A wet week in Whitby

Every year we spend a week away with good friends in our caravans. This year we decided to go to North Yorkshire, a part of the country I had not visited before. We booked onto a campsite at West Ayton just outside Scarborough and about 20 miles from Whitby, famous for fish and chips, Dracula  and Captain Cook. 

Last year we were away and had really hot weather so decided to pick the same week. How wrong can you be? In fairness the first two days were glorious and we secretly wondered if the weather forecasters had got it wrong and we would have a good week. But alas no,  it proved to be absolutely dreadful with terrible flooding. And the worst hit area of the country? North Yorkshire!

 

Despite the weather we had a good time and found the area to have both beautiful countryside and  friendly people. In fact we went to a National Trust property one day Nunnington Hall near York and found not only a delightful house but the best set of room stewards I have ever encountered at a NT property. They were engaging, interesting and friendly and really added to the experience. As someone who has volunteered in the past for the NT I hate to say it but it was the best experience I have ever had at one of their properties, mainly due to the volunteers.

 

We went to Whitby twice once on the weekend when the weather was lovely, visited the abbey and then tried to park in the town but it was impossible. We eventually found a 20 minute spot and ate some hasty fish and chips which were really delicious.

We wanted to try the famous Magpie Cafe but the queue was so long that it wasn’t possible due to our limited parking time. So we went back a couple of days later when the rain was pouring very hard, parked, and got into the Magpie Cafe without queuing. We had a wonderful meal which lived up to expectations.

 

Robins Hood Bay was a disappointment due to the weather – we couldn’t actually see it but we found Scarborough to be a great sea side town with lovely beaches and a really good shopping centre. The rest of the week was spent mainly hiding in the caravan or trying to miss the rain and flooding. On Friday we said goodbye to our friends and headed for the Yorkshire Dales for two nights on our way home.

 

We stopped at a really pretty spot not far from Grassington and had a lovely day driving around the Dales visiting Hawes and the Ribblevalley to see the viaduct. There was a great pub in the village where we had a memorable meal and again the friendliness of the people made the holiday. Well the weather certainly didn’t!
 

Butcher, baker, candlestick maker

I know I have said it before but you do meet interesting people when you run a B&B. I think the most fasinating thing is the range of occupations that people have. We all know about the standard jobs there are. We seem to get a lot of Nurses, Engineers and Teachers but that is because these are probably the most prolific occupations we have. But last week we had a group of people who went around farms impregnating sheep! Yes they visited farms 'tupping' the ewes. And yes I was a little speechless when they told me. Hey someone has to do it.

‘Let’s just tidy up the Laurel bushes’

Things grow so fast in the garden and this year it seems with our crazy weather; hot one day and wet the next, everything has gone mad. Les having trimmed the leylandii hedge at the back of the drive decided that we should also trim the laurel hedge. It had become a little overgrown I admit, but when the chain saw came out and branches started falling to the ground, I was a little concerned. But like a bad visit to the hairdresser when the once long tresses start getting shorter and shorter so the laurel hedge was trimmed. First this way and then that until – well it’s nearly all gone.

Two days of clearing up and 5 trips to the trip with the waste followed and we now have a short but tidy hedge. At least we won’t have all those awful leaves falling this year and the undergrowth has been cleared away for some new shrubs to be planted. ‘It will grow back again’ Les said. I’m sure that’s what the hairdresser said!

Can't wait for the Paralympics

For two weeks I have to admit I was glued to the TV. From the fantastic opening ceremony to the last note of The Who at the closing one I was hooked. London looked wonderful and our athletes did us proud. All those years of hard work and dedication paid off with our fantastic medal count. It’s funny really as we are not big sports fans; football never gets a look in on our TV, but we got caught up in the occasion of it all and for two weeks were part of a proud nation. Everyone we spoke to was talking about it, over heard conversations in the street or shops were about the Olympics. Close by in Flint we have a Gold medal winner in the shape of young Jade Jones who won hers for Taekwondo. I am looking forward to seeing the Gold post box that must have been painted in Flint to honour her and of course the stamps.
Following on from the Tour de France Les and I got our bicycles out and have attempted the odd ride or two. We didn’t think we could have been more thrilled than when Bradley Wiggins won the Tour and we weren’t expecting such excitement in the Velordrome during the Olympics either. Fantastic!
But now they are finished and everything is flat again. Why ? Not because of the end of the Olympics but because the newspapers and media have now reverted back to the usual depressing negative spin on everything.
Can’t wait for the Paralympics to start –we might gets some good news again.

Covering a window seat

Yesterday was a miserable day, wet and misty all day so I decided to spend it productively and recovered the window seat in the Rose Room. We are very lucky to have a great mill nearby called Abakhan at Mostyn where you can buy almost anything to do with crafts: knitting, sewing, crochet, patchwork, embroidery etc. You name it and they sell it. They also run great courses and we have had several ladies stay with us in the B&B whilst on them. One lady even brought her own sewing machine and set it up in the bedroom to finish her work.
A while back I managed to pick up some fabric for the window seat but put it away waiting for just a day to make the new cover.

I even made the piping to go around the top edges.

After a whole day and much of the evening it was finished – and I must admit I am pleased with the results. I still have enough to make a couple of cushion covers – but luckily today the sun is shining so the sewing machine has been put away for another day.

'We had a nice March'

On our recent holiday we took the caravan over to France and then drove up to the Dutch/German border to a lovely little place called Well in Limburg. We camped right by a lake Leukermeer for about 8 days and spent some time with both my sister who was also visiting the area and my cousin who lives just over the border in Germany.

We had mixed weather – when I say mixed there was some sunshine mixed in with the rain and the thunder storms. And despite the weather we had a lovely time. Holland is so clean and tidy and flat so we took the opportunity to do quite a bit of cycling. Everyone cycles in Holland form the very young to the very old and it seems that bicycles have the right of way on most roads. Cycle routes are everywhere and every route that we took was well signposted and picturesque.

We also spent the last few days just south of Dunkirk; we were pleasantly surprised at this lovely part of France. We like most people had only previously driven through to get further south, but it is certainly worth a look. We spent a memorable afternoon touring the Blockhaus at Eperlecques close to where we were camped. This was the site where the Germans were planning to launch the V2 rockets during the 2nd world war. Luckily the Brits bombed it and stopped that little game. But it was an incredible place still full of eerie atmosphere and an engineering feat that has to be reluctantly admired even after all these years.

Back home in Wales I can’t say we have enjoyed any better weather than whilst we were away. Although I know it’s not my fault, but I always feel bad when guest arrive in bad weather. However I don’t feel quite so bad now. It seems that the weather is pretty bad throughout most of northern Europe. Everywhere we went it was commented on and in Holland we were told ‘We had a nice March’, ‘so did we’, I said. In German we were told ‘We had a nice March’ and of course in France we were also told ‘We had a nice March’.

Please can we have another nice month or even two? July or August or even September, but let’s hope that the whole of the year doesn’t go by without another ‘nice’ one.

Memories of another Jubilee

So it’s been a milestone weekend and apart from the weather a great success. We managed to fit a couple of Jubilee ‘things’ in over the weekend and of course yesterday was my birthday.
I always wondered why I was told that I was a Coronation baby – although it happened on the 2nd June 1953 and I didn’t pop out till the 5th, this weekend made me realise that such an important occasion would have had the country in a state of excitement for much longer than just the day.
However the Jubilee I really remember the best was the Silver Jubilee in 1977 when the street where my parents lived had a party. My Mum was one of the organisers and I remember weeks and weeks of planning by the ladies. The tables and chairs stretched all the way along the road and everything was decorated with red, white and blue, much like these last few days. We had sandwiches, pies, and sausage rolls with a fantastic cake, and jelly and ice cream for the kids and a barrel of beer for the men. There was a lorry parked across one end which played music and we all supplied our own LP’s, and took it in turns to change them.
There was also a fancy dress competition for the children and I remember my brother all dressed up as a Knight. I had spent hours painting a coat of arms on a shield for him and my Mum had made the costume. The annoying thing was that his friend won, he had also come as a Knight. But the judges didn’t realise that in desperation the day before he copied my brother’s idea and his Mum went and brought him his costume!! These days you can go into many shops and buy complete outfits for dressing up but then, a bought costume just wasn’t heard of – it must have cost a fortune. It still annoys me all these years later. It was a great day though and everyone in the street was happy – everyone was a friend and all the doors to the houses were left open for anyone to pop in and get more food, or go to the loo.
A lot has changed in the last 35 years but I think this week end we saw much of that British spirit on display again – long may it continue.
Next year it will be my 60th – can I call that my Diamond Jubilee do you think.