Yuto's first trip to the Lake District

 

Saturday 14^th February 2026

 

It was a false start apparently. All day, dad had been busy preparing; whilst grandma watched us both however, once we were all in the car, Haruki wasn’t looking too good. Once back inside the house, it was clear that Haruki had a high temperature. The plan was for us all to drive in grandma’s car to mum’s work. We would then get in our car, pick up mum, and off we all went to the Lake District. Now we would spend the night at home, uncertain if Haruki would be well enough for the holiday at all.

 

Sunday 15^th February 2026

 

Calpol did its trick and Haruki seemed a lot happier in the morning. We therefore got ready as quickly as possible and off we went. The weather was awful for dad to drive through. We headed north-east towards a place called the Lake District. Yuto was very excited as this was his first time to this area of the UK.

 

Dad couldn’t wait for the motorway to end. Once off the motorway, familiar roads appeared but this time, they were flanked with snow. We didn’t go straight to the flat. Instead, we went to a supermarket. Both Haruki and Yuto were not overly impressed by visiting a supermarket however, at least it was a little different to the norm. Booths is a supermarket only within this part of the UK. We dodged the rain and sleet to go inside and went to the café for lunch, before doing our ‘holiday shop’. Whilst doing this, we had a surprise; grandma was there! We didn’t know Grandma was joining us but, we were very happy. We all headed to the flat. The weather significantly improved once outside the shop and that stayed until we left on Friday.

 

This was Yuto’s first time in the flat and he approved. Aunty Nic has made some changes however, Haruki agreed that you could still see the flat’s character. We all approved. We watched a lot of the winter Olympics which, became a theme for the holiday.

 

Monday 16^th February 2026

We got up late. Both Yuto and Haruki loved their beds and slept very well. Once we were ready, we drove to Keswick and parked in a long stay car park. We had a look around the shops, went to a café and did a small walk near Keswick’s old railway station. It was a good day.

 

We headed back to the flat for an ‘English Breakfast’ for dinner before more Olympics and bed. We did scratch some of our holiday scratch cards and won £20! … I wonder if we will get bought some new toys with that money.

 

Tuesday 17^th February 2026

 

The weather was glorious today however, we couldn’t leave too soon. Today we were helping Aunty Nic with something called a ‘smart meter’. Some bloke – who couldn’t find the flat and dad had to flag down – was going to install a smart meter for us. It took so long that grandma said that she would stay in the flat whilst we went to Ambleside.

 

Haruki remembered Ambleside; especially the park. For Yuto this was all new. We are not military plane professionals but, we had a discussion and agreed two typhoon fighter gets ran rings around where we were, making a terrific noise and scaring half the children in the park. Once we had finished in the park we went around the town. Dad bought a game from his favourite toy shop and we did indeed get some toys. We also went to the apple pie for some delicious cakes, we bought Yuto a dinosaur bag – a bit like Haruki’s, a book and some chocolate before heading back to the flat and seeing how grandma was.

 

The smart meter wasn’t going as easy as we had hoped and the gas board was required. This would take all day. Grandma did like the cakes though. We also booked a table at ‘The Badger’ for mum’s Christmas gift around 6pm.

 

Parking at The Badger was very difficult as dad had to reverse in the dark. Both Yuto and Haruki remained quiet. The food was lovely. Dad had a hamburger, grandma a vegetarian burger and mum a curry. We too had some nice food but, both of us struggle to eat it all.

 

Wednesday 18^th February 2026

 

Today grandma was heading home. This was sad. We therefore went to Lakeland to do a bit of shopping before having a nice slice of cake and a hot drink. Grandma then left the Lakes from Lakeland and got home in good time.

 

The rest of us went all the way to the bottom of Lake Windermere. We didn’t know this but, there was an aquarium at the bottom of the lake. Dad paid and we all went in.

 

At first Haruki was more interested in his ipad however, after a fish swam right at him, he was hooked. Yuto also enjoyed seeing the fish. We actually went around the aquarium twice as Haruki enjoyed it so much. It wasn’t that big but, neither was it really small. We all had a great time there.

 

Once done both Yuto and Haruki were tired and so they feel asleep whilst dad drove to Conistion, and then Hawkestead. Dad was looking for a photo he wanted to buy in Hawkestead however, the shop wasn’t there. As this was out of peak season, both towns were pretty dead. We went to Hawkestead’s park but it was bitterly cold. We didn’t stay long and headed back to the flat for a nice warm drink.

 

Thursday 19^th February 2026

 

This was our last full day … how quick had that holiday gone. We were desperate to do a walk. First of all though, we all went back to the Ambleside park were we had good fun. First dad went off for 30 minutes and then mum. They were both taking it in turns to get their hair cut.

 

Once back at the flat we had lunch before heading off to Grassmere. It was here that we both fell asleep. As we slept, mum and dad took it in turns to go and look around the lovely village of Grassmere. We wanted to have a look but were not asked!

 

Finally, we stopped at a place called ‘White Moss Car park’ where we went for a 90-minute walk through a wood where we followed a stream to a huge lake … you could see Grassmere on the other side! It was lovely and Yuto walked a lot. It was his first proper walk.

 

What we didn’t realise that, Janet and Rebecca were in the Lakes today. Once back at the flat, they came to see us and we had fish and chips. Dad wanted his traditional Chinese however, his traditional takeaway was closed. The fish and chips were nice and we had a good evening.

 

Friday 20^th February 2026

 

So today was ‘going home day’ and weather had changed for the worse. Dad packed the car and we were ready to leave before midday. Before leaving the Lakes, we went to Ambleside once more where mum got out the car to head to ‘The Apple Pie’ to buy … err … apple pies. Once done dad got petrol and off, we went home.

 

We don’t remember much of the journey as we both slept a lot however, the weather was awful and dad did a very good job driving safely. There was hail at one point!

 

We made it home just before rush hour. It had been a quick but lovely holiday. Yuto was very excited to go back now. He enjoyed it a lot.