy Lake District scenery, a wonderfully remote coastal cottage, unexpected jet noise and a day in Aberdeen.
Our trip began on 9 September. We’ve just come back from the Lake District, followed by a day in Aberdeen. The Lakes were beautiful, but our coastal cottage, Tarn Bay Retreat, was a real highlight. It felt wonderfully remote, and we loved staying there.
This is our trip in photographs: mountains and lake views, sheep beneath shifting clouds, a coastline of rock pools and rippled sand, and the lighthouse from our day in Aberdeen.
The Lake District: beautiful, busy, and quieter in places
The Lake District was quite busy during our visit. With scenery like this, you can understand the attraction. There were quieter places too, though, and we enjoyed finding those alongside the bigger views.
Layers of woodland and mountain: one of the views we brought home from the Lakes.
We also visited Wray, the National Trust estate on the west shore of Windermere. The castle and the view across the lake made their way into our photographs.
Windermere framed by the stonework of Wray Castle, at the National Trust’s Wray estate.
There was a funny contrast to all that peaceful-looking scenery: air force jets flying overhead. You could find somewhere away from the crowds and still have the quiet interrupted by aircraft noise. That was part of our experience on this trip — beautiful surroundings do not always mean silence!
A break in the cloud over the sheep fields.
Lakeside views and smaller discoveries
The phone photographs add another side of the visit: water framed by trees, boats on the lake and fungi among the grass. Alongside the wide mountain views, we came home with plenty of these smaller details.
Tarn Bay Retreat: the remote coastal stay we loved
We stayed at Tarn Bay Retreat, listed on Booking.com as “Tarn Bay Retreat- Sea- Fells- Beach- Views-Farm”. The cottage on the coast was awesome. What stood out most was just how remote it felt. Having that as our base was a lovely part of the holiday alongside the busier places in the Lake District.
The photographs from the coast have a different feel to the inland views: open horizons, fields beside the shore, stones and pools exposed by the tide, and sunlight catching the patterns in the sand.
Fields meeting the coast — part of the surroundings we enjoyed during this stay.
A moment on the shore, among the stones and pools.
The little details were worth photographing too: repeating ridges of wet sand catching the light.
The golden sunset at the top of this story is from this part of the trip. It sits alongside the cloudier landscapes in the collection, another reminder of how different each view could look.
A little of the coast in motion
These two short, silent clips from 11 September show the coastal fields and the sunset. Press play to watch either one.
The people in the photographs
Among the landscapes are the personal photographs. We wanted to keep some of those in this update too; they are part of remembering the trip, just as much as the scenery.
One of the personal moments from our time in the Lake District.
A lakeside selfie from the phone collection.
Then a day in Aberdeen
After the Lake District, we spent a day in Aberdeen. The lighthouse photographs belong to this part of the trip, with the white tower standing against a blue sky and the rocky coastline below.
The lighthouse from our day in Aberdeen.
A wider view brings the lighthouse, sea and rocky shore together.
The remote cottage is one of the things we’ll remember most. The Lake District was beautiful, even with the crowds and the occasional interruption from jets, and the coastal stay gave the trip something especially memorable.
For another of our remote stays, read about Drumbeg and Torbeg Cottage in Assynt, or explore the rest of our Scotland stories.