Tuesday With Friends

An old school friend of my late husband's and his wife, N. and F., came to see us on Tuesday (28 July). They live in Wath-upon-Dearne (South Yorkshire), where Steve was born. As a surprise guest, they brought along their 8-year-old grandson. R. was very well behaved, even though I imagine it must have been very boring for him to spend the day with four adults, two of which he had never met, and listen to them talking about boring things only adults can spend hours nattering on about.

They arrived at around 11:00 that morning, and since the weather was once more perfect at 25C and a sunny sky with some fluffy clouds, we sat with mugs of tea in the garden that comes with renting the cottage. R. had fun on the swing for a while and then retreated into the house where he was drawing on his kindle (modern kindles can do that - I didn't know!). He showed us his drawings later, and they were pretty good.

The five of us strolled across the market square and along Kirkgate to the Cathedral; a visit there has become something of a tradition when N. and F. visit us in Ripon. Young R. was quite impressed with the huge building and once again behaved perfectly.

Entering a couple of shops on the way, for lunch we ended up at the large upstairs table at Oliver's Pantry where the four of us (without grandson, but sometimes with a dog) had enjoyed meals before. 

After a last cup of tea/coffee back at our place, our friends started the drive back south. When R. sat already in the car, he came out once more, approaching my sister with outstretched arms and saying "Cuddles!", and of course he got a hug and kiss from both of us. He also asked very nicely whether he would be allowed to come again when his grandparents would visit, which we confirmed.

My sister and I then went to the Spa Gardens, where we had not yet been during this year's stay in Ripon. As everyhwere else, the lawns were brown and yellow, but there were still some flowers, and the band stand was nicely decorated. My sister treated me to an ice cream from the little café/kiosk at the top end of the gardens, which was very nice.

On our way back to the cottage, we picked up a few bits and bobs at Tesco's and got things ready for a couple of friends coming over for nibbles and drinks that evening. I have mentioned Sheila and Neill a few times on my blog before, for instance here, and you may or may not recall that we'd been to see them for a cold drink in the morning last Thursday.

The garden that belongs to "our" cottage has a nice sitting area with chairs and table, where we'd prepared the nibbles and drinks. J., our landlady, joined us after a while, which was very nice. Everybody got along so well, and conversation was flowing as freely as the well-chilled wine we served. It being such good weather, we remained sitting outside until about 10:00 pm, when our guests took their leave.

We'll see all of them next summer, we hope, and possibly some of them sooner than that.

Monday at Castle Howard - Part II

Logically, after the house we went out into the grounds of Castle Howard. They are vast, and we knew we were not going to cover every inch and walk every path, but we had two highlights in mind: The Temple of the Four Winds and the Walled Garden.

My 2015 post about the temple is here, and the one about the Walled Garden is here. How green it all was back then, not parched as it is this year!

The temple currently holds an art installation that I had read about before coming here, and just the fact that we were now able to go inside this beautiful and very special building was one of the reasons why I so wanted to visit Castle Howard this year. You can find out more about the artist and her installation here.

After we‘d spend some time there, contemplating and listening, we strolled across the grounds to the Walled Garden and had a good look around. 

Atlas Fountain

A very cool looking Neptune

Can you see why I took this picture?

Eventually, we were ready for some sustenance and decided on Cream Tea at the Courtyard Café, which in the past was the stable yard for Castle Howard. Our fresh scones with clotted cream and strawberry jam were delicious and went perfectly with the Earl Grey tea.

A. drove us back to Ripon on a different route than in the morning, so we saw even more beautiful countryside, picturesque villages and grand houses. It was early evening by the time we were back at the cottage, and after a quick spot of shopping at our nearby Tesco we spent the rest of the evening quietly reading and watching TV.

Monday at Castle Howard - Part I

Eleven years ago, my sister-in-law took us to Castle Howard for the first time. The place made a lasting impression on us and we always talked about going back, but it never worked out - until Monday (27 July).

I had booked our tickets for the house and gardens online while still in Germany, and visiting the house required to choose a time slot to regulate the number of people roaming the place. Ours began at 11:00, and we arrived a few minutes after that time at the ticket office and proceeded straight to the house.

Inside, there are friendly and knowledgeable volunteers in most rooms as well as handheld boards so that one can wander around at will, have a close look and read the relevant information.

There is currently an exhibition to celebrate 300 years of Vanbrugh, who designed the house. We found that very interesting, and a large model of the house and grounds showed the extent of the estate and how carefully it had all been planned and carried out. Vanbrugh lead a very adventurous life and comes across as a fascinating man, loyal and generous friend, kind family man and very talented writer and designer. My sister promptly ordered a book about him, which I am certainly going to borrow from her eventually.

We remembered most of the rooms from our 2015 visit, but a few things had been restored or replaced since. Click here if you want to compare the photos from back then with the ones I took on Monday.

Sculpture of Roman goddess Minerva, made of black marble and amber-coloured onyx

The interior of the chapel is by William Morris.

We browsed the gift shop at the end of the tour and found everything in there of very good quality (priced accordingly) and presented to high standards.

Lunch at the Fitzroy Café was next, and then we proceeded to the gardens - but just as 11 years ago, that will be another post.