Has Spring sprung?

White rabbits!
On the first day of Spring the weather in the South Lakes is absolutely beautiful if still a bit chilly. We could do with a few days of good weather so the community can start to feel like the season is about to start - it has been so cold and damp for the past 3 months that precious little work has been done to repair the damage caused by the floods and today's mutter in the gutter is that the Bowness Marina may not be fully open until June. Anyway, today's lovely weather has brought numerous visitors to the village and a fair few of them over the past few days have been followers of http://www.stridingedge.net/ who are always a real pleasure to meet. Yesterday's comment of the day goes to a long suffering husband who, upon his wife spending quite a bit of money, told me "We're here for the week and, no offence, but I wish we'd found your shop on the last day, not the first. I'll be seeing you soon!"
Louise

The effects of the flood start to hit home

I heard from Adam at Mr Vikki's last night. He's based at Eamont Bridge near Penrith and couldn't get insurance after the last floods in 2005. Unfortunately, he's been flooded again and now has to start up his business all over again. His range of hot pickles, relishes and jams is fantastic and he was going from strength to strength after winning a plethora of national Gold Taste awards. He and his partner, Mary, are dynamic entrepreneurs and I sincerely hope they're up and running very quickly. Here in the south of the Lakes the rainfall predicted for today is light so far and it's quite warm, around 13 degrees. Other than the Windermere Marina, where I noticed today on my journey in that they've erected portacabins whilst the offices are cleared out, the biggest casualties in our area seem to be 3 large hotels at the foot of the lake (Whitewater, The Swan and Lakeside), all of whom are predicting that it will be weeks until they're fully operational again, and the Lakeside Aquarium which only escaped last year's flood by a couple of inches. It's supposed to get colder by the end of the week and Metcheck is showing snow showers over the weekend. Whatever next? A plague of locusts? We still have plenty of visitors around and yesterday our sales were 25% up over last year. Lots of customers are reporting that low level walks are quite interesting in these conditions!
Louise

Bring me sunshine

According to the forecast we're in for another battering tomorrow but today the sun is shining and all is calm. The news from the marina is that 28 boats were sunk on Thursday and today they're clearing out the houses and offices as well as towing away the cars that were caught in the water. The local Chamber of Trade has been in touch informing us of rates rebates for businesses affected by the flood and also £5k interest free loans for emergency repairs. A notice on the Newby Bridge roundabout says that the road to Bowness is open for residents' access only!

Louise