Spooky Skeletons Trail

It's no surprise that we've visited Lotherton at Halloween, we visit so often we rarely miss anything that's going on there. You may remember the Spooky Halloween we had there two years ago, or the Happy Spooky Halloween in the dark last year. I wasn't sure there'd be much going on at Lotherton this Halloween with so many restrictions in place because of coronavirus but it was business as usual with a Spooky Skeletons Trail.

The woods once again were transformed into a spooky walk with skeletons perched amongst the trees.

This skeleton looks as though he's been there for some time, wrapped in cobwebs and dangling from a branch.

Skeletons were to be found in the formal gardens too, and they could teach the visitors a thing or two about social distancing...

Though the bicycle made for two wasn't following coronavirus guidelines.

Spooky scenes were staged in various locations...

A school room.

The jail house.

The potting shed.

The spooky wild west was in town again too...

Some cowboys were just arriving.

Perhaps they were going to join the cookout...

Or perhaps they fancied a bit of pampering, a bath or perhaps a shave.

There's plenty of moonshine left if that's what they're after.

They should be careful though as not everyone gets out of here alive.

I'm sad to say that I didn't think the Skeleton Trail was as good as the Scarecrow Trail that Lotherton's put on for Halloween in the past, but we're living in strange times and with lots of restrictions in place so they should be commended for putting anything on at all. There were plenty of families enjoying the entertainment and it seemed a very popular event for the children, many of who were dressed up in Halloween costume.

Happy Halloween.

Don't forget, if you haven't already entered my giveaway, you've got until midday on the 2nd of November 2020 to do so, just leave a comment on my Knitting With Your Leftovers Giveaway post.

Autumn At Oakwell Hall

I think I last wrote about Oakwell Hall back in 2011. It isn't that long since we've visited but it's been quite a while so, as we woke to beautiful sunshine on Sunday morning, we decided that would be our destination.

The information board gives a brief history and tells of how Charlotte Bronte visited here and featured the Hall as 'Fieldhead' in her novel Shirley.

The Hall is currently undergoing some maintenance so is not looking its finest.

We took a walk around the back and through this door which looks as though it leads to The Secret Garden. It does in fact lead to the walled garden which encloses the rear of the Hall.

Oakwell Hall was built in 1583 and is furnished as it would have been in the 1690's when the Batt family lived there.

The walled garden is very well kept and is a delight to wander around.

Against one of the walls stands this tree.

The sign tells us that it's propagated from a tree growing in Isaac Newton's garden at Woolsthorpe Manor, Lincs. It's reputed that Newton saw an apple fall from this tree in 1666 and this caused him to speculate upon the theory of gravity.

We enjoyed looking around the walled garden but we were really at Oakwell Hall for a walk and to let Archie off his lead for a trot around so we headed off on the nature trail through Nova Wood.

It was a lovely day and we passed so many dog walkers and people out enjoying the sunshine.

Archie loves walking through woodland though he gets rather muddy at this time of year.

The woodland floor is now covered in leaves but the trees seem to be holding on to most of them still. There's signs of autumn everywhere you look though.

We came across quite a few of these dens.

We also came across a wood carved totem pole.

We've done quite a bit of walking just lately, we're trying to make the most of any fine days we have now as winter will be soon upon us.

We're also trying to visit some places where we haven't been for quite a while. There's so much to see at Oakwell Hall and it's perfect for a walk, we're definitely not going to leave it so long until we visit again.

Don't forget, if you haven't already entered my giveaway, you've got until midday on the 2nd of November 2020 to do so, just leave a comment on my Knitting With Your Leftovers Giveaway post.

Knitting With Your Leftovers Giveaway

I read about Knitting With Your Leftovers by Fiona Goble on Julie's Stitchyknitter Journal. It was some time ago now, I believe the book may have been a gift that Julie received for Mother's Day, and I commented at the time that I thought it was a book that I'd enjoy. So, when I saw it for sale at The Works I decided to pick up a copy, and then I went back and picked up a second copy so that I could give one away to one of you.

We all have leftover yarn, it's quite rare that a project takes up complete skeins of yarn, there's always some that's left at the end. I'm knitting some of my leftovers up into scrappy blankets but there's still more. This book has some great ideas for using them up.

I just love this little house, it's actually a Cottage Doorstop, just 61/2 inches high. I might have a go at making this myself.

These little Mouse Mittens are just darling. I know I'll be knitting all sorts of things like this when I've got grandchildren.

I already knit all my dishcloths, I much prefer handmade cloths to any I buy, but it's always nice to have a new Wash Cloth pattern. I like the look of this one, I will probably give it a try.

I think this Woodland Key Ring is so cute. Love it.

The book contains twenty five patterns under the headings of For The Home, For Baby, and Bits and Bobs.

For a chance to win a copy of this book for yourself, just leave a comment on this post by midday on the 2nd of November 2020, after which, a winner will be drawn at random.

Good luck.

Incy Wincy Spider

I have a phobia of spiders. I'm not quite so bad if I see them outdoors but indoors they reduce me to a quivering wreck. So it's just as well that this little guy is currently living in a web he's made between two pots of geraniums outside my back door.

He's been there for ages. I don't mind just so long as he stays there and doesn't venture indoors. After I'd taken this photo Archie came to see what I was doing and swished his tail right through the web. The spider inched his way up a strand of the web which was still attached to the geranium and crept inside the flower. The following morning he'd spun himself a new web so he's still in residence.

Indoors, we've had some whoppers. A couple of weeks ago I walked into the bathroom to find the biggest spider I've ever seen running around the washbasin. Eeek, it makes me squirm just to think of it. I shot out of the bathroom I can tell you and Mick was left to deal with it.

Are you afraid of spiders?

Our Sunday Outing

It was a bit dull yesterday morning. I could quite easily hunker down on autumn days when the sun isn't shining but as dog owners, we don't have that luxury. We were thinking of somewhere different to go for our walk and we came up with Middleton Park, somewhere we haven't been for quite a while, and Archie loves it there as there's so much woodland, in fact, it's the largest ancient woodland in Leeds.

We park our car near the lake. It's not a large lake but it's well used with fishermen setting up their lines here. I wonder how successful they are. I suppose they must get plenty of catches as there's always people fishing whenever we've visited this park.

It's a well used park with plenty of green space, the woodland, a children's playground and a rose garden. There's also tennis courts, bowling greens and a visitor centre with a cafe which was doing a roaring trade yesterday. I have to say their bacon butties smelt delicious.

We chose a path and headed into the woodland. Middleton Park is situated four miles south of Leeds city centre and of its 630 acres, 200 acres are ancient woodland.

It's a very well used park, it's always busy whenever we visit but it's large enough that it doesn't feel at all crowded and we were able to stay socially distanced without any problem at all.

It's still very green here but we were aware of leaves falling from the trees as we walked. Some trees are showing their autumn colours.

It was rather damp. It's nice that there are pathways through the woods so that you can avoid any muddy patches, although we don't keep to them all the time. I suppose it must be the perfect environment for mushrooms as there were lots of them about.

We even spotted these tiny mushrooms growing on the trunk of a tree.

There were a few trees down. The top of this tree was lying across the other side of the path but the stump has started sprouting growth again now.

Straying from the main path, there are an abundance of ferns. I think they're so tactile, they make me want to swish my hands through them.

Talking of tactile, moss is another thing which I always want to stroke. This tree was covered in it.

If you're in the area, I can thoroughly recommend a trip to Middleton Park. As you walk through the wood there are information boards about the shaft mounds which are thought to mark the sites of medieval coal mines. Also, if you walk right through the woodland, you come to a station on the Middleton Railway, the world's oldest continuously working railway which has been in existence since 1758. Lots of great reasons to visit the park.