August Holiday

We've had another staycation. This time, Mick took a fortnight off so we had a lovely long break. As with any staycation during the summer months, the holiday started on the Saturday with Mick playing cricket. Unfortunately, the team lost, but Mick scored the most number of runs for the team.

We were in the middle of some lovely weather so we decided to head to the coast on the Sunday. We've never visited Seaham in County Durham so we decided we'd rectify that. You can tell that there's been a huge regeneration programme in the town as the seafront is looking clean and attractive. We spent quite a bit of time on the beach and Archie enjoyed himself paddling in the sea and making new doggy friends. Seaham is known for its sea glass. Back in Victorian times, waste glass was often thrown into the sea by the Candlish Bottleworks, one of the biggest producers of glass in Europe, which had its factory in the town. This dumped glass now gets washed up on the beaches in Seaham and after many years of surf tumbling, it's been polished smooth. We saw quite a lot of people combing the beach in search of sea glass and we found a few bits ourselves to add to my collection. On our way home we called in at Ormesby Hall, a National Trust property in Middlesborough, though we didn't stay too long as Archie was tired after his exertions on the beach.

Monday was supposed to be a very hot day reaching temperatures of thirty degrees so we hadn't planned to do very much. As it turned out, the day dawned much cooler than expected and there was rain showers all morning so we had a trip to The Arium, Leeds' biggest plant nursery. I picked up a salvia and an aquilegia to plug a couple of spaces in the border. It did get hotter as the day wore on so we stayed at home during the afternoon and did a few jobs in the garden before taking Archie for a walk at Lotherton later in the day.

We had some appointments on Tuesday. I went for a dental check-up in the morning while Mick ran Eleanor and Jack to an appointment they had over the other side of Leeds, and then I went round to Eleanor's in the afternoon as she and Jack had another appointment which she wanted me to be with her for. That took up most of the day but we got a few jobs done in the house during the time we had left.

It was Mick's birthday on Wednesday. I've written many posts in the past about Kettlewell Scarecrow Festival as we've visited many times. This year they're celebrating its 30th anniversary and it was just as good as in previous years, it's such a great day out. The family came round once we arrived home and we spent a lovely evening playing games and enjoying a take away.

We'd already decided to have a day at home on Thursday to give Archie a rest, he'd done a lot of walking round Kettlewell the previous day and he was worn out. As it happened, it was a bit of a miserable day contrary to what had been forecast so we didn't feel as though we were missing out on a day out. We picked Eleanor and Jack up and went for a mooch round the local retail park. Jack slept right through it in his sling.

The sun was shining again on Friday so we travelled across the Pennines and had a day out at Lyme, a National Trust property. This was the setting for Pemberley, Mr Darcy's home, in the 1995 television adaptation of Pride and Prejudice. We thoroughly enjoyed our time there and will definitely return as we didn't see everything. On our way home, we stopped off at Quarry Bank, another National Trust property. An industrial site and cotton mill set in beautiful gardens, we needed far more time than we had to explore it all so again, it's definitely on the list for a return visit.

Saturday again and another cricket day for Mick and Daniel. They were playing away from home this week and again they lost but Daniel took three wickets.

On Sunday we decided to have another day at the coast, this time visiting Saltburn by the Sea. The town is known for its Victorian architecture as well as the cliff tramway which was built in 1884 and is still in operation today. The town has an olde worlde charm to it which I love. It was perfect weather wise, the sun was shining but it wasn't too hot, so we had a lovely walk on the beach which Archie enjoyed. Afterwards, we travelled back down the coast to Whitby where I couldn't resist popping in to my favourite book shop to buy a little gift for Jack as well as treating myself.

Jack had a hospital appointment on Monday so I went too to provide Eleanor with a bit of support, though if truth be told, she handles these things better than I do! I no longer worry only about my children but my grandson too! Jack had a tongue tie so he had the frenulum, the membrane which connects the tongue to the bottom of the mouth, snipped. He was such a good boy, he barely cried, in fact I think the bit of whimpering he did was because he didn't like the doctor's fingers in his mouth. It was not a good day for Jack as he had to go for his first lot of vaccinations in the afternoon but again, he was so good.

On Tuesday we went to Brimham Rocks, rock formations set in moorland in the Nidderdale Valley. I knew it was a long time since we were last there and looking back at my blog, I wrote about A Playground For All Ages way back in 2012. If you follow the link you'll see that we foraged for bilberries on that trip, we noticed that they were ripe when we visited this time too but we left them for others to enjoy. The small market town of Pateley Bridge is less than five miles from Brimham Rocks so we decided to head there afterwards for something to eat. It's a nice place to have a wander, there's a good selection of independent shops and there's small cobbled courtyards off the main street too where you'll find more shops just waiting to be discovered. The Oldest Sweet Shop in the World can be found in Pateley Bridge, it has been trading since 1827 and it's an official World Guinness record holder.

We already knew that Mick's holiday would be broken as he had to go into work on Wednesday for a meeting with one of the bosses of the company who was visiting from Brazil. He gave a presentation which was well received. Jack had another hospital appointment later in the day, this time for a scan of his hips. It was just routine as he'd been breech at one time in the pregnancy so the doctor said it would be a good idea to rule out hip dysplasia. The results were given there and then, he's fine.

On Thursday, we visited Beningbrough Hall in North Yorkshire. We were last there in April when parts of the garden were closed as they were being redeveloped. The award-winning landscape and garden designer, Andy Sturgeon, has designed a Mediterranean garden so we decided we'd make a return visit to see it. I have to say that I'm impressed, it's a tranquil garden and would be a lovely place for meditation with plenty of seating and the calming effects of water as water rills and bowls have been added. The water tolerant plants have yet to become established but it's easy to see what a beautiful garden it will become in time.

We'd planned to go to the coast on Friday but Storm Lilian hit and though we didn't get much rain, it was very windy so we put our trip on hold. Instead, we went over to Newmillerdam for a walk around the lake, though with Archie slowing down we never get all the way round now, instead having to double back on ourselves when we think he's done half as much as he can manage. We did get as far as the Boathouse though, which you can see to the left of the photo, where we stopped for lunch and refreshments. We looked after Jack for a couple of hours later in the day while Eleanor got some jobs done ready for going away. They had a weekend away with Jacob's family in the Cotswolds. We'd seen Jack every single day up to this point, but Eleanor sent us lots of videos and photos. We missed him.

Saturday rolled round yet again and this time, the cricket match was at home. Unfortunately, it was the third time on the trot that they lost, though they're still fourth in the league so at least they're safe from relegation.

The weather wasn't all that nice on Sunday and we were forecast rain (which never materialised) so we stuck close to home. We took Archie for a lovely walk at Oakwell Hall which he really enjoyed. There were lots of other dogs there and he spent a lot of time meeting and greeting. He's fourteen now and still enjoying life, it makes me really happy when I see him happy.

We had the bonus of a bank holiday tagged on to the end of our holiday so we decided to visit another National Trust property, this time East Riddlesden Hall. I've seen this place signposted many times as we've driven through Keighley on our way to Haworth and always wondered what it was like. Well, we've visited quite a few National Trust properties and I'm sorry to say that this is my least favourite. It's a small property, in fact extremely small in comparison to some, but that's not to say it couldn't be just as lovely a place to visit as those more grand places, but it isn't. It seemed poorly looked after and there was very little to see. The staff we encountered were very pleasant but I'm afraid it's a property we won't visit again.

Mick's back to work today but we've had a very enjoyable fortnight.