I was going to start the blog with a food review. How hard, I asked myself, can it be to review fish and chips? Well, harder than I thought, as it turns out. As the piece began to approach the length of a short story I decided to try something shorter. It’s still a food blog but it’s a shorter one.

As part of our visit to the Lake District last week we went round Kendal Farmers’ Market and the market hall. There was a good variety of stuff on offer, including collectables and second-hand books – two of my favourite things. There was also a good display of mint cake. That’s another of my favourite things – with an ingredients list featuring just four things – two sorts of sugar, water and mint how could it be anything else?

No artificial additives, loads of sugar and a feeling of virtue as you follow in the footsteps of Hillary and Shackleton, can it get any better?

Actually, it could, because we also went round the K Shoe Heritage Centre in the K Village. As a retail outlet the “village” is a bit of a disappointment, with a lot of empty shops, but that’s just a sign of the times. The Heritage Centre, on the other hand, is one of the best museum displays I’ve ever been round and really brought the company and staff to life. Highly recommended: it needn’t take a lot of time if you’re in a rush and it’s free.

.