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.

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.