Having fallen head over heels in love with its undulating landscapes and cloud-cloaked hills on my last visit to the Lake District, I’ve been pining for the fjords (well, the tarns) ever since. A short weekend isn’t long enough even to scratch the surface of the exterior of the façade of what is one of the UK’s most enduring, and endearing, holiday destinations – so I leapt at the chance to pack my bags and get back on the Cumbrian trail once more.

After I’d started the day with a literary visit to Wordsworth’s Dove Cottage, the clouds were clearly keen to demonstrate that they were anything but lonely. Soon they were gathering in such numbers that the only sensible option was to wander (well, sprint) in the direction of the aromas wafting out of Sarah Nelson’s kitchen, before Wordsworth’s famous host of golden daffodils could get their obligatory watering. Sarah might be less well known than Horatio, but both Nelsons have made a sterling contribution to British history. For big H, it was the battle of Trafalgar. For Sarah, it was a little slab of gingerbread. But boy, what a gingerbread. Not many foodstuffs have been made according to the same recipe for over 150 years, but when you see the queues snaking out of the doorway of this Grasmere institution, you can see why dedicated owners Andrew and Joanne have made it their life’s work to carry on Sarah’s timeless feats of bakery.

OK, so it doesn’t take a weatherman to work out the link between Cumbria’s ever-present gangs of rain clouds and the shimmering lakes at ground level. Still, with a brisk wind blowing, I thought I spotted a sliver of blue daring to defy the meteorological stereotypes, and followed it towards the lesser-known delights of Ulverston. Away from the familiar tourist trail around Windermere, you won’t find a whole lot of so-called ‘visitor attractions’. But if you like the image of fishermen languidly dipping their rods into the water while ducklings frolic in the reeds, then you’ll find the change of pace around the southern lakes to be beyond therapeutic. So much so that I could happily have let my evening drift away by the waterside – that is, had the preening swans nearby not reminded me that it was time for a wash and brush up before dinner at the Jumble Room.

There are restaurants, and then there are places so welcoming that they make you feel like you’re sitting down for a lovingly prepared dinner in your own front room. Except you don’t have to do the dishes afterwards. For creating a restaurant as gastronomically seductive as it is heart-warmingly convivial, owners Andy and Chrissy Hill deserve an MBE. And perhaps another one for their services to stomachs. In fact, take a look around your table and you’ll see tales of the Jumble Room’s universal popularity plastered all over its walls. Postcards and appreciative letters from around the globe seem to cover every available surface – not to mention the charming words of wisdom offered by younger diners (my personal favourite has to be the following exchange, printed on the upstairs loo door. Q: How can a stranger tell if two people are married? A: You might have to guess, based on whether they’re yelling at the same kids. (Derrick, age 8)). Having run out of superlatives for the quality of the food on offer, I let slip to Andy that I was looking for a picturesque spot to watch the sun go down. Proud local lad that he is, he couldn’t risk bundling me into the back of his car and running me up to the truly incredible Loughrigg Fell (AKA Grasmere Terrace), a spot so mind-blowingly beautiful that even I was rendered speechless, just for a moment. Needless to say, it took the promise of a full Grasmere cheeseboard, coffee and dessert to coax me down from a pastoral scene so stunning that it has been etched on my memory forever.

The Lake District may be famous for its open-air activities, but it also has a remarkable number of quirky museums. And the Rolls Royce of them all has to be Keswick’s Cars of the Stars. Newsletter reader Anne took a break from her local dog-boarding business to recommend this astonishing collection of film and TV vehicles, and I soon found myself bumper to bumper with some of the most imaginative means of transportation to grace the silver screen. At Cars of the Stars, the A-Team van rubs shoulders with Del Boy’s Reliant Robin, while Chitty-Chitty-Bang-Bang, Herbie and Mr Bean’s Mini seem to gaze longingly at the real star of the show – David Hasselhoff’s talking motor, Kitt. Don’t miss it, if only to marvel at the accompanying photo, which shows the ‘Hoff’s timeless perm in full flow…

If spending time inside is off the agenda and you want to take your outdoor pursuits to new heights, there’s no better place to swing into action than Grizedale’s Go Ape! centre. I’m not sure if the trees had grown a few inches since my last visit, but the leaps of faith I took from the tallest platforms seemed to have become even more death-defying this time around. And if you feel like the whole experience has tapped into your inner ape, what better way to sate the gorilla-sized appetite you’ve worked up than by taking on the famous banoffee puddings of Lucy’s on a Plate?

And not just pies either. Crumbles, tarts, sponges, pastries: you name it. Ambleside’s most famous restaurant has a well-deserved reputation for puddings – and it’s growing as quickly as my waistline after a three-course feast at the inimitable Lucy’s on a Plate. There can’t be a whole lot of eateries that welcome their guests by name on each evening’s freshly-typed menu, and the feeling of bespoke hospitality runs through every aspect of the restaurant’s service. Word has certainly got out about Lucy’s, so it’s worth booking an early slot for dinner – if you’re lucky, you’ll avoid the crush of people vying for a table, and you might even be able to shoehorn yourself out of your seat in time for an after-dinner stroll on the shores of Lake Coniston.

As I sat watching the sun setting over the Old Man of Coniston, the prospect of returning to city life had my fingers itching. I took out my mobile phone, looked at the keypad and thought about making my first call of the trip. As any self-respecting Cumbrian will tell you, short weekends are so last year – and one more day of perfect tranquillity couldn’t hurt anyone, could it…?