Yorkshire Holiday 2016: Pateley Bridge and Brimham Rocks

Tuesday was not only the 2nd of August, but also the 2nd of our two days spent with Aunt J and Uncle B. This time, I came up with an idea for our outing: I wanted to show my sister Pateley Bridge, and was also hoping to revisit the museum I enjoyed so much a few years ago. (You can read my 2013 post about Pateley and the Nidderdale Museum here.)

Arriving at the town this year, I recognized a lot from my first visit, but there were also a few changes. For instance, since 2014, when the Tour de France had its start ("Le Grand Départ") in Yorkshire and also came through Pateley, many bike-themed decorations are still there on houses, along roads and in front gardens.

Also, there was bunting strung all along and across High Street - always looks so cheerful, doesn't it? This was a left-over from the weekend before, which had been "Wartime Weekend" for the town, when everyone dressed up in 1940s style clothes, music of the time was played and classic cars could be admired. (We weren't there at the weekend - I am just mentioning what I saw on posters that were still there.)

Here are the pictures I took:

As you can see, the weather wasn't brilliant, but dry enough for a walk around town. A visit to the museum appealed to all of us, and after tea/coffee and a bite to eat at the "Willows" (the same place where I had lunch in 2013), we climbed up the hill once more to the museum.
It is still a good as I remembered, still run by the friendliest volunteers you can imagine - but sadly, there aren't enough of them to keep the museum open all day. Even though this was August, "high season" for tourists and holiday makers, the museum was open only for a few hours in the afternoon for lack of people to man the till and answer questions.

I was so pleased that my sister, J and B all liked the museum as much as I did! Does it happen to you, too, that you recommend a place to visit, a restaurant, a town etc. because you really enjoyed it, and then feel embarrassed when it turns out not to be as good as you thought it was, or the others simply don't like it as much? Well, it wasn't the case this time, and I can imagine going back for another visit in the future (especially as they constantly work on expanding the museum and its collections).

We still had a good part of the afternoon left before it would be time to go back to Ripon, where the four of us intended to meet my sister-in-law for a meal. The weather still looked reasonably good, and so it was decided we visit Brimham Rocks - on the way back (more or less) anyway, and another place my sister had not yet seen.

Four years ago, I published a guest post about this fascinating place, and linked to my own photos in the post. If you are interested, that post is here.

This year, just as we arrived, it started to rain good and proper - but that did not deter us! We had no intention climbing the rocks anyway, but wandered among them instead. We purchased hot drinks and cakes at the kiosk and were advised by the kind lady at the shop to take a tray upstairs, where we could sit warm and dry and enjoy our snack along with views of the area. That was very welcome, and so kind of her - the upstairs room of the visitor centre is actually not a tea shop or café.

On clear days, of course you have fantastic views of the surrounding countryside, but the rain and low clouds meant the atmosphere was very different from my first visit here. Nonetheless, it was special and fascinating. In particular, I was interested in the history of the house (pictured further down) where we had our snack. This was as remote a dwelling as you can imagine, with the nearest neighbours miles off, but once Brimham Rocks became popular with the first tourits (mainly from Harrogate, when that town rose to become a fashionable spa town), at least during the summer, it wasn't a lonely place anymore and allowed the family living on the premises to make an income by serving meals and providing shelter from too much sun or rain.

It was then time to get back to the car and to Ripon. A family meal of sorts (J and B are my sister-in-law's real aunt and uncle, so they were happy to meet and catch up, while I am, technically, not related to them anymore since Steve died - which has not stopped any of us to still be very much family to each other) followed, and then J and B had about 2 hours of driving home in the dark ahead, while it was just a 5-minute walk to the cottage for my sister and I.