Settle, Wensleydale and beyond – 2 April 2010

We made our way up from Settle to North Yorkshire, the temperature was extremely cold, and it was easy to visualise how bitter the winters must be up here. Fresh snow was on the tops of many of the moors.

Settle is another attractive village, and we did a short side trip to the Scalebar Force waterfall. North of here is the lovely town of Hawes, and after developing a taste for Wensleydale cheese, we had to visit the Wensleydale Creamery. This has almost closed twice, but thanks to Wallace and Gromit, it is now a very well known and popular cheese. The factory tour lets you see the cheese making process, and taste the various flavours they make.

The day had become bleaker and even colder, so when we visited Bolton Castle, it was easy to feel sorry for Mary Queen of Scots, who was imprisoned here. Although, as she had 51 attendants, they must have been able to make her somewhat comfortable.

The last stop of the day was rather more appealing and comfortable, Kiplin Hall was built in 1620, and added to over the years. The big contrasts of this lovely country house were the very liveable library downstairs, while upstairs one of the converted officer's flats was left untouched after its conversion by the army during World War II. The first room, made you want to live there (especially on such a miserable indoor day), the second was so run-down and awful, it was hard to believe they shared the same roof.

Yorkshire Moors – 1 April 2010

We saw the moors in sunshine, hail and snow. All weather conditions (except rain) seemed to take turns in the morning. Leaving Harrogate for Otley, we enjoyed a great drive to Haworth, passing through various towns of interest. Haworth is the town the Bronte sisters grew up in, and is a real delight to visit. From here, we drove west over the Keighley Moor, where overnight snow still covered the higher ground.

North from here is the very attractive town of Skipton. From here we drove via Bolton Abbey and Linton to the final stop of the day – Malham. This is a great place for walking. We did the easy walk to Malham Cove, a natural limestone amphitheatre. Originally the waterfall must have been quite stunning, but now the water disappears underground before it reaches the cliffs.

A walk up to the top of the cliffs, leads to the limestone pavements. These deeply fissured rocks were also made by water, and gives a great view over the Malham area.

Harrogate - 31 March 2010

In Victorian times, Harrogate was a popular spa town, ideally situated half way to Scotland. Just the place to stop off on the way to shooting holiday.

The town is full of grand stone hotels and former mineral spas. The tourist office has a 'Heritage Spa Trail' leaflet, which goes past many of the hotels, and the spas, most of which are now used for other purposes.

Daffodil Day – 28 March 2010

So far this spring, we have not seen many daffodils, as the cold winter has made the spring flowers very late to bloom. As there was an MG meeting in Abingdon this morning, it was a great chance to see how spring was progressing in Oxfordshire.

Abingdon is an attractive village, with several churches, a market hall, and of course its main feature is that it is built on the banks of the Thames.

After the meeting, we drove to Blenheim Palace, which is nearby. The daffodils at Blenheim are coming out, and although they are looking wonderful, another week will have them looking absolutely stunning. Everything at Blenheim is almost larger than life, so we weren't disappointed at the large areas of daffodils. Even the private Italian gardens have an edging of daffodils around the formal box hedges.

Head of the River Race – 27 March 2010

The annual Head of the River Race on the Thames, is the largest continuous rowing event in the world. The length of the race is 6.8k, from Mortlake to Putney bridge, with the 400 boats in today's race, starting at 10 second intervals.


We started the day in Hammersmith and walked 2 miles to Fulham Palace, which is by the finish line. After enjoying the wind sculptures in the garden, and a delicious lunch, we waited on Putney bridge for the first boats to appear. Number 1,had lead all the way and was first past the finish line and then under the bridge, but at that stage we had no idea which of the 400 boats would actually be the winner.

There was still plenty of time to walk back along the Thames, enjoying watching the eights row past us, and we then watched the last hundred boats go past from the midpoint of Hammersmith bridge.

Spring is starting to spring 21 March 2010

Today was a much nicer day than the damp day we had yesterday, and we enjoyed the MG spring Naviscat in Sussex. After an enjoyable pub lunch at the conclusion of the day, we returned home via 'High Beeches' gardens. Here the spring flowers were starting to emerge together.

Because winter was so severe (worst in 30 years), they were predicting a late spring, with all the flowers appearing together. This was certainly the case here. Snowdrops were still around with daffodils just starting to open, and some rhododendrons in full flower.

So, with this profusion of spring colour, it was very pleasant wandering around their sheltered steep sided valley in the sunshine.

We went to London to visit ... 20 March 2010

The Queen opened her Gallery and Mews to the public this weekend, and we decided it was time for a visit. The Mews is still a working stables, and the tour visited the horses and coaches, which are still used for state occasions. In fact there seems to be a carriage for any occasion. We saw the coaches traditionally used to take Royal brides on their wedding day, the Queen to the state opening of parliament, to be used for the Trouping the Colour, the one used for transporting the crown jewels, and most impressive of all the 4 tonne golden State Coach. It is truly opulent, and was last used in 2002, when we with half of London lined the Mall for the Queen's Jubilee.

The Queen's Gallery is a purpose built art gallery, and this year the exhibition was of the art works of Victoria and Albert. With the help of a very informative audio guide, we found the exhibition really fascinating. We were reminded of the many tourists we have helped to record their holidays, by taking photos for them in front of xyz-must-visit-tourist-spot. Victoria and Albert seemed to enjoy putting a portrait (or model) of themselves, their children or pets on many works of art and pieces of furniture. Working with a relatively small annual budget of £2000, Victoria enjoyed adding to her collection, and it is now an interesting history of their tastes. Unfortunately no photos were permitted.