Mick's 60th - February

It's Mick's 60th birthday in August so we're having a year-long celebration, doing some fun things throughout the year, hopefully something each month. I'm arranging everything myself, Mick has no idea what's in store.

I'd been waiting for a fine day throughout February, it's just been so rainy, so it wasn't until yesterday, almost the end of the month, that we finally got a reasonable day which coincided with a day we were free.

As you will know by now if you've been reading my blog for any length of time, our favourite place is the Yorkshire Dales, we just love it there and take many trips every year, but there's still plenty of places we've yet to discover. We couldn't have a year-long celebration of Mick's birthday without including something from the Dales, but I didn't want it to be anything we usually do when we visit, so I put my thinking cap on and this is what I came up with.

We set off early yesterday morning and arrived in Settle at about 9.45am.  We headed straight to the train station and parked up the car, we were going to ride on the Settle-Carlisle Railway. We weren't going all the way to Carlisle, just a couple of stops along the route so that we could cross the Ribblehead Viaduct, something we've never done before. We often park up to watch the trains crossing the viaduct when we're passing, you can see the viaduct in my post about Malham which I wrote a few years ago.

There were some beautiful views along the way before we reached the viaduct.

They say that the Settle to Carlisle railway is one of the worlds greatest rail journeys owing to views of the landscape of the Yorkshire Dales before the train heads into Cumbria's Eden Valley which then gives way to views of the Pennines and Lakeland Fells.

We passed through Horton-in-Ribblesdale and Ribblehead stations before we reached the Ribblehead Viaduct which carries the railway across Batty Moss in the Ribble Valley, it's Grade II listed and is the longest structure on the Settle-Carlisle line. This is the view as we crossed it.

About ten minutes later we alighted the train in Dent, you may remember my post about The Terrible Knitters Of Dent which I wrote a couple of years ago. Dent Station is the highest main line station in England.

We were the only passengers to leave the train at Dent and as we left the station we could see why. Rookie mistake, I should have checked that Dent Station is actually in Dent. No, it isn't, Dent Station is actually in the middle of nowhere, over four miles from the village of Dent.

Not to worry, I thought, there was a bus stop right outside the station, but oh dear, on checking the timetable there's just two buses per week, both on a Saturday. So as I'd got other things planned throughout the day, we decided to cut our losses and return on the next train which was an hour and twenty four minutes later, which I'd planned to do anyway, and in the meantime we took a walk along the road outside the station. In all that time only three cars passed us.

Another photo crossing the viaduct on our way back, this time in the opposite direction. You can see cars lined up along the road where people park to either watch trains cross the viaduct or to take a walk underneath the arches.

We arrived back in Settle early afternoon and had a short walk around the small market town, grabbing something light to eat before leaving Ribblesdale behind. The Yorkshire Dales has the longest cave system in the country and we've often passed Stump Cross Caverns on our trips between Grassington and Pateley Bridge but we've never visited so I thought it was about time we did. I knew it would be something that would interest Mick and I wasn't wrong.

I went caving, or potholing, in the Yorkshire Dales on an outdoor pursuits course with work when I was in my teens, I can't say it was my favourite part of the weekend so thankfully, our trip to Stump Cross Caverns was nothing like that. Discovered by lead miners in 1860, the formation of Stump Cross Caverns began millions of years ago and so offer a glimpse into prehistoric life. There's an extensive network of underground passages and cave systems between Wharfdale and Nidderdale, featuring amazing stalactites and stalagmites and there's now a scenic walking route throughout.

I wanted to go later in the day as at 3pm the main lights are turned out for the ultraviolet experience. As well as being given a normal torch to light your way, you're given UV torches to shine on the calcite rock formations which then glow.

Here's a stalagmite under normal light.

Here's the same stalagmite under UV light.

It was an amazing experience, you just never know what's underneath the ground you're walking on. The number of times we've passed this attraction and yet we've never been before, both Daniel and Eleanor would have loved this when they were young, it's an attraction suitable for all ages, though you do need to be quite fit as there are a lot of steps to get down into the caves and there are some rather low ceilings, hard hats are provided, and needed!

Our last port of call was less than ten minutes away in Appletreewick. The Craven Arms is a 16th century pub restaurant which we've been visiting for as long as I can remember. Serving traditional food, you're always sure of a good meal, and that's exactly what we got. A lovely way to end a lovely day.

It's such a welcoming pub with roaring fires when it's cold and cosy corners. It's been used as a filming location for many programmes, most notably the interior scenes of The Drovers Arms in All Creatures Great and Small.

And what have we here next to the beer barrel. Why, it's a little mouse door, a pint of milk waiting on the doorstep.

What a lovely day doing new things, we both really enjoyed it, despite the little hiccup with Dent!

In Search Of Snowdrops

We've been promising ourselves a trip to Dunham Massey, a National Trust property in Altrincham, to see their wonderful display of snowdrops but there just hadn't been a let up in the rain until last Saturday when we woke to blue skies and sunshine.

We seized our chance and made the journey over the snowy Pennines. As you enter the gardens the heady scent of daphne greets you. A wonderful shrub to grow for winter and spring perfume, I'm looking for more winter interest in my own garden so a daphne has been added to the list.

We've had so much rain just lately that many of the flowers are quite mud-splattered but that didn't spoil our enjoyment of them.

I think the best way to see snowdrops is en masse, a beautiful carpet of white, so as much as I can appreciate the beauty of a single flower it just doesn't take my breath away in quite the same fashion as a whole swathe growing together.

As well as mud, the plants are having to contend with lots of leaves which have been blowing around too. I think they're in just about every one of my photos.

Dunham Massey isn't only about snowdrops though, there's over 200,000 bulbs in the gardens as well as other plants and shrubs so there's plenty to see the whole year round, though it's got one of the largest winter gardens in the UK so it's a great place to visit at this time of year.

Primroses are one of my favourite spring flowers, I just love their delicate, pale yellow colour.

I found irises very short lived when I grew them in my last garden, none ever flowered again for a second year. Perhaps they didn't like the conditions there and I should try them in my new garden.

This one is iris George.

I love witch hazel with their spidery blooms. They're always fun to photograph in the sunshine as the light passes over them.

You couldn't have a winter garden without hellebores, though I always think it's such a shame that their heads bow downwards, they're such pretty flowers.

A beautiful camellia, such a pretty colour.

I was rather taken with this salix Mount Aso, I've never seen pink catkins before. Many people were stopping to admire them.

You don't really get the effect of the snowdrops growing underneath the Himalayan birch trees from a photo, nor do you see quite how white the trunks are, but this area of the garden is stunning.

I have insect houses in my own garden but I love this idea of building a wigwam with cut back material for bugs to overwinter in. It will rot down and can then be raked into the soil and used as compost. It gives a bit of interest to the winter garden too.

I can never resist a photo of a mossy trunk.

Dunham Massey was packed on Saturday, I think everyone was pleased of a break in the weather and decided on a day out. It's such a large property though that there's plenty of space to accommodate everyone. The house is closed at the moment, it reopens again next month.

We had a walk by the pond to see the ducks and swans before taking a walk in the 300 acre deer park. A large herd of fallow deer roam freely and it was lovely to just stand and watch them awhile.

It was a lovely day out, just what I needed after being cooped up indoors because of the rain. I've noticed that the hours of daylight are beginning to lengthen now and the buds are swelling, spring isn't too far away.

Cheery Flowers

I always find that the house looks rather sad and forlorn after the Christmas decorations come down in January. Add the dull dreary days of winter to that and it seems to me that the house needs something to cheer it up, just as I do myself. It's just as well then that the shops begin to fill with colourful blooms, enough to lift my spirits and also to brighten up my home.

The first flowers to fill my jugs and vases in the new year are always daffodils. A bunch can be found for less than a pound in some places, and they're not much more in the most expensive shops. They're worth every penny as they put a smile on my face every time I walk into a room and see them, and they certainly cheer up a dull room with their beautiful, bright blooms.

Hyacinths are a must for me. I think they're a flower you either love or hate, mainly because their scent is so strong. Unfortunately, we have mixed opinions in our house, Mick doesn't like the smell but he has to put up with it because I absolutely love how these flowers fill a room with their perfume. They're such pretty flowers too, available in beautiful pastel colours as well as bright jewel tones. I've already had some gorgeous purple ones this year, these are my second pot.

After enjoying the sunny sight of daffodils for a while, it's time for tulips to take over. What a choice of colour here, everything from the darkest purple, which are actually nearly black, to a stark white, and so many colours of the spectrum in between. There's a colour for everyone, so much choice, the only problem is that I can never choose a favourite so I have to keep buying different ones to help me decide.

Mick usually buys me an amaryllis every Christmas. How I love these huge, exotic looking flowers. They're so much fun to watch, transforming from bulb to a glorious bloom in such a short space of time, and they're so easy to grow too. This one hasn't grown quite as tall as they usually do but it's stopped it toppling over and, as you can see, there's another stem just beginning to grow, two for the price of one. I've had as many as three stems from one bulb in the past. I've tried regrowing the same bulb in subsequent years but have never got one to flower yet so I've given up. They're cheap and cheerful anyway, and it's always nice to have a different colour each year.

Do you have flowers in the house during the winter months? Which are your favourites?

Yarn In And Out

At the beginning of last year I made a decision to track the yarn coming into my house against the yarn I used up. I do have quite a large yarn stash and I was curious to know whether I was using more than I was acquiring. I'm not going to say buying as I also receive yarn as gifts, I've been known to win yarn in giveaways and knitalongs too.

So at the end of the year I added together the amount of yarn which had come into the house and found that totalled 2590 grams. Goodness, I'd have never guessed it would amount to that. When I added up what I'd used it came to 1152 grams. That means there's an extra 1438 grams in the house to begin 2026 than there was when 2025 began. Ooops.

Guess what, I don't care, haha. Collecting yarn is a hobby in itself, all that beautiful hand dyed yarn, though I'm rather partial to commercial yarn too, there's plenty of that in my stash. I wasn't trying to use more than I acquired, I was just interested to see what the result would be. I think I'll do it again and see what the figures are this year.