Zoo Tales

 Saturday’s weather was a complete let down. The heat and sunshine that the weather folks had lead us to believe we were getting never materialised. I don’t know if it’s just me but you can check 3 different sources, get 3 different weather outlooks and none of them will be correct. That’s what happened Saturday when, instead of sunshine and a gentle breeze, it was grey, with a chilly wind. 

Unsure how to spend our day, we opted for a trip to Filey zoo. We hadn’t visited before, but I’d passed the sign on the way home from the Steampunk festival a few weeks back.

The zoo itself is very quaint. It’s close to Scarborough and has plenty of parking, and isn’t too pricey either. We were there by mid-afternoon.

There’s a mix of small animals. Farmyard birds, including a massive turkey. Meerkats, lemurs and little Miss’ personal favourite, an Asian Leopard Cat.

There were donkeys and wallabies and a rather brazen looking Alpaca. You can buy a bag of feed with your ticket, we did and it was lovely feeding the animals, but especially the donkey who took the feed so gently.

It remained breezy all day, so we took a break in the cafe, enjoying some sandwiches and a hot cup of coffee before making our way back outside for a wander around the gardens. It’s a small zoo, probably only an hour or so to walk around and see everything, have a brew and visit the play park, but even so it was pleasant.

Afterwards we drove towards Bridlington, which always seems further than expected. We wandered around but it was late afternoon and so, there wasn’t an abundance of things to see. We decided to grab some dinner in a fish and chip restaurant, one we’d been to before and thought was a safe bet. It most definitely wasn’t and we walked out mostly leaving the food we’d bought, hard chips and rubbery frozen fish fingers don’t really do it for us. We set off home, and while the food had been disappointing, the day itself was lovely. We vowed to take a pack up more often on our day trips! 

Sunday morning I had to nip to the locker to pick up my latest Vinted purchase. A delightfully cheap point and shoot film camera. I remember Mum taking our holiday snaps on cameras like this one in the late 80s and early 90s. It was very cheap and everything appears to be working. I’ve not run a reel of film through it yet but I’m really excited to.

With a collection of 5, invariably old cameras now, I wonder if I have a bit of a problem. I just love the imperfection and realism of film and older digital cameras that aren’t 75 megapixels with built in filters. Everything isn’t rendered perfectly and that’s what makes it so appealing. To me at least. 

The rest of the day was spent catching up on housework. A dull, but necessary endeavour. This week has been so far unremarkable. I really do hope for some brighter weather and energising adventures soon.

Tea and Cake

 Last weekend it was my Mum’s birthday. Unlike me, she’s not keen on planning things in advance and so it was a fairly late in the week decision to go to Goathland for birthday tea and cake.

Sheep roam free

Goathland is an idyllic moorland village filled with large green open spaces and roaming sheep. It was also the location for the 1960s set TV programme, Heartbeat. Goathland is Aidensfield. 

The last time I’d visited was over a year ago, and was more of a hiking adventure than the peaceful trip we enjoyed this time around.

Coats not required

The weather has been so changeable of late, and Sunday morning had been quite grey. We really didn’t know what to expect. By the time we pulled up in the grassy, sheep inhabited car park I was peeling off layers. The sun had put in an appearance and I no longer needed them. 

It wasn’t long before the chap pulled up beside me, which was fortuitous since there’s also no telephone signal at Goathland. It’s like stepping out of the 21st century which is probably why we love it. 

First stop was the Goathland tea rooms. It’s dog friendly, and we got a lovely table in their conservatory area, overlooking the pretty gardens. Here we enjoyed a simple lunch of toasties or sandwiches with soup, followed by cakes or ice-cream sundaes. It was all very delicious.

Then we perused the gift shops. Goathland is a small village, so there are only a handful of gift shops and tea rooms. A pub and a couple of hotels, a play park that little miss loves and lots of wide open grassy spaces and old brick built cottages.

Little miss did get some time at the play park, while Mum got sheep bothered by a very naughty boy lamb whilst she was sitting on a bench waiting for us. Obviously both me and the chap found that highly amusing. 

Once Little Miss had finished playing with some kids in the park, we took a slow walk back up the village to get a drink in the pub. Alas the pub closes at 4pm (reopening later) so we went to the Inn on the Moor instead. Another dog friendly place with comfortable sofa’s to sit and sip a drink on.

It was so relaxed. We all enjoyed it, and Mum said she’d had a lovely birthday. 

Saltburn and the Mandalorian

 Saltburn-on-Sea is somewhere I've heard good things about for years, but never quite managed to get to. Located further North, past Whitby and over the Moors, it's just one of those places we've often said we'd go to and then didn't get there. 

Given the nice weather at the end of my week of adventure, we thought we'd make the visit. It was a pleasant drive, scenic over the top of the Moors but once we got there parking was a nightmare. Eventually, we managed to get parked up near the town, and were excited to ride the funicular railway down to the seafront. 

Alas, it was out of service, so we took the steps instead. The seafront was pleasant with a Victorian pier that we took a lovely walk out to the middle of the sea on. It was windy, but gave a nice vantage point, and so many of our British piers have vanished into the ocean it's nice just to find one. 

Whilst there were plenty of chippy's we could have grabbed lunch from, we opted for a posh seafront restaurant, The Seaview. With a large balcony overlooking the sea, it was a prime position albeit you definitely paid a premium for the setting. 

We were on the dog friendly terrace and enjoyed our Coley and potatoes, which I totally forgot to photograph. On that note, most of the photographs from today's blog post have actually been taken by Little Miss. She's really getting a passion for photography, I might have to start charging up her own camera more often so mine doesn't keep getting nabbed. 

To be honest, the rest of Saltburn-on-Sea wasn’t exactly what I’d hoped for. There were the usual ice cream shops, chippies and beach huts. There was a traditional pub, and an interesting derelict Mortuary at the base of the hill, but not really much else. 

We headed back to the car. Even though it wasn't what we expected, I always think it's good to explore new places. You don't know if you don't go. On the way home, we stopped off at one of my favourite places, Saltmoore. It's the spa that me and the chap spent a relaxing break at back in December. It was wonderful to see it in the nice weather and we just spent a lot of time on the terrace enjoying the beautiful gardens and peaceful surroundings. Mum decided that she loves it too, it's hard not to. 

Sunday, I went down to York and after a cuppa and an iced bun at the chap's house, while getting bounced all over by beautiful Bruno, we set off to the shops to pick up a few craft supplies (we don't have HobbyCraft in Scarborough), and then had some lunch at pizza hut. Then it was time to head off to the cinema to see the Mandalorian and Grogu. 

It's a Star Wars spin off, so something we were both keen to see. It was very different to Star Wars, but still in keeping and was a lovely way to end what had been an extremely busy and fun filled week of adventure. 

By the time Monday rolled around and it was time to go back to work I was glad to be back to routine, until the next adventure at least. 

Swimming, Camping and Exploring

 The spell of good weather we'd enjoyed over the Bank Holiday weekend continued into the week, thankfully. Little Misses disappointment at not getting into the waterpark the day before was short lived, and after a lazy start to the morning we were joining the masses in the queue to get into Alpamare. Overhearing staff members talk about the unprecedented crowds of the previous day made me very grateful we hadn't been able to get tickets.

 

It was still very busy. We didn't go on the slides, but we had a wonderful time in the outside heated pools, and indoor pool with wave machine. Little Miss loved it. 

On Wednesday, I was heading off for my first ever camping trip with the chap. We had booked somewhere not too far away, near Helmsley. We met in Helmsley, stocking up on supplies for our night under canvas, including filling up the cool box at the butchers, then we set off to our camp site and set up our new tent. 

The field next to our tent

The site itself was lovely, situated next to wide open fields and very quiet in itself. We had plenty of space. 

Yorkshire Spa Retreat

We went for a long walk, and decided to take a wander to the nearby Yorkshire Spa Retreat. It's a place I've wanted to go to for a while so I was keen to take a look. Luckily for us, especially since the local pub had been closed, they had a fabulous bar and restaurant where non-guests were welcome. We had a drink, and I had a bit of a nosey at the spa itself, before taking the scenic country walk back to our tent. 

So happy with my hanging grill

We set up our fire pit and the fabulous new hanging grill I've bought to cook on it with, and then tried to light a fire. We're clearly not well practised because it took us forever, but we got there in the end, and then cooked burgers and chicken kebabs. It all tasted delicious, washed down with cans of Madri. 

Then, we just sat by our fire and listened to the peaceful sounds of the country side. As the evening went on, a change in the weather started to come in and it grew colder. Time to retire to our cosy little tent. 

The chap cooking breakfast

I slept surprisingly well and the chap cooked our breakfast on the stove the next morning. We agreed, we need a new stove before we go camping again because everytime there was a gust of wind, our stove went out. As we finished off our breakfast and washed up our plates, we heard a rumble of thunder in the distance signifying it was time to pack up our camp. 

We did get a bit rained on, but missed the worst of it thankfully. It was a fabulous experience and we can't wait to do it again, with a better stove. 

Sunset over our tent

The break in the weather didn't mark the end of half-term adventures, but you'll have to wait for the next instalment.