Guisborough

 When we set off for Northumberland earlier this year I decided that, rather than endure paltry sandwiches at a random services, we’d stop off at the town of Guisborough for coffee and cake en route to compliment the fresh sandwiches I’d packed for the journey. We weren’t there long that day, but we were there long enough to decided it warranted a return visit. 

Thelma enjoying the sunshine at Guisborough priory

With good weather forecast last Saturday I decided we’d take a drive up there. It’s just over an hour away from here at the top of the Moors near Rosebury Topping (isn’t that the best name for a hill? It always makes me think of dessert). What I hadn’t realised until I ran a quick google search was that Guisborough is also home to a 12th century Franciscan priory ruin. So we decided to pay that a visit too. 

Odd socks cafe and laundrette

St. Nicholas Church next to the priory

We parked up at the little car park near the priory, and given we arrived at lunchtime we popped straight into a very inviting looking cafe, Odd Socks. It’s actually half laundrette (a rather posh laundrette) and half incredibly popular cafe. It’s dog friendly, welcoming and has a lovely vibe so its popularity is no surprise. We were lucky to get a table.

Love this chandelier 

Lots of yummy treats on offer

I had a delicious sweet potato, carrot and chilli soup which was very comforting. Then we popped across the road to check out the priory.

It was beautiful. It wasn’t particularly grand like some of the other ruins around Yorkshire, but the wide open spaces and fields behind set against the beautiful blue sky had a meditative quality that’s not always there in some of the larger and busier sites.

There was a peaceful woodland garden to wander through, littered with ancient stones from the priory itself and little paths that lead off in curious directions.

Then, there were the beautiful flower gardens where people were picking their own bouquets. We hadn’t booked to do that, but I promised little Miss we would try to do it next summer.

She was happy to find a discarded damask rose on the ground, which she carried with her for the remainder of the day. Truthfully, I’d have loved to pick some flowers but I also wanted to see the town and, not having known about the flower picking we hadn’t left enough time to do both.

It was a short walk from the Priory to the high street and our first stop was a charity shop that must have had about 50 vintage cameras priced from £10 upwards. It took me all of my effort not to succumb. You know how much I love a dodgy old camera, but I think I’ve got a decent selection now and I think if I do buy another one it will be less old and less dodgy. It was heaven for someone like me though. The next charity shop had a great vintage section and even included items from Dior and McQueen. Most of the things I liked were quite small, so I was able to hold onto my pennies again.

We wandered the high street which has multiple coffee shops, pubs, a really well stocked health shop, chemists and so on and, honestly, for such a small town it’s a really nice place. I don’t think it will be our last visit. The last charity shop of the day was a biggie. Little Miss found a couple of DVDs she wanted, while I picked up a fabulous little earring carousel for my dressing table and a new necklace.

The earring carousel saves me from wearing the same earrings day in, day out because I can see them all in one place now.

We finished up our day in a gorgeous bar, housed in the historical town hall, Fico is another popular spot. A kind of deli wine bar, dog and child friendly and Little Miss was thrilled by the scale Lego model of the building we were sitting in and the fact they served Gelato too. What could be a better end to the day? 

The town hall, home to Fico

Ten Miles Around Millington

 Millington is a quaint village in the Yorkshire Wolds Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty (AONB). A few months back I volunteered to take part in a 10 mile walk there, organised by work to raise money for Guide Dogs. I used to do a lot of hiking, although I’m terribly out of practice now, as my legs testified to after the walk.

Last Friday it was time to do the walk. I met a group of colleagues bright and early and we were lead out on the circular walk by guides from Yorkie Talkies.

There was a certain joy in not logging on to sit at my desk on a Friday morning and instead spending the day walking and getting to know people I work with better. There were hills, and it was demanding but the views were worth it.

There’s not really a lot to write about a hike other than how restorative it can feel just being out in nature, walking.

It took around 4 hours, then we finished up in the cafe with tea and cake. I can’t lie, I was aching that night and so stiff, but what a joyful experience it was.

The Inbetween bits

Little miss has been back at school over a week now, and the rhythm of Autumn, the return to routine, cooler evenings and rain showers (who would ever think we'd be glad to see the return of the rain?) are well and truly setting in. The last blog post brought us up to around mid-August though, and there were still a few weeks between then and now to fill with adventures. Let me give you a whistlestop tour. 

I'd booked train tickets to Leeds waaaaay back in June, adamant that if I didn't book them then we wouldn't get there. Typically, I'd managed to book the only day of the summer holidays where it rained pretty much continuously. All wasn't lost, we didn't make it to the Cathedral as we'd originally planned, but we were able to stay mostly dry in the large shopping centres. 

I didn't get to see that much if I'm honest, Leeds is quite big and once you get into a shop it seems to steal all of your time. I did manage to pick up the chap's present for his forthcoming birthday in his favourite place, the Lego shop, though. We perused a few shops and then had pizza in Cafe Concerto before heading for the train home. 

Keeping with the theme of trains, a few days later we took a trip from Pickering to Whitby on the North Yorkshire Moors Railway. We have been on it before, once many years ago just between Whitby and Grosmont and then a couple of years back on the Santa Express. This time though we decided to do the full journey and it really is amazing. 

The Moors is such a stunning and wild landscape and the train goes through parts that seem untouched by human hands. Some of the stations had signs up to beware the Adders (the UK's only native venomous snake) if you were leaving the station since the uncharacteristic heat meant there'd been a boom in the Adder population. 

It was relaxing, and harked back to a time of steam trains when a journey was a joyful experience. We had a few hours to spend in Whitby. I had thought the weather was going to be cooler, and was thrilled to take my new All About Audrey green velvet dress out for a trip, unfortunately I misjudged the weather and was boiling in my skin soon after we got off the train. 

Nonetheless, we enjoyed a wander around a very bustling Whitby, and bought fish and chips from the Magpie to eat near the harbour. We didn't have too long there though before it was time for our slow journey back through the moors. That didn't matter too much. We spend a lot of time in Whitby in this day was more about the journey than the destination. 

Next up on the adventure list was date night with the chap. We'd spotted that one of the Indian restaurants in York had won an award in the national curry awards, and thought it well worth a try. Well, the Bombay spice was delicious, I'm pleased to report. 

It was also bustling, so I can understand why it has won awards, but honestly the food was delectable. I can't remember what I had, but I do remember thoroughly enjoying it. Needless to say, as always, we overindulged. We're both very foody people in case you haven't noticed. 

Afterwards we walked across town to the Dubliner, which was also bustling. There was live music, and we had an absolute blast of a time. It was one of those nights that was so good that we barely took any photographs. I always feel regretful when I don't take enough photos, but it is also a sign of an excellent night out, so what can you do other than to vow to take more photos next time.

Sunset from Lendal bridge

Of course, we ended the summer holidays in our traditional way with a day on the seafront. In the arcades, at the fair, eating ice cream and burgers and being tourists in our own town. After all of that excitement, it's little wonder that I was tired by the end of it all. 

Ministry of Sound Classical at Castle Howard

 

A couple of weeks after we were back from Northumberland, the chap and I were off to a one day dance festival at Castle Howard. This is something we like to try to do each year, the difference this year was we had also booked a pitch at the Castle Howard camp site, a couple of miles country walk away from the event. 

We arrived mid-afternoon, I poured the rum and colas and left the chap to pitching the tent. It's only a small one so it didn't take long. We were surrounded by envy inducing campervans, and just as I was about to depart for the toilet block to get ready we heard a holler from one of them. It was someone who the chap knows (this happens a lot when we're out and about), so I left him with them while I went off to get ready. He was still there when I got back, so we stayed and had another rum and cola before setting off for the gig. 

It wasn't too long a walk, and before long we were in the packed out venue. We decided to make food our first stop, before the queues for it got too big. That was a good shout since, later on, we queued for about 45 minutes for a coffee! Such is the caffeine dependency. 

There were stalls selling event appropriate things, I got a glitter bomb on my face and the chap bought himself a faux fur bucket hat. We danced around to Ellie Sax, and Judge Jools and screamed loudly when some iconic tune that I'd danced to in nightclubs in the early 2000s came on. 

My legs aren’t really that white!

Around 8pm, the dj's all left the stage and an orchestra came on. They were tremendous doing absolutely breathtaking versions of tunes like Insomnia (Faithless), and Cafe Del Mar. As night fell, a laser light show joined the performance and, honestly, it was stunning! 

At the end we joined a convoy of drunk people walking back to the campsite along the dark country roads. Everyone was in good spirits as we all lit the way with torches and mobile phones, warning those behind us of steps or trip hazards. The highlight of course being two drunk women falling into the swamp at the side of the road. Thankfully the drought weather meant that the swamp was dry so no one was hurt, and everyone was in good humor. 

That night, the weather broke. As we lay in our tent the rain pelted our tent and the temperature even dropped a little. I was glad of that. The next morning, we packed away our pitch in between rain showers, and drove back to Castle Howard to enjoy a delicious breakfast in their courtyard cafe. It was the perfect end to an amazing weekend.