For the last day of our holiday, we had a special treat planned. My sister-in-law had booked the day off especially for us, which gave us the chance to get somewhere by car instead of using buses and trains. Months before we arrived in Yorkshire, we'd already agreed that we really, really wanted to see Castle Howard.
So that is where we went. My sister-in-law chose to drive along country lanes instead of getting on the motorway, which gave us an additional bonus scenic tour of the beautiful countryside. One market town in particular looked so pretty we said it would be lovely to stay there - if it weren't for Ripon being "headquarters" for us for various reasons.
We spent a great day out, exploring the house, gardens and grounds and having very nice meals. About a quarter of all pictures I took during this holiday were taken there - don't worry, I won't bore you here with all of them, but still want to show you enough to cover three or four posts.
Let's start... at the beginning:
The first part of the huge Castle Howard estate where visitors arrive from the car park is what used to be the stables. Today, this handsome square of buildings around a courtyard houses the ticket office, a restaurant and several shops selling produce and plants from the estate as well as souvenirs and books.
We arrived at lunch time and enjoyed very nice food there:
The sight of this peacock reminded me of last year's visit to Nunnington Hall:
Walking on from the stables, this was our first glimpse of Castle Howard:
You know I have a thing for doors and doorways. There were plenty of those here:
View from the lawn in front of the house:
And then Castle Howard in full view:
Even the bins here look posh:
We went into the house, but the pictures I took there will appear - you guessed it - on my next post.
Our Ripley trip was on Saturday, the 22nd of August. My next post full of pictures from our Yorkshire holiday will be about Wednesday, the 26th, which was our last day before travelling back to Germany on the Thursday. What did we do the days in between?
It's quickly told:
Sunday was our annual family meal. We all (= around 20 people) met again at the Boat Inn in Sprotbrough, where we'd already been last year. We had excellent food, and it was wonderful seeing nearly everyone again. Some who'd been there last year couldn't make it this time, but others who weren't there last year made up for it.
The waitress who was responsible for our group did her job very, very well: She gave you the impression that it was her pleasure to look after us. Upon her suggestion, we all gathered in the inn's garden for group photos, something we'd somehow never really thought of before.
On Monday, we went shopping in Harrogate. I saw many clothes I liked, but bought only one dress at Monsoon... at first.
Then we went into Miss Selfridge's, where at first nothing really caught my eye. But when we climbed the stairs and walked around a corner, all of a sudden there it was: the coat of my dreams!! Do you know that feeling, when you spot something in a shop and your heart makes a little exclamation mark? It was exactly like that, and I couldn't help drawing in a sharp breath. I tried it on, LOVED it... and put it back on the rack.
By then, we were more than ready for some tea or coffee, and had a break (with delicious cake) in a café one or two roads from the shop. All that time, I kept thinking of The Coat and how much I wanted it. It wasn't the price that had stopped me, rather the thought that I didn't actually need it... but when does one really need something? In the end, we did go back and I did buy the coat, and I am glad I did!
You will of course eventually get to see all three dresses and the coat I bought. (Two dresses at Dorothy Perkins' in Ripon and one at Monsoon in Harrogate.)
Tuesday was going to be the last full day to spend in Ripon, and so we visited all our favourite places again: Several book shops, the Cathedral, the River Skell walk and the canal. Most of the pictures in this post are from that day.
In between these activities, we did householdy stuff such as washing and ironing, cleaning and shopping, cooked our own meals, sat in the sun in our garden with books and cups of tea or coffee, went to see Mary several times, and enjoyed every minute of our holiday. It had seemed so long when we booked the cottage - 11 days! - and we could hardly believe our last day was here.
That day, Wednesday, offered enough for several posts... starting tomorrow!
The last of my Ripley posts (for this year, anyway) is here. Come walk with us around the grounds and the village. There is lots to see!
We met this friendly cat in the woodland part of the grounds. It would have liked us to play with it much longer, no doubt, and came hurrying after us when we left. We were relieved when a couple of people came up the path in the cat's direction to provide fresh entertainment:
At the far end of the grounds, a "Foodie Festival" was taking place. Lots of cars, people, music and general noise there; not what we were looking for. There was hardly anyone about outside the festival area, and we enjoyed the walk which offers beautiful views of Ripley castle from nearly every spot, with or without water:
Back in the village. The neo-gothic building was originally meant to be Ripley's "town hall" (not that it ever was a town!). It looked empty, with renovation works going on. I'd love to explore inside - doesn't it look like a house harbouring a dark secret, or the residence of a gentleman Vampire?
What a pretty place to sit and have a cup of tea!
See the starfish above the arch?
So, this was Ripley. We ended our excursion by having one of the "world-famous dairy ice creams" from the village shop. To be honest, that was something of a disappointment; it was so fattish - not the lovely creamy kind, but rather like low-quality ice cream which I am sure it really wasn't. Mine was supposed to be coconut flavour. All I could taste was... fat. Like licking a bit of chilled lard. But people were queuing to buy a cone, so I guess it was just us who didn't like it.
Nevertheless, it had been a great day out, and we were ready for the bus to take us back to Ripon.
In my previous post, I mentioned my first visit to Ripley castle and its grounds. This time, things were rather different: It wasn't cold, we weren't wearing our padded winter coats, and we were not going inside.
On the lawn in front of the castle, a wedding party was gathering, champagne glasses in hand. The ladies in their high heels looked a bit unstable on the soft ground, and some had unwisely chosen to expose a lot more of their shoulders, massive upper arms and cleavages than you'd ever want to see. Most of them were rather elegantly dressed, though, and anyway - it's just me being shallow again.
We were not really interested in the wedding party but had of course come to walk around the grounds and gardens, and that we did.
A cow with super powers - this one can walk on the water:
This charming structure now houses the offices from where the estate of Ripley castle is managed. Not a bad place to work, is it?
The two pictures above don't fully do the beauty of this wildflower meadow justice. This was my favourite part of the walled gardens.
A family who has a squirrel and a starfish in their coat of arms - how can you not like them instantly?
Inside the greenhouse:
Are you still with me? My next post will show the grounds outside the walled gardens.
