Another Staycation

As much as we used to enjoy our holidays, staycations are best for us at the moment. At fourteen Archie is an old boy. We've never left him in kennels, he's always holidayed with us but we're limited with what we can do with him these days so days out and then home to familiar surroundings works best. We don't feel hard done by, there are some beautiful places to visit which aren't too far away so Archie comes with us and enjoys his days out just as much as we do.

Mick's still taking some of last year's holidays which he carried over so we had another staycation last week. It had been forecast to be good weather but it was showery on the Saturday when Mick and Daniel were supposed to be playing cricket. I wasn't sure the match would go ahead but they did manage to play and win the match. Daniel took three wickets.

It was still very drizzly on the Sunday but we decided to head out anyway. We went to Nunnington Hall, a National Trust property in North Yorkshire. We've never visited before but we'll definitely go back, we were really impressed. There were so many things set up for children's entertainment, it was just a pity that the weather wasn't very good. Mick and I picked up a racket each and had a little game of badminton on the lawn in front of the house. There was also croquet, archery, and fairground games like hoop-la, amongst other things to entertain them. Nunnington is a manor house with an organic garden where peacocks roam at will. Not the largest National Trust property but plenty on offer to while away a couple of hours.

We stayed home on Monday as I had a nurse appointment for my B12 jab slap bang in the middle of the day, how inconvenient, but appointments are hard to come by so I didn't bother trying to change it. We had a walk with Archie at Lotherton beforehand, and the family came round afterwards to spend the evening together as it was Eleanor's birthday.

Rain was forecast for the whole day on Tuesday but it was glorious sunshine when we got out of bed so we decided to head off to Bingley to walk by the canal. I'm just glad that on arrival we waited in the car when we felt a couple of spots of rain as before long, the heavens opened, I'm glad we hadn't got caught in it. There was no chance of it stopping so we drove on a few miles more to a yarn shop I often visit when we have a day trip to Haworth. I didn't come away empty handed. On our drive home, the rain was torrential and water was spurting up from the manhole covers, needless to say, I was glad to get home.

The weather really changed on Wednesday. We've had so many cold days in July, twenty four degrees was a big improvement. We took ourselves off for the day to Belton Estate in Lincolnshire, another National Trust property. Belton House served as Lady Catherine De Bourgh's residence in the 1995 TV adaptation of Pride & Prejudice and it's been used more recently as the main location for King George's residence in Bridgerton, though I don't watch it. Another place we'll visit again, the gardens are stunning and so well kept. We even had a crack at the maze.

As I've said many times before, no staycation would be complete without a trip to the Yorkshire Dales. I'd seen that Settle is currently hosting its flowerpot festival again so that's where we headed. It's so much fun spotting all the different creations, they're all over the town, in gardens, shop windows and doorways. You need to look up too otherwise you may miss some. Here's Mario and Luigi.

Archie was flagging by Friday so we decided to have another day close to home. It definitely made sense as the mercury hit twenty eight degrees, it wasn't just Archie who was feeling the heat. We got a few jobs done at home and then later in the day, when it had cooled down a little, we took Archie for a walk in the woods near where we used to live. This used to be one of Archie's regular walks but it's become very overgrown in the two years since we left. Archie still enjoyed it though, he definitely seemed to recognise where he was.

Saturday was a cricket day again for Mick and Daniel, Unfortunately, Mick was out for a duck, his first one this season. Daniel took another wicket so that's twenty one wickets now in nine games. He's the third best wicket taker in the league up to now. The team won again so that's good. It was the day of the music festival in our small town, starting at midday and ending at 10pm. A line up of tribute acts, everything from Taylor Swift to Coldplay, with a bit of Abba and Pink, among others, in between. All in the name of charity, the money raised goes towards the running cost of the local hospice. We can hear the music from our house and it's rather good so I was happy tuning in to that throughout the day. When Mick got home from cricket we popped round to see Jack, he was one month old on Saturday and has already changed so much. We've seen him every day since he was born, I'm so grateful that we live close enough to be able to just pop in.

A lovely breeze cooled things down on Sunday so it was nice to get outdoors again. We visited yet another National Trust property, this time Wentworth Castle Gardens in South Yorkshire. I was a little disappointed in this property actually. The house is closed to visitors as it houses Northern college (who work in partnership with Barnsley Council and the National Trust in running the estate) but that doesn't bother us as we never go inside the houses anyway as we always have Archie with us, but I was expecting more from the gardens. To be honest, it all looked a little tired and unloved, it definitely needs some work putting in on it. It made a change to walk somewhere new though and it wouldn't put me off going back, it's a big place so there's plenty more to discover which we didn't get to see on this trip. No sooner had we arrived home than we were out again. Late afternoon we visited a local nature reserve with Eleanor, Jacob and Jack. We had a leisurely stroll around the lake and it was a lovely way to round off our staycation.

It was an enjoyable week and I feel it was a nice balance of days out, time spent at home and seeing the family. Roll on the next staycation!