Me, Withnail and the Werewolf..

It was with much excitement that the Bush family boarded the 08.30 train from Euston to the Lake District last week. We were off to Cumbria to stay with friends for New Year.. an area known only to me from films and books.

Being a London family it is important that we get the Bush Babies out in the wilds every once in a while, and wild it indeed was. As we pulled into Oxenholme station the scenery was stunning and we were all left open mouthed at the sheer enormous space of it all. Hailing from the New Forest I thought that was pretty stunning but I've realised this year after jaunts to the Western Isles of Scotland and now here
that you don't really ever get big spaces or big skies like you do up north.

I kept pointing out the rolling green hills and steep vales to the girls. They were vaguely interested in the sheep for about two minutes and then went back to bickering. The baby just kept pointing at the sheep and saying 'Pig'.

We spent three happy, cosy nights ensconced in front of the woodburner in our friends' beautiful house. In the middle of nowhere with the wind howling, the rain falling, the Bush felt very far away. We walked across rolling moors, up hills for New Year drinks with relatives, ran for cheeky fags and chocolate in the nearby very charming town of Kirkby Stephen and out for a very good bloody mary in a stunning pub on New Year's Day. The kids played outside in the rain and had permanent rosy cheeks.

All in all it was a jolly good romp.

We didn't make it the Slaughtered Lamb of 'American Werewolf in London' fame, located just across the valley.. or up to Penrith where the iconic 'Withnail and I' was filmed. But just being there I could almost feel the chill of the blue moon on the wild abandoned moors and thought I caught a glimpse of Richard E Grant shuffling into the local boozer.

A stunning breath of fresh air for the New Year.

To be recommended.