Foxglove Cottage, Swinton Estate, and a Summer Birthday

A great day out with Jill who has just returned from Oz.  She has been staying in our apartment in Allambie.  So relieved that she loved her visit to Sydney.  She walked from Allambie to Manly, Mermaid Pool, Manly Dam, visited the Opera House, did some whale watching and visited the Christmas markets at the Rocks. Much more I'm sure because her energy is amazing.  

Thanks Lynn for giving her such a lovely welcome and to Lori and David for inviting her to dinner at your place... she loved meeting your guests and your generous hospitality

House swapping is such a fun thing to do. We  love her little cottage 'Foxglove' here in Middleham.  In front of us is Middleham Castle and behind us Simon Kent's stables.  We are surrounded by friendly people, abbeys, pubs, sheep and creameries!  What could be better.?

Couldn't resist adding this photo of the cottage shrouded by winter snow.

Jill took us to lunch at the fabulous Swinton Estate. Oh my goodness it was grand.  A woollen merchant built the 'home' in 17th Century on over 20,000 acres.  Through all those times it has only been owned by two families. It is now a hotel and spa and of course has this fabulous restaurant.

I am trying to find a slot in our timetable to have a relaxing spa before we set off for Sheffield and Manchester.

 

My birthday today... first summer birthday for a while. Very exciting!

 

A Decade Since Manly. Reunions, New Beginnings, and Baby Evelyn!

I can't believe it's ten years since we last met up in Manly!   Really enjoyed seeing  Andrew (Roger's second cousin) Alex and Evelyn at the Richard III pub . As you can imagine there was lots to talk about.  So much has happened - Covid,  Andrew and Evelyn living in New Zealand and moving back to UK, new houses and apartments and of course the arrival of Evelyn!

The pub of course is full of horse memorabilia. The chef at the pub has great reviews but on this day had had an accident and broken her hand!  Still a great meal and catch up!

Roger even managed to snatch an hour's reading!

A Dales Walk with a Dash of History

Our plans for walking on this trip had been thoroughly thwarted by the intense French fires, but the Yorkshire Dales finally gave us our chance. We set off for a short walk around Jervaulx Abbey, and just as we parked the car, we bumped into Ian Burdon - the current owner of the abbey and its surrounding 350 acres of land.

We stopped for a chat… because of course we did!

His father, Major W. V. Burdon, bought the abbey and land back in 1971. When the Major died in 1980, the estate was inherited by his eldest son, Rae. But really, who wants to inherit a crumbling 12th-century Cistercian abbey ruin? Rae certainly didn't. Luckily, Ian did. He bought out his brother and has spent the decades since managing and preserving the site.

Bravo, Ian!

With the abbey’s history fresh in our minds, we set off on our six-mile walk, wandering past sleepy sheep, ancient stone bridges, a fair few stiles, and sweeping farmer's fields. A bloody brilliant day.

A Perfect Visit (And More to Come!)

Our next catch up is with our lovely friends Anna and Ben and their family. We first met up on a boat in Galapogos in 2010.  At the end of our trip around South America we met up with them again in Hutton Rugby. Libby was born in UK and then they moved to Melbourne for a few years where Clara was born before moving back to Hutton Rugby. We love staying with them as they always have a packed itinery for us to enjoy.  This time is no different!i

The 'Shot House' is looking as magnificent as ever and we settled right back into our old room! A BBQ on the terrace set the mood before we spun down the A1 to the Middlesbrough Folk Prom. 

Headliners Rachel and Becky Unthank brought back so many memories of singing with my brother in Sheffield folk clubs, when I was a teenager. They brought the house down when they started clog dancing! I know it doesn't sound cool but it was incredible. 

Ellie Slorach conducted the Royal Northern Sinfonia with so much energy, supporting every act brilliantly, including indie art-rockers English Teacher. Having Radiohead's Philip Selway on drums was such fun! Oh and I loved how the soloist wore the BeanZ orange dress!

A massive thank you to Anna and Ben for pulling out all the stops as always. 

Of course we managed to squeeze in a walk along the River Leven and a visit to Grace Priory before Clara headed off to rehearse for her concert that night, Libby to prepare for her big netball game in London tomorrow (her team were National Netball Champions last year) and we headed back to Middleham to get ready for Andrew, Alex and Evelyn's visit tomorrow!

Gallops to Gossip: A Day in Ripon

Exploring the horse racing history around Middleham made for a fantastic start to the day before our trip to the beautiful town of Ripon. Roger's brother Mike and his wife Jane live there in a lovely bungalow complete with wildflower garden. Our niece Becca joined us after work   bringing along her trademark quirky humour and unique perspective on life... we absolutely loved it!

Everything is looking a little brown right now with the dry summer weather and ferocious fires across Scotland and Europe, but we still managed to catch a few pretty flowers on camera. The hedgerows look amazing!

 

Castles, Cheese, and 'Super-Sheep'

We had planned explore the countryside surrounding Trausse where there are lots of famous walking tracks and historical buildings but because of the raging wild fires (which are still burning) access to the forests was banned.

Here in England with the cooler weather we grab the opportunity to walk.  Of course most of the castles and churches here are in ruins due to age, the vikings, the hundred years war or the rampaging Henry VIII. 

About 3 miles southeast of Middleham is the amazing Jervaulx Abbey. It was one of the great Cistercian abbeys in Yorkshire. It was dedicated to St Mary in 1156. It's the only privately owned abbeys in England... but more of that story in a later post.

At the height of its prosperity the abbey owned half of the valley and was renowned for breeding horses, still a Middleham tradition. It was also the original home of the famous Wensleydale cheese which was originally made with ewes' milk. 

We haven't had time to visit Wallace and Gromit (Cheese! Gromit!) yet but we did get to explore the abbey. We go early to all of these places before the crowds come - although to be fair Europe is VERY quiet.  In France it was the heat, fires and threat of war.  I'm not quite sure here.  Maybe the school holidays aren't in full swing yet.

It was incredible to sit in the midst of this huge abbey listening to the baaing of Swaledale sheep.  The first thing you’ll notice about these sheep (usually while they are standing in the middle of a road refusing to move) is the face. It's jet black, but famously broken up by white 'spectacles'  around the eyes and a white muzzle. Their heads look exeptionally large as they have just been shorn. 

They are remarkably nimble. You’ll often find them balanced on limestone pavements or tucked into 'bields' (natural stone shelters) under crags during a blizzard. While other sheep are busy dying in the first frost, the Swaledale is busy digging through six inches of snow to find a fresh patch of heather.

Farmers take the hardy Swaledale ewe from the hill and cross her with a Bluefaced Leicester ram. The result is the Mule - a hybrid "super-sheep" that combines the mother’s toughness and 'will to live' with the father’s ability to produce multiple lambs and better quality wool.

Enough of sheep and back to the abbey...

I'm always amazed by how many stories there are and how they survive. There's a long complicated tale about how in 1279 Abbot Philip of Jervaulx was murdered by one of his monks. His successor, Abbot Thomas, was initially accused of the crime, but a jury determined that he was not to blame, and another monk fled. 

After the abbey we have a serious task to undertake... visitors are coming and its our task to check out the local eating places.  First stop the Richard III - an historic 16th century coaching inn in the centre of Middleham.  A great place to watch the horses go by - oh and to catch a few minutes of internet connection.

 

Ey Up! We're in Yorkshire!

After all the kerfuffle with the car hire people, we arrived in Middleham at 9.00pm on a Sunday night! Very quiet!  Lovely village and Foxglove Cottage (1st picture on left) is just gorgeous.  Boy oh boy those flights of stairs up to the top floor are going to keep us fit.

Managed to find an Indian Restaurant open in nearby Leyburn.  Delicious authentic Indian food Another beautiful village. Every village is different and has a claim to fame. Here it is that the castle that the house faces onto belonged to Richard111.  More on that later... 

Oh and don't panic everyone, I haven't fallen over, I'm a slow blogger because of lack of internet.... finish this soon!

My mother's village Dore, was famous in Anglo-Saxon history as the site where King Egbert of Wessex was accepted as overlord by the Northumbrians in 827 AD.  In effect the first 'English" king. Just as in this village we were woken each morning by the sound of horses hooves on the cobblestones. Here though the hooves are those of thoroughbreds. There are around 500 inhabitants of the village and over 600 horses!

In front of us are the castle walls and behind us the stables of Simon Kent where race champions are trained.  Olivia and Simon are firends of Jill and like everyone else in the village give us a cheery good morning and offers of help.