Monday, 26 June 2023

Exploring :: A Weekend in Yorkshire … Thornton-le-Dale

Hi there everyone 😀

The second full day of our long weekend in Yorkshire, spending time with old friends, was another glorious day and we were meeting up in Thonton-le-Dale. 

We decided not to have breakfast at The Premier Inn, but to head out a bit earlier and grab a sausage roll or something to see us through till lunchtime. 

Whilst we’d been to Thornton-le-Dale before it had only been a flying visit and we were looking forward to having a nice relaxing day exploring a bit more. 

From the minute we arrived it was destined to be a lovely day. We parked in the main car park, which must have been an old walled garden at some point and, for a car park, it was just lovely and we spent a while just soaking up the sun and enjoying the herbaceous border running along the top end of the car park …
From here it was a very short stroll through the woods, past the duck pond and over the bridge across the beck to take us right into the heart of the village, which was buzzing with activity …
We found ourselves a little sandwich shop and grabbed sausage rolls, which we took back to the car park to sit and eat in the sunshine, whilst waiting for the rest of ‘the gang’ to arrive. 

We didn’t have long to wait and we were soon back in the village centre having a mooch about … stopping for a chat with the ice cream man, who I’d already acquainted in the sandwich shop … I had thought he was dressed a little oddly …
As we were already ‘friends’ he was more than happy to let us make the most of the photo opportunity, which, after a little hesitation, we just could not resist …
After a very nice chat and promising to come back for ice creams later we continued our wander. We were heading for Mathewsons Auctions … home of ‘Bangers and Cash’ … a favourite TV programme of Jude and Rob. We all had a good mooch in the gift shop and had just all congregated outside to move in when there was a squeal of glee from Jude as she’d spotted Derek … star of the show. They were straight back in for selfies and a chat and came out grinning from ear to ear 😂😂😂
After all the excitement it was time for a bit of a breather and we managed to find a table in the courtyard at Baldersons where we enjoyed a quick refreshment stop. 

After a good mooch round the shop we continued heading along the road, passing the almshouses, where the selfie stick made another appearance …
We were heading for Beck Isle Cottage, a chocolate box thatched cottage which is one of the most photographed spots you will find. It is lovely and we were lucky to be able to not have to wait too long to be able to grab some photos with no one else around …
Our walk took us past the cottage …
… along Thornton Beck and across the footbridge …
… where we headed left and up the hill then left again until we ended up back on the Main Street. We headed back past the almshouses …
… and into The Buck Inn, where we found a lovely spot in the garden for lunch …
After lunch there was just one thing left to do …
… before we all headed off for a bit of downtime before meeting back up again later at Jude and Rob’s van for another evening of chat and a supper of all kinds of ‘picky bits’. 

Before we knew it it was time to say our good byes for this year and for us to head back to The Premier Inn for bed. 

We’d had another super weekend … been so lucky again with the weather and spent some lovely relaxing time together. 

Next year you will find us in North Wales in the Llyn Peninsular and there are no prizes for guessing where we will be staying 😜

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Sunday, 18 June 2023

Exploring :: A Weekend in Yorkshire … Goathland

Hi there everyone 😀

Following our visit to Nostell Priory we continued our journey to Pickering and were soon checked in to our room at The Premier Inn just outside of town … where we had a couple of hours to unpack and chill out before meeting up with everyone in The White Swan for dinner. 

We had a very nice meal and made plans for the first full day of our break. Our original plan had been to have a trip on the steam railway but the cost put us off a bit and, in any case, all of the trains running were diesel … as a result of potential fire risk along the track. Plan B was to catch The Coastliner bus to Goathland … which would take a scenic tour across the moors and only cost us £2 a head.  Our friends were catching it from Pickering and we had a bus stop just outside The Premier Inn … which was very handy. 

We weren’t having too early a start so we opted to have the ‘all you could eat’ Premier Inn breakfast before heading for the bus stop in plenty of time …
It was a glorious morning and the view from the bus stop wasn’t too bad either …
Our bus was due at 11.38 and I downloaded the app to track its progress so I knew how long we had to wait … only to find it was running over half an hour late. After much deliberation Plan C was brought into play. Let’s go back and get the cars and … we’ll see you in Goathland 🙈

Eventually Plan C had us in Goathland, where a scarecrow festival was in play …
We’d managed to have a good wander round the village shops before we finally saw the bus arrive …
The plan then was to have a wander to Beck Hole for a pit stop in the very quirky Birch Hall Inn. Whilst Martin and I were looking forward to the walk … it was a mile each way … 
… we are far less fit than our compatriots and our hearts sank a bit when we saw the name of the trail …
We were not deterred and decided to give it a go. It was a lovely looking walk, it was a beautiful day and it looked like a gentle downhill slope …
We were about half way when we decided that actually … a mile downhill on crutches in pretty warm sunshine is actually a fair old walk … add to that the fact it would be uphill all the way back made us decide that we’d turn back and take the car to the pub … and that is what we did …
It actually took us less time than we’d expected and we were soon sat in the sunshine enjoying a cold drink and a sandwich … with this as our view …
It really was a lovely spot and we couldn’t resist the first of our catch up selfies on the bridge …
… and a quick photo with Rupert …
We took the car back … with one additional passenger … and went to have a quick look at the steam railway station …
… before meeting back up with the walkers. 

It was then back to The Premier Inn for us for a quick siesta and freshen up before heading to the van for a BBQ in the sunshine … 
We ate, drank and chatted the evening away ending with plans to meet the following morning in Thornton-le-Dale for another day of mooching about in the sunshine and a nice lunch 😀

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Monday, 12 June 2023

Exploring :: Nostell Priory

Hi there everyone 😀

Last weekend was our 13th annual get together with my old work friends and their partners … Jude and Rob and Phil and Sue. This time we were heading for Pickering in Yorkshire for three nights … with plans for a bit of exploring, a bit of mooching about and plenty of time catching up and just chilling out.

We were staying just outside of Pickering in a Premier Inn, Jude and Rob at their touring caravan and Phil and Sue in a local B&B.

As has become a bit of a tradition we opted for calling in at a National Trust property on the way and this time we stopped off at Nostell Priory. It’s somewhere neither of us have been before and it wasn’t much of a detour from our overall journey at all …
The car park attendant took pity on us when we explained Martin was walking with crutches and let us park in the disabled parking area, which saved us the walk from the car park. We had also booked a mobility scooter so that we could have a good explore of the gardens and some of the parkland.

After picking up Martin’s transport for the afternoon … and completing the accompanying Health and Safety briefing we were off … and started by exploring the kitchen garden behind the old stables …
To be fair we were just a little bit early to see the herbaceous borders at their best but there was still plenty of colour to be had …
The grass in the orchard had been left mainly uncut with just mown paths for exploring and there were plenty of wildflowers to be seen …
From the kitchen garden we meandered alongside the lake …
… and through the pleasure grounds …
We then made our way back up, through the stables and to the front of the house, where Martin parked up so we could go in and explore …
Whilst it is a big house and there is plenty to see inside … we were far more enamoured with the gardens … though that is often the case for us.

We finished our visit with an ice cream in the sunshine …
… before continuing our journey to Pickering and our home for the next three nights …

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