An even better waterfall

Nicola, Pete, Lola and Nell want to travel the world with a difference. We hope to get a taste of many countries without adding to climate change (with needless emissions from aeroplanes) or having to waste hours of holiday time in airport terminals. We hope our adventures inspire you to take a Grand Tour of your neighbourhood. This post is from Nicola

While we were wet camping by Ullswater we went up to Aria Force again knowing that the sheer volume of rain would make it and High Force show-stoppers. The waterfalls are owned by the National Trust, and have a lot of visitors. But you can just about escape the crowds by following the path up towards Gowbarrow Fell. In fact we got so keen on the ascent that we decided to climb the fell and have smarties (rather than a picnic) at the top.

Nell beat us all to the top this time, and then beat us all downhill too. Both girls will soon find their parents slowing them down at this rate...

The pic is of Lola by High Force which is a beautiful and noisy waterfall. Though it is smaller than the Victoria Falls in Zimbabwe it could so easily have got the same name given that the Victorians were swarming over the Lake District 150 years ago. Just before Pete and I decided to give up plane travel in a bid to make more of a concious effort not to clock up even more carbon emissions we visited friends in Zimbabwe and toddling Lola (aged one and a half years) came too. There's a pic of her being carried in a backpack wrapped in waterproofs as we stroll through the spray looking for rainbows. How lovely to be able to do the same thing in Britian, without having to carry our daughter this time...

Perhaps the best part of this trip was seeing the girls realise why Ullswater kept rising during the day - inching steadily towards our tent - even when it wasn't raining.

I capture the castle

Nicola, Pete, Lola and Nell want to travel the world with a difference. We hope to get a taste of many countries without adding to climate change (with needless emissions from aeroplanes) or having to waste hours of holiday time in airport terminals. We hope our adventures inspire you to take a Grand Tour of your neighbourhood. This post is from Nicola (pic shows the sort of cliff you'd have to scale to get into this castle)

Dunnottar Castle http://www.dunnottarcastle.co.uk/ is privately owned but they sometimes let children in for free... if an accompanying adult will pay #5. The castle's unique position - on it's own cliff edged island about two miles outside Stonehaven - makes it impenetrable any other way than via the ticket office or the back of the kittiwakes that nest noisily around it. Of course people have broken into it - that's why it's a wreck. But it's undoubtedly the best ruin I've ever seen.

On the Saturday we visited there were talks on the hour given by a fascinating curator in obligatory tartan trews (we must remember that we are in Scotland). The curator had a clever technique of explaining why Scotland is covered in such defensive looking homes - "you've got to remember that the clans and tribes and tartans weren't romantic, Scotland was wild then, neighbour fighting neighbour. It would be like Afghanistan is today with war lords controlling and raiding at will."

Sobered by this the children then headed for the lion's den (a pet lion was a sign of power) and the notorious, damp room where 167 people were imprisoned for around three months because they wouldn't convert faiths. When some managed to escape they were caught and tortured - most of the rest were then sent to the West Indies. Which might sound better but was probably as bad as being tortured then.

There are ghosts says the curator, as any "respectable castle" should have. These include several tragic women, a vanishing dog and a pre-Christian spirit known as "the green lady" who mourns for her lost children. The green lady is Nature and her children are us, the ones who went down the Christian/consumerist/ big business model. On the day of the Live Earth concert http://www.liveearth.org/ it was interesting to have another type of reminder that we need to try to find more sustainable ways to live - especially if we have any hope of tackling climate change.

After a thorough explore of the castle - plus a chance to oggle two wedding parties, one with the guests dressed in either kilts (men) or Norwegian long skirts and embrodiered bodices (women) - we picnicked on the stoney beach below. It's a brilliant place for caves and rock pools. The girls were thrilled to get a crab, three prawns, a fish, seaweed and loads of cockles in their trawl. We put them all back of course, with a quick nod of thanks to the green lady...

Best things to do

Nicola, Pete, Lola and Nell want to travel the world with a difference. We hope to get a taste of many countries without adding to climate change (with needless emissions from aeroplanes) or having to waste hours of holiday time in airport terminals. We hope our adventures inspire you to take a Grand Tour of your neighbourhood. This post is from Lola and Nell (nb, the adults are pretty pleased that the best things in life are free!)

After one month we think the best things to do in Britain are...
Lola:
1) Borrowing a pony to go for a ride - or visiting a place like the Heavy Horse centre near Cockermouth, in the Lake District
2) Watching the salmon jump and see my uncle try to catch a salmon... (Scotland)
3) Stroking a friends' dog (anywhere)
4) Climbing big hills - especially going up as fast as you can
5) Playing in a stream (anywhere)
6) Canoeing with Mummy and Nell. It was like boat club, but better views (Ullswater)

Nell:
1) Carlisle Castle even though I didn't get to see the collection of guns (Carlisle)
2) Walk a friend's dog (anywhere)
3) Look out for new animals in the fields. We've seen bison and ostriches (in different fields!) 4) Dipping nets in rock pools or streams (east or west coast)

Best places to go

Nicola, Pete, Lola and Nell want to travel the world with a difference. We hope to get a taste of many countries without adding to climate change (with needless emissions from aeroplanes) or having to waste hours of holiday time in airport terminals. We hope our adventures inspire you to take a Grand Tour of your neighbourhood. This post is from Lola and Nell after one month...

Lola: Number 1 Yorkshire because we were staying with friends who have four children, a giant house, lots of books, two dogs to take for walks and ponies to ride. And I got taken to the blacksmith which was good because the farrier made the shoes really hot and then pressed them on the horse's feet, but it didn't look as though it hurt them at all.

Nell: Number 1 housesitting near Aberdeen Here's been good because we've been doing lovely things - there's the toys of three children and one's got a doll's house. They have a dog called Fleur. I love her because she licks my hand and I went for a walk with her and she was quite like Mummy because she kept on stopping and chatting (eg, with the mums waiting for the school bus). There's lots of wildlife. We saw a brown bird with a long beak (curlew) which did a display for us.

House sitting near Aberdeen

Nicola, Pete, Lola and Nell want to travel the world with a difference. We hope to get a taste of many countries without adding to climate change (with needless emissions from aeroplanes) or having to waste hours of holiday time in airport terminals. We hope our adventures inspire you to take a Grand Tour of your neighbourhood. This post is from Nicola (pic taken while all of us - except the dog - were watching Live Earth on 7.7.7 http://www.liveearth.org/)

We now have 10 days caring for a Basset hound pensioner, Fleur. She sleeps in until midday, and appears to be delightful unless you are a postie or try to share her sofa.

House sitting is brilliant - made all the more so by memories of our wet camping week. We have beds! Hot water on demand! Kids' toys and an internet connection... Both Lola and Nell have commented on how easy it is to take these things for granted, though they sensibly learnt the lesson in just four days sleeping under canvas. Our new home (near Aberdeen) is particularly enviable - an enormous wood and stone converted kitchen with a grass roof to keep it cosy and dry in all this rain; energy efficient lightbulbs and appliances; raspberries in the kitchen garden; plus recycling systems in place.

There's also a stream where the kids can try to scoop out minnows and bikes for exploring the neighbourhood.

The catch is that this idyllic rurual spot - down a grass drive - is also under threat of a bypass (the Aberdeen western periphery route or AWPR) that no one locally believes is needed or wanted. A recent list of people against the road was signed by more than 2,500.

The 46km road is due to wreck several rural communities, destroy around 20 homes and will see Aberdeen's International School having to be knocked down. And it'll cost a staggering amount, #395 million! You can find out more at http://www.road-sense.org/documents/PressRelease_15-Nov-2006.pdf

Perhaps the cost of this plan is the real reason why the new First Minister [since July] Alex Salmond, has been saving up his two salaries (as an MP and SMP)?

TOP TIP: You can find out how to housesit all over the world using formal sites on the web, but so far we've only tried it in Britain.

Our main success has been with relations who want someone living in to reduce the chance of burglary or families who need their pets looked after (in one memorable case we also got left with an 11 year old as his passport was out of date so he couldnt' go on holiday with the rest of his family!).

About five months before we wanted to go travelling I sent a letter to loads of old friends (my Christmas card list which I rarely get round to using) asking if anyone was willing to let us stay in their homes. Most replied! There's usually more house sitting opportunities than house swapping (more of that later), presumably because you don't both have to work to the exact same dates.

Beatrix Potter's house

Nicola, Pete, Lola and Nell want to travel the world with a difference. We hope to get a taste of many countries without adding to climate change (with needless emissions from aeroplanes) or having to waste hours of holiday time in airport terminals. We hope our adventures inspire you to take a Grand Tour of your neighbourhood. This post is from Nicola, Lola and Nell (pic is of Pete and Nell reading A Tale of Two Bad Mice by Potter's favourite tarn)

Nicola: Beatrix Potter was able to buy a house from the sales of her first book, Peter Rabbit. Pete and I are obscenely jealous! However visiting Hill Top Farm at Sawrey was a really good day out - we were very lucky to get in as there were mini bus loads of Japanese tourists who clearly adore the cutesy side of Potter's illustrations.

Our friend Tom Wakeford (who has recently lent us his house and camping field) is a bit miffed that everyone forgets that Beatrix Potter was an amazing biologist who made astonishing discoveries about lichens in 1896 which the scientific community refused to accept. She has of course been proved write, and Tom has a full chapter on Beatrix in his book Liaisons of Life: from hornworts to hippos how the unassuming microbe has driven evolution (John Wiley, 2001). Though it has been translated into Korean he still needs to sort out the Japanese translation. At Beatrix's old house (which she gifted to the National Trust) one of the guides told us that he was planning to learn Japanese this winter because of the number of Japanese visitors. Good for him.

Lola: "I love Beatrix Potter's books and I got given two for my birthday. I saw a photo of Beatrix Potter and she didn't look anything like she does in the film, Miss Potter. She was really ugly. All of her books (apart from Peter Rabbit) were written at Hill Top. Beatrix Potter would have had no light (electricity) and no running water. She had her desk by the window so she could get the light. It must have been really difficult -dark and cold - in the winter. We also went up to the tarn where Jeremy Fisher was created. We didn't see a frog, but me and Nell pretended to be Hunka Munka and Tom Thumb (from a Tale of Two Bad Mice) and we ran all around the rocks pretending it was our mousehole."

Nell: "Beatrix Potter was an amazing writer. One of her best books was the Tale of Samuel Whiskers which has lots of pictures of her house in it. I found the staircase, the red curtain, the fireplace, the rolling pin and that thing where you hang bowls and cups and spoons (a dish rack).

Wet camping IS fun

Nicola, Pete, Lola and Nell want to travel the world with a difference. We hope to get a taste of many countries without adding to climate change (with needless emissions from aeroplanes) or having to waste hours of holiday time in airport terminals. We hope our adventures inspire you to take a Grand Tour of your neighbourhood. This post is from Lola & Nell (currently in the dry using a wi-fi connection at the Rhegged centre in Penrith)

Lola: "Wet camping is very odd, especially if you are by a rising lake like we are (Ullswater, in the Lake District). Every night I go to sleep I worry that the tent will flood! I don't much like going to the loo in the wood because... you can use your imagination. It makes you think what it would be like to live without a permanent roof. I miss toilets, laptops, telephones and beds. Daddy misses coffee."

Nell: "I think it is fun because it is actually quite nice when you have a boat house to go into for breakfast or lunch. It's really good listening to the rain on the tent. We had a BBQ yesterday and I ate croissants stuffed with veggie sausages. We also had chocolate banana and apricots stuffed with chocolate. Mummy says that you have to have lots of treats if it's raining a lot when you camp. I miss toilets, cutlery and plates/bowls etc and a pillow."