For those of you who have been keeping tabs on the news, you will have heard that the UK government had urged people to stockpile gasoline in anticipation of a fuel tanker strike (www.telegraph.co.uk/motoring/9170200/Motorists-should-consider-stockpiling-fuel-for-strike-suggests-No-10.html). Of course this has meant that people began to panic buy fuel, which led to some petrol stations running dry. One knock-on effect of petrol stations running dry has led to potential guests being concerned about their ability to travel. More and more people are reliant on their own vehicles to get from one place to another, and being able to buy gasoline has become a common denominator when travelling within the UK.
This weekend, we had a late cancellation from someone who could not find petrol anywhere within his vicinity in London because the petrol stations were empty of fuel. Thankfully, our guest did manage to locate a petrol station with fuel the following morning, and rang to re-book his stay. (As a gesture of goodwill, we had said he could re-use the payment he had already made towards a future stay; but we are glad they came here this weekend after all, as the weather has been absolutely fantastic.)
For some reason, people living in the cities seem to be stocking up on petrol, but not the denizens of more rural locales, such as villages and small towns. Another couple who visited us this weekend live near Manchester city. They found queues of cars on petrol station forecourts where people were panic buying gasoline, but where they lived just outside the city, there was no problem at all. The girlfriend of the Londoner who could not find any petrol to buy initially lives in Derby, and she too said that there were no problems in Derbyshire. In Bowness and Windermere, people have remained sane and are not panic buying as far as we can tell. Certainly we ourselves haven’t been doing so.
On our website, www.blenheim-lodge.com, are photos of our rooms and the views from them, depicting the astounding scenery of Lake Windermere and the countryside surrounding our guest house. When people phone or email to enquire about our accommodation, they sometimes mistakenly think that we are situated in an ‘out of the way’ location, reachable only by private transport. This is incorrect: Blenheim Lodge nestles against acres of woodland and countryside walks on a quiet hilltop, just 2-5 minutes’ walk into the centre of Bowness town; an additional 2 minutes’ walk will take you to Lake Windermere and the pier. Our B&B really does offer the best of both worlds: escape the noisy commotion of daytime sightseers, late night revellers, and busy traffic to our family home situated off the main road; Blenheim Lodge is only a few minutes’ walk to town and it is so quiet here, you can hear a pin drop!
For travellers who come by train or bus, Windermere Train Station and Windermere Bus Depot are only a mile from the house, an approximate 5-minute cab ride to our B&B. Once you are in Bowness, everything is within easy reach and the local ferries offer cruises to different destinations on the Lake. Public buses which you can catch on the main road just 5 minutes’ walk from our house will take you from our B&B in the South/Central Lakes to Keswick, in the North Lakes. If you prefer to explore the Lakes by mini-coach, we can arrange for sightseeing tour companies to pick you up from our guest house and to drop you back here at no extra cost.
The one good thing about our location is that people do not need to rely on their own vehicles in order to reach us. They can get to us by train or bus; and if they really want to drive about when they are here, it is possible to hire a car from a local car hire company just 5 minutes from our guest house. We can help guests to arrange this, and have done so in the past.
We all need a little break now and then to give us some essential time out. Do stay with us at Blenheim Lodge if you are thinking of taking a holiday or small breakaway in the English Lakes. We would be most happy to help you get the most out of your much needed escape!
‘Blenheim Lodge . . . panoramic Lake views, peace and tranquillity, nestled against acres of beautiful fields and woodlands, in the heart of the English Lake District National Park.’
Visit our website: www.blenheim-lodge.com
Email: enquiries@blenheim-lodge.com
Telephone: 00 44 (0)15394 43440