HEADING NORTH

Friday saw us leave Leeds and take the road to Northumberland, where we made for a very nice little village called Longframlington.  Now what this village has is a quilt shop called STITCHIN HEAVEN.  The owners Anne and Mick made us welcome and then I met Lucie,  from Lucie the Happy Quilter.  Meeting her was great and we had a little chat, but as she was working, we left and went on to Jedburgh to meet another blogging friend Anne, from Frayed at the Edge.  I think she was quite surprised to see us.  Had a cup of tea, whilst we talked and then let her get on her way, as her hubby was getting the meal that night and she didn't want to be late.  What a wonderful day I had.
Of course going to Quilt Shops meant that I did buy some fabric!!!!!!!!!!!!!  Will take a photo later, when I have some good light.

Anne and I.

Saturday we met my niece, her husband and 2 small children.  We spent the day exploring the Beamish Open Air Museum, which is  a living history museum of the north of England. It was very overcast and drizzly, but there is so much to see and do, that I'm sure you could take a few days.  We saw how coal miners worked, went on a very ancient type of steam train, saw how dentists were in the late 1800's where you paid for morphine and laughing gas before you had the treatment in case you died whilst in the chair.  The instruments looked "ghastly".  There were all sorts of old fashioned shops, houses, farm workers cottages and lots we didn't see. 

29th September.
So sorry I've not posted lately, but I have no proper internet access where we are staying now and am madly doing this at MacDonalds.  I may not get a chance to update till we get home and I'd had the first part of this post as a draft. (Photos take so long to load that I'm just writing instead).  We've had wonderful times so far, but leave on Tuesday 7/10 and this week, we seem to be doing a lot of catching for farewell outings with family and friends.  Thanks to all who have commented and I'll try and do the odd catchup on your blogs when I can.  Take care all and have a great week.
Susan.

THE DALES

Ongoing tales of our adventures.
On Wednesday we let the car lead us up to Colne where we had morning tea at a little care in the local market.  On this day I didn't take many photos as it was very misty, but we did see this.....

Seen during the English part of the Tour de France.

Countryside views on our way to Colne.

Thursday we decided to go back and see Bolton Abbey, after the rather rainy day we attempted earlier on our holiday.  We wandered all over and saw lots, had lunch at the small tea rooms and enjoyed immensely.

Sheep standing along the wall below the abbey.



Part of the abbey showing the beautiful shapes of the non-existent windows.

Looking up toward the tearooms.

Flowers in an old tree stump.  Loved this idea.

After lunch we headed off to Malham Cove.  We'd gone to Malham before, but not walked to the Cove.  Below just a few photos.

Stone wall on the distant hills.

The cove.

A stone bridge across the stream. Notice I didn't call it a creek.(giggle).

400 hundred stairs to the pavement above the cove.  Our excuse for not going up?  We didn't have time because it was about 3pm and we had to get back for tea.

It was a great day out, not particularly planned, but oh so lovely to explore the Dales.
All for now and hopefully have some time over the next few days to tell about two lovely people I met on Friday and what we did today.  Tomorrow (Sunday) we head toward the Lake District. 
Hope the weekend is being kind to you all and take care.
Susan.

GARDENS PLEASE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

After leaving Cornwall, we headed for Essex via Kent.  I've had many gardens to visit  on my wish list and this trip I've now been able to tick "two" off.

Saturday saw us head off, getting lost once again and arriving here................

Can you guess?



Just love these.



The tower.

OK, yes it is Sissinghurst.  This is one that I've wanted to see on our last two visits and although it would probably be at it's best in Spring or Summer, I'm just glad to have been.  I took lots of photos, so will show a few more, then tell where we went next.

From the top of the tower.

Part of the walled garden.

A lovely stone trough full of nerines.

Saturday we visited my sister-in-law and husband in Tonbridge, then left on Sunday for Essex.
On the way I was spoilt by visiting another lovely garden.  I read about Beth Chatto's garden, probably about 25 years ago.  Just a few photos, as I took way too many once again, but it is a beautiful garden.

One of the lovely borders.

One of two ponds in the garden.

The gravel garden.

And to top off a wonderful time away, we left our friends place and headed north.  On the way, we decided to look for somewhere to have a coffee and this place just popped out at me and I had to go and have a look.  We watched Jimmy Doherty's first series and have seen subsequent other programmes by him and have always enjoyed them.

The sign says it all

And lo and behold, who is this?  I suppose you might say this was my lucky day.  He didn't have much time to talk but agreed to have his photo taken with me.  Later he came over and spoke to us about his upcoming trip to Oz, although he was extremely busy.  Just lovely!!!!!!!!!!!!!!



Looking out over the farm.

We arrived back in Leeds about 8pm Monday and did loads of washing on Tuesday.  Hopefully I'll be able to post again about our lovely Wednesday and Thursday, tomorrow night whilst on our next adventure.  All take care.
Susan.

TIRED, BUT LOVING OUR CORNISH ADVENTURE.

Just a quick post with a few photos.
We are having a great time, but I'm feeling so tired.  Cornwall has been lovely, and the weather absolutely beautiful.  We've been thoroughly spoilt by my long time penfriend B and her husband.
Monday we drove down from Leeds and did our usual  getting lost things, so didn't get any photos.
Tuesday saw us being taken to Liskeard and doing some shopping in Trago, where the naïve Xmas decorations caught my eye and did come away with two.  We had our lunch by the river in Lerryn, then onto Lostwithiel, where we checked out some interesting antique shops and lovely old buildings and bridge.

The stepping stones over the River Lerryn

Lerryn again.

The old bridge at Lostwithiel

The view from Kit Hill, although this is not from the top, but lower down as the heat haze this day was quite bad.  I'd not realised that UK can have "heat haze".

Wednesday hubby and I headed off on our own and went to Falmouth, explored the Maritime Museum and walked the moat around Pendennis Castle.  We then took the scenic route home.

A view from the tower at the Maritime Museum.

Pendenis Castle.

Thursday saw us take a trip into Tavistock in the morning, visiting the Panier Market and the Quilt Shop, whose name escapes me at the moment.  We also went inside the lovely church near the market.

Church in Tavistock.

After lunch, the four of us went off to Polperro, then on to Looe for tea, fish and chips at Daves Diner.  Below are a few photos only, as they are taking forever to load a the moment.

Polperro

Looe with little water in the river.

Banjo Pier

The river a couple of hours later as we crossed back over the bridge.

My new best friend. 

This is Noddy, who came past  B's house in the late afternoon with his owners, their horse and two dogs.  He was gorgeous and loved being patted.
 

Friday saw us leave this beautiful county and our good friends.  We wend our way across Dartmoor, savouring its bleak, but serene beauty.  Along the way we saw these..................

Clapper bridge.

Highland cattle roaming free.  This time I didn't take any photos of the ponies, though I did get some in 2011.

As most people who travel know, there are times when you need "conveniences".  We made a stop in Moretonhampstead and found a small Motor Museum, so made a quick stop of a different nature as well.  Couldn't get any good pics of the cars as they were packed in so close, but these are a few of the other things there.

Pennyfarthing and a toy car.

A sewing machine!!!!!

Very old motor cycles.

That is all folks, but I will be back with more of our adventures.  Putting this together has taken about three hours over two separate days.  Does anyone else have this time trouble with loading photos or am I doing something wrong?  Hope everyone is having a great week and take care.

OUT AND ABOUT

We've been off out and will just do a quick post with some photos.
Monday saw us head to Holmfirth and then up to Holme Moss, one of the stages in Yorkshire of the Tour de France.  How they rode up these hills and then down is beyond me.

The view whilst we drank a cup of tea at a roadside café.

Typical road in this part of Yorkshire.  It really is up hill and down dale and oh so beautiful. 

A mill stone at the entrance to a farm.

I'll leave the photos for that day as they take so long to load and I did take a lot more.

Tuesday saw us catch up on some washing, then back to Temple Newsam to meet Jo from Through the Keyhole.  She arrived with her daughter and dog Archie.  It was so lovely meeting her and we chatted away in wonderful sunshine and will catch up again before we head home.  I just had the feeling we might click when we met and I'm sure we did.  Below is the lovely gift she gave me and I had the pattern put aside for the fingerless gloves and will certainly make use of them next winter.

My lovely mittens and some yummy biscuits.

Today, Wednesday saw us head south to Crich Tramway Museum, where they have trams from horsedrawn, steam, electricity through the tracks and lastly overhead wires.  They came in all shapes, sizes and colours.  We wandered around, then hopped on a tram and rode to the end of the track, passing an old quarry, hopped off and walked up a rather steep hill to the War Memorial at the top.
From here we had 360deg views over 7 counties.

Tram we caught.

One of the lovely reconstructed buildings with the War Memorial in the distance.

Tram with a destination sign of somewhere I've mentioned in these last 2 posts.



Love the warning sign on this tram.

Views from the top of the hill

The War Memorial.

Looking down into the quarry from the path we were climbing to the top of the hill.  You can see how high we had come as the rails are on the left. (click to enlarge).

OK, I'm sure you've had enough of my ramblings and as I'm tired tonight I think I've waffled on a bit.
Sorry!  Hope you are all having a good week and take care.
Susan.