Round The Sun

 Last week I celebrated my birthday, for pretty much half a week. I certainly like to mark an occasion!

Marking my birthday with my favourite cake, Black Forest Gateau

The day before my birthday I was in the office. There weren’t many people in so I mostly ended up eating the tub of chocolates I brought with me, to myself! The weather was still divine, so I took a lunchtime walk, and noticed some new graffiti on the streets of York. 

In the doorway boy…………

After work I met the chap, who treated me to a very indulgent birthday meal at The Ivy. While we waited for our (delicious) Chicken supremes to arrive I was allowed to open my gifts a day early, and was wowed by a stash of Tank Girl merch, including a collection of 3 books that include every edition of Tank Girl, ever.

I adored the Tank Girl graphic novels (or comics as I used to call them) in the 90s, and loved the film with Lori Petty too. The chap frequently has to listen to me complain that I never come across them anywhere, and so hunted down the entire collection. I’ll have to find something new to complain about now!

Anyway, my birthday meal at the Ivy was absolutely lovely. We both had the chicken, which tasted beautiful and then I was surprised with a birthday brownie with a candle in. What a great way to start my celebrations.

Friday, my actual birthday, I had the day off work. After dropping little Miss at school I went to get my nails done and spent a leisurely morning in town, drinking coffee, reading and pottering around. It’s how I like to think I’d spend my life if I didn’t work; reading, planning, crafting and drinking coffee, but even those things need money to do so, I’m not sure how I’d fund them if I didn’t work. Maybe I’ll win the lottery!

I was spoiled with more gifts, slippers and a new tea mug from Little Miss, makeup bag and notebook from Mum and chocolates from the chaps sister.

The rest of the day was spent pleasantly meandering, but during the evening Mum was treating me to dinner at The Piebald Inn. Located in the nearby village of Hunmanby, this lovely country pub has 52 pies on its menu, every day! I haven’t been in years, but I do love a pie so I had booked this a few weeks back.

Birthday hugs 

It’s probably one of the most dog friendly pub restaurants I know and the dog owners area is a lovely comfortable part of the pub. Every table around us had a four legged friend. While we enjoyed our game pie (me), corned beef hash pie (mum) and the most perfect chicken goujons I’ve ever seen (little Miss doesn’t do pies), Thelma enjoyed her own doggie special, steak and vegetable pie. The portions were massive on all counts and we were all full at the end of it, although little Miss did manage to squeeze in a portion of ice cream while we had our coffees and Thelma still kept up her hopes that there’d be some leftovers to supplement the giant piece of pie she’d just inhaled!

Poochie Pie

Yum!!!

Saturday was lovely and sunny again, and we had plans to go to nearby stately home Burton Agnes Hall. I can’t recall the last time I visited it, but I did remember it to be rather pleasant.

It is! There was a craft fair in the grounds where I was able to buy some Damson port, and local honey. Then we decided to get some lunch. Unfortunately the one let down of the day was the onsite cafe, the only thing left on the menu was pizza and there was a 1 hour wait for those! We ended up having coffee and cake for lunch, not great! 

The sun seemed to get stronger as the afternoon progressed, and once little Miss got two balloon dogs, we had a wander around the grounds, all of us finding it very difficult to leave the amazing greenhouse. 

Inside the hall itself is very historical with a panel above the fireplace dating from the Elizabethan era. The rooms are grand with a Queen’s and a King’s bedroom, as well as the magnificent Chinese room with its wall to wall Chinese artwork.

Detail on the Chinese room frescoes

Macabre carvings above the dining room fireplace 

Kings bedroom

Queen’s bedroom

There were enviable library and study rooms, grand creaky staircases and expansive windows letting in vast amounts of Autumn sunshine. It was perfection being both grand and welcoming all at once.

Mirror selfie in the Chinese room

Back outside we perused the last few craft stalls, and Mum treated me to another birthday gift, a fabulous candle lantern that I’d fallen in love with. I think it looks a little spooky, Victorian perhaps, and I love that.

My spooky lantern in-situ

Then we visited the unusually friendly fish in the outdoor pond. I don’t know if it was feeding time perhaps, but they spotted us and came swimming over from the opposite side to pop their heads out and say hello.

The pond, and rest of the grounds were as enchanting as the house, but soon it was time to leave and head for home. It had been a marvellous three days of celebrating my birthday and, not that I need reminding, but nonetheless it did remind me just how blessed I am.

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