Mention Christmas shopping to many people and the reaction will be anything but festive…

All too often, Yuletide shopping trips can be a stress-inducing scrums, where the battle with your fellow shoppers begins in the car park and lasts all the way to the till.

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This year Soph and I made two Christmas vows. One; that we would get all our presents bought at least a week before Christmas (I can already tell you we failed on that) and two; that we would try and make Christmas shopping fun.

Thanks to a combination of buses and some really lovely Lake District Christmas Markets I am glad to say that we fulfilled our second vow.
Hawkshead and Keswick both have Christmas Markets in December and both towns are really easy to get to on the bus. So easy in fact that we decided to have a present-buying Blitz by heading to both in the same weekend.

First up was Hawkshead. The Coniston Rambler (505) takes a beautiful route through the heart of the Lakes from Kendal to Hawkshead and dropped us right in the middle of the village.

Hawkshead Christmas Market is particularly lovely because all the little alleys and side streets are filled with different stalls selling foods and crafts, so the whole village becomes a bit like a festive theme park.

As well as stalls selling lots of beautiful local produce and street food, there was plenty of entertainment too from carollers, brass bands, folk duos and performing artists.

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The only downside was that, although we bought plenty of presents, we have now eaten most of them ourselves!

With still more presents to buy – my brothers and sisters just keep producing more and more nieces and nephews! – we set off for Keswick the next day on the 555 bus.

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The 555 takes a route directly through the middle of the Lakes, passing through some of its most picturesque villages and finally leading to Keswick. As we passed over Dunmail Raise, near Grasmere, there was even a dusting of snow on the fell tops to give things that little bit of festive authenticity.
In Keswick the Christmas Markets were buzzing with crowds enjoying everything bratwurst to brioche. (We did our best not to eat the presents this time, but I am sorry to say we still weren’t entirely successful.)

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The market was so good that even Santa himself had turned up. At this point we have to hold our hands up. Yes, we try and travel as sustainably as we can, but even we can’t fly from Lapland to Keswick fuelled only by carrots, mince pies and sherry. When it comes to sustainable travel Santa, you are the king!

Remember you can find out all the information you need for car free adventures in The Lakes at http://www.golakestravel.co.uk
(DISCLAIMER: Does not include information on reindeer-powered travel.)

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