National Trust

As well as joining the RSPB last year, we also joined the National Trust. We've visited National Trust properties in the past but didn't think a membership would benefit us as many of the properties they look after weren't very dog friendly. In recent years the National Trust seem to have become more inclusive and they now allow dogs in many of the gardens and parkland so we decided to take out an annual membership.

A joint membership cost us £151.20, though you can pay monthly by direct debit if you wish rather than in one lump sum. Again, as I did with our RSPB membership, I kept a note of all the National Trust properties we visited over the year to see what we would have paid had we not taken out a membership, and it was the same as with the RSPB, we'd broke even within four months.

Calke Abbey. We didn't go inside the house so we would have paid £7.50 each for entry to the parkland and gardens had we not been members. Admission to the house costs £12.50 for non-members and is in addition to the Parkland and Gardens. £15 saved.

Fountains Abbey. Admission is £19 for non members. We visited three times £114 saved.

We also visited Fountains by Floodlight, an after dark event which was free for members but £10 per ticket otherwise. £20 saved.

Studley Royal Water Garden. Set within the same site as Fountains Abbey, one admission fee allows entry to both, however, we visited each at different times. Non-members pay £19 and there's free parking near the visitors centre, however, the car park adjacent to Studley Royal which we used is pay & display, free for National Trust members, or £6 for 4 hours or £9 all day for non-members. We visited twice. £88 saved.

Beningbrough Hall. Admission is £14 for non-members. We visited four times. £112 saved.

Hardwick Hall. Admission is £19 for non-members. £38 saved.

Nostell. Dogs aren't allowed in the house or gardens so we only visited the parkland. Parking costs £5 for non-members, house or gardens £8 or a combined ticket for the house and gardens £12. We visited twice. £10 saved.

Ilam Park. Non-member parking, up to 4 hours costs £5, all day costs £7. £5 saved.

Clumber Park. Admission is £5 for non-members. £10 saved.

Nunnington Hall. Admission is £11 for non-members. We visited twice. £44 saved.

Belton Estate. Admission is £15 on Tuesday or Wednesday or £18 Thursday to Monday for non-members. £30 saved.

Wentworth Castle Gardens. Admission is £6 for non-members. We visited twice. £24 saved.

Ormesby Hall. Admission is £6.50 for non-members. £13 saved.

Lyme. We didn't go inside the house so we would have paid £7 each for entry to the Park and Gardens had we not been members. Admission to the House, Park and Gardens costs £15 for non-members. £14 saved.

Quarry Bank. Admission is £22 for non-members. £44 saved.

Brimham Rocks. Non-member parking, up to four hours costs £6.50, all day costs £10. We visited twice. £13 saved.

East Riddlesden Hall. Admission is £6.50 for non-members. £13 saved.

Hardcastle Crags. Non-member parking, up to 4 hours costs £5, all day costs £8. £5 saved.

Dunham Massey. We didn't go inside the house so we would have paid £9 each for entry to the park and gardens had we not been members. Admission to the house costs £17 for non-members and is in addition to the park and gardens. £18 saved.

So in total we would have spent £630 on admission to these places. That's a huge £478.80 more than what we paid for our membership. In fairness, I should point out that we visited some of the places purely because we were passing on the way to somewhere else, we wouldn't have popped in for so short a time if we'd had the admission price to pay, but as we had our membership that didn't matter.

Our membership also included the National Trust Handbook which details the places cared for by the National Trust and opening times. They sent us one at the start of our membership and another at the beginning of this year. In addition to this, members also receive the National Trust Magazine three times throughout the course of the year.

The prices quoted in the post were correct at the times we visited. Some, if not all, of the properties have now increased their prices, and the price of joint membership has also now increased to £160.60.

For us, the membership has been well worth it. We've renewed our membership for another year and have already visited Hill Top, Beatrix Potter's farmhouse retreat in the Lake District as well as other places.

Do you have National Trust membership? What are your experiences with it?

RSPB

Last March we decided to join the RSPB (The Royal Society for the Protection of Birds). We've visited our local reserve for years but with 170 places to visit all around the country, we thought it would provide us with ideas for some new places for days out.

A joint membership costs £60 per year, though you can opt to pay more if you want to as a larger donation enables the organisation to put more money towards saving wildlife. I decided to keep a note of all the places we visited over the year to work out how much we would have paid had we not taken out a membership, and discovered that we'd broke even within four months.

Sherwood Forest. There's no admission fee here but there's a £5 charge for the car park. It's free for RSPB members. £5 saved.

Bempton Cliffs. The admission fee here is £8 for non-members and a reduced price of £4 from November to February. We visited three times over the course of the year. £48 saved.

St.Aidan's. Theres's no admission fee but the parking charge is £4 all day. It's free for RSPB members. We've visited seven times over the course of the year. £28 saved.

Fairburn Ings. There's no admission fee but the parking charge is £4 all day. It's free for RSPB members. £4 saved.

We didn't visit as many reserves as we thought we might, mainly because dogs aren't allowed in the places we were interested in. It's also worth mentioning that we visited Bempton Cliffs a couple of times on an evening in addition to the times mentioned here, however, you're able to just walk out onto the cliffs when the visitor centre is closed so visitors don't have to pay. There is actually a public footpath around Bempton Cliffs so, in theory, you're able to visit free of charge at all times but we haven't tested this. We do always get challenged for our membership cards when the visitor centre is open.

Our membership also included the RSPB Handbook which details the RSPB reserves and what they offer. In addition to this members also receive the RSPB Handbook of British Birds and the RSPB magazine four times throughout the course of the year.

St.Aidan's is only four miles, and Fairburn Ings just seven miles, from our house and they were nice places to walk Archie, though he did have to be kept on his lead so we more often than not took him elsewhere instead. If we weren't going to visit reserves with a higher admission fee, such as Bempton Cliffs, the membership wouldn't have been worth it for us. We would have visited more reserves than we did if we hadn't had Archie.

We saved just £25 over the course of the year, mainly because many reserves aren't dog friendly so we were limited where we could go, though I have to say that the extras, such as the magazines and book, are very good. We haven't renewed our membership yet for this year but we've decided that we're definitely going to do so.

Do you have RSPB membership? What are your experiences with it?

Baby Layette

I've been baby knitting again, this time for Eleanor's sister-in-law who gave birth to a little boy last month. They've called him George.

I thought it would be nice to put a few things together for little George.

I knit the Twinkle Twinkle Baby Blanket by Helen Stewart back in 2021. There weren't any babies to knit for at that time but when Jack came along, Eleanor used it for him. This time I knew I was knitting for a boy so I chose the Dew colourway in the Drops Baby Merino range. It's a delicate baby blue and the yarn knits up beautifully, it's so soft, perfect for a baby.

This time I made the blanket a little bigger by knitting extra repeats of the pattern. It should make it last longer as George grows.

My go to baby cardigan pattern is the Baby Aosta Cardigan by The Knit Purl Girl, I've made quite a few of these in different sizes with different yarn for different babies and they always come out lovely. This time I've used King Cole Cherished DK in the Turquoise colourway. It's actually got more of a greeny hue to it than you can see here.

I bought a set of three cute sleepsuits to add to the gift which match the blanket perfectly, I think it made a lovely little welcome gift and Jacob's sister seemed pleased with it all.

March 2025

We had some beautiful weather at the beginning of March. They do say of March, in like a lion, out like a lamb, and there's a variation where it can be the opposite way round, but no, the weather this month hasn't been too bad at all.

Thank you for all your lovely comments on my last post about Archie. I've also had some lovely cards and emails too, it means such a lot to know that people are thinking about us at such a difficult time. Obviously, it's been an extremely sad month for us and we're still grieving his loss, he was such a loved member of our family. This photo was taken at Filey the day before we had to say goodbye to him. I'm so glad that he was enjoying life right to the end.

Mick had already booked some time off from work before Archie died as he had some holidays he needed to take before the end of March. He had Friday the 21st and all last week off, and he's off today too. We haven't really felt like doing much but we knew we had to force ourselves to get out of the house so we've had days out at RHS Harlow Carr, Skipton, Ripon, Harrogate, York and Ilkley. We even had an overnight stay in Windermere in the Lake District and visited Beatrix Potter's farmhouse, Hill Top. I was taken for a lovely meal yesterday for Mother's Day. Nothing has been able take our minds away from Archie but we figured we might as well be doing something rather than just sitting in the house. In hindsight, the trip away was a step too far, we couldn't wait to get home again. It's one thing being sad at home, quite another when you're in a strange bed. On our days out I've kept turning round and looking to the back seat of the car expecting to see Archie there and at home I keep looking to the places where his beds used to be (he had one in just about every room and three in the bedroom!), it's so distressing seeing those empty spaces. It's going to take a long time before we get used to him not being here.

I've read four books this month.

I've read so many great reviews of The Shell Seekers by Rosamunde Pilcher so I put it on my Christmas wish list and Eleanor bought it for me. It's quite a hefty book at 688 pages but it held my interest the whole way though. A family saga, it tells the story of Penelope Keeling, the daughter of an artist, and her relationships with various people throughout her life. I like how the chapters are named for a character involved in that particular period of Penelope's life. The book was written in the 1980s and does seem rather dated in parts but that didn't detract from my enjoyment of the story.

What can I say about A Little Place in Prague by Julie Caplin other than dull. What a disappointment this book was. I've read all the books in the Romantic Escapes series by this author and I've enjoyed them all, some more than others, but I've found the storylines in the most recent ones getting gradually weaker until this latest offering was, frankly, very poor. The characters were flat and page after page of details about Czech food was very boring. I see that a new book in this series is due out this year but after reading twelve in the series already, I'm not sure I'll bother with another.

I'd been so looking forward to reading Nella Last in the 1950s and it didn't disappoint. Following on from Nella Last's War and Nella Last's Peace, it's the diary, written for the Mass Observation archive, of an ordinary woman. This book finds Nella in her 60s. I love these kind of diaries, they give a no nonsense insight into what life was like at the time.

A Room Full of Bones is the fourth book in the Dr Ruth Galloway series by Elly Griffiths. I've got the full series in my bookcase waiting to be read but I'm rationing myself as they're so good and I don't want to finish them too soon. This book was another great read.

I'm afraid I don't want to say much more about March. We're all still so upset. Archie was a huge part of all our lives and his not being around is taking some getting used to. He's left a huge hole in our hearts.

Archie

Archie died on Monday. He was just two months shy of his fifteenth birthday. He'd had a long and happy life, but I wasn't ready to let him go. I don't think it matters what age they get to, you always want more. It was a shock, we'd had a lovely day out on Sunday at Filey. He'd had a toddle on the beach, enjoyed meeting other dogs and then shared our fish and chips. Archie had the majority of the fish, minus batter! The following day he couldn't breathe and it was discovered he had a tear in his heart. We had to say goodbye at the vets.

The house is so empty and quiet. We got Archie just after I stopped working in 2010 and since then he's been my little shadow and constant companion. He spent just two nights away from us in the whole of his lifetime, once when he had to have stay overnight at the vets in 2017, and the night of Eleanor's wedding in 2022 when a friend of Mick's auntie looked after him. We took him everywhere with us, days out, holidays. He went as far north as Scotland and as far south as Cornwall, well travelled. He was the most loyal, sweet-natured, funny little dog and we loved him so much. He was such a good boy, not a minute's bother.

We're all devastated. He was the best boy. I don't know what I'm going to do without him.

National Coal Mining Museum

We're always on the lookout for new places to visit where we can take Archie with us. We see the National Coal Mining Museum signed as we pass by on the motorway but it's only recently that I've actually looked to see if it's somewhere we could go and was pleasantly surprised to find that dogs are allowed in the outdoor grounds. As we woke to beautiful sunshine on Saturday, and with no plans already made, we decided to go and explore.

Based at the site of Caphouse Colliery in Overton, Wakefield, the museum opened in 1988. The colliery here was sunk in the 1770s or 1780s and the Hope Pit in the 1820s. The pits became the Denby Grange Colliery.

Dotted around the site is all manner of machinery used in coal mining, each exhibit is well signed with information given about its purpose. This rocker shovel mechanically reproduces a miner's shovelling action.

This double ended shearer cuts coal underground.

Free steered vehicles were used underground to move equipment and materials.

Diesel locomotives were used to move coal around the colliery.

We weren't able to visit the indoor exhibits, nor take a tour underground, but there was plenty of interest in the outdoor exhibits for us.

We took a walk in the woodland surrounding the museum. I should think it's lovely here once the trees are once again covered in leaves.

The museum pumps out the water in the mines but as it mixes with chemicals and minerals it becomes dirty so it's cleaned before being released.

The Pony Discovery Centre tells the story of working horses.

The museum is home to Eric and Ernie, two Welsh mountain ponies who were rescued from an abandoned coalfield area by the RSPCA, as well as Bud, a blue and white cob.

Finn, a Clydesdale, is also cared for by the museum. He's typical of the type of animal that would have worked above ground transporting workers and coal.

The Miners' Memorial Garden celebrates the individuals and groups whose lives have been touched by the coal mining industry and its communities.

Looking back to Caphouse Pit from Hope Pit. We really enjoyed our visit, there was plenty to see outdoors and the woods are a nice place to walk a dog. There was lots we didn't see indoors so a reason to return at some point in the future.

February 2025

I never look forward to February, I always imagine a cold, dreary month, and that's exactly what it was for the most part, though we did get a few warmer days towards the end, and the hours of daylight are now getting noticeably longer.

We saw that Aysgarth Falls was hosting a planet and constellation trail as part of the Yorkshire Dales Dark Skies Festival so we decided to go along and take a look. After a period of very cold and dull weather we were lucky, the sun decided to shine, though the temperature was still very low. Located in Freeholders' Wood, which runs alongside the Falls, it's a self-guided trail where you can learn fun facts about the planets and constellations in our solar system. Archie enjoyed himself having somewhere new to walk and sniff, and he seemed interested in the planets too, haha.

We've had some other lovely days out this month. We visited Knaresborough and saw that an artisan market was being held in the Castle grounds so we had a mooch around that. We also visited Dunham Massey which I wrote about previously, Hebden Bridge, and as the sun was shining last Saturday, we even visited Filey on the Yorkshire coast so that Archie could have a walk on the beach.

I've read three books this month.

Although I've previously read Wuthering Heights by Emily Brontë and the two books which Anne Brontë wrote, Jane Eyre is the first novel I've read by Charlotte Brontë. I already knew a vague outline of the story so there was nothing of a surprise for me, other than the fact that I enjoyed it far more than I thought I would. Saying that, I still think The Tenant of Wildfell Hall by Charlotte's sister Anne is my favourite of the four Brontë novels I've read so far but I shall definitely read more by Charlotte.

The House at Sea's End is the third book in the Dr Ruth Galloway series by Elly Griffiths. Another great read by this author. Not only are the cases interesting but so are the character's private lives, and gauging how this story ended, things are going to get even more gripping in the next book.

I've never read anything by Libby Page before but I picked up The 24-Hour Cafe in The Works as part of their 3 for £6 deal. It was an interesting concept, the story taking place over twenty four hours in a cafe with characters coming and going, but with flashbacks of the two main characters lives to reveal their backstories. An enjoyable read.

I usually put an amaryllis on my Christmas wish list and Mick usually obliges. Last year I forgot and shock horror, I didn't get one. I ended up buying one myself from a local shop. It had been just starting into growth but it seemed to stop once I brought it home and it certainly didn't get anywhere near flowering. This year I didn't make that same mistake and I found this beauty in my Christmas stocking. It's named Ferrari which is quite apt given its colour.

Although we visit Lotherton, a country house near to where we live, on a regular basis, we rarely venture into Wildlife World, which is on the estate, as we usually have Archie with us. We'd heard last year that they'd added six female wallabies to the collection of animals and birds that they host and we finally made the effort this month to go along and see them. Taking a photo wasn't the easiest, Lotherton have, over recent years, changed the wire fencing surrounding the enclosures, they're now more substantial than they used to be so it's challenging to take photos through the bars. Instead, I held the camera high above the fencing and this is what I got, not the best but it could have been worse.

I wrote about Archie's Passport, a promotion being run by the National Trust, back in October. This month Archie collected his sixth stamp in the passport and received his reward of a packet of treats. Archie's a greedy dog and never turns his nose up at food so I was expecting him to like them more than he did. He started off by spitting them out, but did eat them in the end, more through greed I expect rather than actually relishing them.

I had a big surprise when I watched Ali's latest Little Drops of Wonderful podcast as my name was called out as one of the winners of the Strictly Sockalong. I won this Christmas Stocking Bunting set from Wensleydale Longwool and a lovely project bag. Ali also popped in a You Are A Little Drop Of Wonderful pin and sticker and wrote me a lovely note on one of her postcards. I've enjoyed taking part in the Strictly Sockalong for a number of years now, it's a hugely popular knitalong.

So the month ahead, spring at last. It seemed it would never come! Let's hope the weather obliges and we get some lovely spring sunshine, I'm already enjoying the lighter evenings.