September 2016 – Bolton Abbey, North Yorkshire
Although Liz was working during our first summer in Pateley Bridge her hours were not full time so we were able to get out and about on her days off to explore the surrounding countryside, taking Tess along for the ride.
Liz’ boss, at The Pancake House, was super generous and insisted that we use her car to visit places further afield that we couldn’t get to on foot or by bus. One of our favourite outings was the visit to Bolton Abbey Estate which includes Bolton Priory.
Our first glorious view of Bolton Priory was from a gorgeous little tea shop not far from where we parked. We were served the best ever Devonshire Tea (coffee, scones and clotted cream). Liz, being an avid scone maker, is always on the lookout for the best scones and these ones definitely measured up! Pete, being no expert, “reluctantly” agreed to help in the taste testing…
Bolton Abbey Estate is nestled in the heart of the Yorkshire Dales on the banks of the River Wharfe with 30,000 acres of beautiful countryside and over 80 miles of footpaths. Amazingly the nave part of the Priory is actually intact and still in use today, so we were able to go inside and look around. It looked particularly stunning on the day we were there as it was set up ready for a wedding the following day. With flowers and decorations in place it made the church look even more beautiful. The rest of the Priory, which is still attached to the church part, is an impressive ruin.
Even after hearing people talk about abbeys and seeing photos it is not until you are actually standing right there that you realise the sheer massiveness of these structures. The mind boggles at how people built these incredibly huge buildings so long ago.
Another very famous part of Bolton Abbey are the 60 stepping stones that were the crossing point for the lay workers at the Priory – if you are not keen on the stepping stones
you can use the bridge to cross safely to the other side to access the many walking tracks. We took the fun path across the stepping stones!
Peter was keen to visit Strid Wood, upriver from the Priory.
The Strid, which is a natural wonder, is where the river suddenly narrows from over 10 metres wide to less than 2 metres, forcing water through at great pressure. A very beautiful but deceptively dangerous spot that has claimed a number of lives. People think it will be easy to jump across the river from one side to the other not realising how slippery the rocks are, how fast the river is flowing and how deep the caverns are below. There are no second chances. In this particular part of the woods, down by the river, it almost felt like we were at home in New Zealand with crystal clear flowing rivers, mossy rocks and huge trees around us. And just in case you’re wondering, no Peter wasn’t allowed to jump the Strid!
September 2017 Kent -Three Chimneys
As we were driving towards our next house sit near Biddenden, in the county of Kent, we noticed quite a different style of houses. Having just come from Yorkshire where many of the houses are made using stone, here we were seeing many weatherboard clad houses as well as the unusual brick Oast houses.
An Oast House, more commonly called a Hop Kiln outside of south-east England, was specially designed for drying hops which were widely grown in Kent in the early years.
Many Oast houses have now been renovated into an everyday home and can be seen dotted around the countryside. The chimney is its most prominent and unusual feature.
Coming from the Nelson region of New Zealand I (Liz) found this aspect of Kent being a major hop growing area very interesting as I remember my grandma Barrow picking hops in the Brooklyn Valley area when I was a young girl. It was also very interesting for me to explore this area as my Barrow ancestors actually originated from Maidstone, Kent, in the 1840’s
The beautiful restored 17th century house that we were staying in, while minding two adorable Maine Coon cats, was located in a quiet rural hamlet with lots of space, gorgeous garden and a big pond where we saw a Kingfisher on several occasions.
Staying in this area and not having any dogs to look after meant that we were fairly free to travel in all directions during the daytime, though we definitely love to relax and enjoy our surroundings wherever we stay.
The nearest main shopping town was Tenterden, just a 15 minute drive away, where we were able to stock up on groceries and mooch around the village shops. Tenterden has an great range of eating places (as we find in most towns/villages), quirky shops and many excellent quality antique shops which were interesting to look around.
Sissinghurst Castle Garden was only a few minutes drive from where we were staying so we were keen to visit this famous garden site, created by writer Vita Sackville-West. Our English friends, Colin and Linda, who we met in New Zealand while they were living here for a time, came to spend a day with us. Together we wandered around Sissinghurst Gardens and through the historic buildings along with many other visitors. The grounds and gardens are very extensive with 180 acres of woodland plus a wetland board walk, an apple orchard, cottage garden, herb gardens and so much more. Plenty of room for everyone to relax and enjoy the beauty of it all.
Liz’s trip to London – while staying in Kent we were within easy commuting distance to central London so I (Liz) was keen for a day out on my own, traveling in to London by train, do a wee spot of shopping and go to a live show. Only just over an hour on the train, time to wander the streets before settling in to my comfy Dress Circle seat, I had a most entertaining and memorable day out.
I chose to go to the live show Le Miserables as I absolutely loved reading the book several years ago and the live show was even more enjoyable than I had imagined it would be. Before catching the train back home I even had time to met up with a friend in Leicester Square for a snack and a good ‘ol chin wag’
September 2018 scottish Ramblings
Peter and I are both very fond of Scotland so we are always on the look out for house sits in Scotland that will fit our into our schedule. We were very fortunate to secure a short house sit in Inverness and even better was the fact that we were flexible with our dates which left us with days either side of the house sit for us to leisurely make our way up and back following a loop circuit taking us to places we hadn’t been before.
Traveling from South Shields, through Gretna Green, out to the west coast of Scotland where we stayed at Girvan before heading inland to Tyndrum (Loch Lomond), north-west to Glengarry, up to Inverness (housesit) then back down through the Cairngorms via Struan/Pitlochry on our way back to South Shields.
With plenty of time to travel we were able to stop often and really explore our surroundings……
A crisp, clear early morning walk around the wharf at Girvan.
Wandering along the shores of Loch Lomond on a misty morning with only the sounds of water lapping on the shore and birds singing in the trees.
Scrambling over the rocks at the well known water falls of Dochart at Killen. Funnily enough we spotted some sun umbrellas outside a cafe in Killen advertising Old Mout Cider which is brewed in our own home region of the Moutere, Nelson, New Zealand.
Mooching around the small settlement at Glencoe which is on the shores of Loch Leven, over the bridge at the end of the village, a visit to the MacDonald massacre memorial, along the river and up through the beautiful lush green woods.
Searching for a car park……any car park (somewhere please!) and joining crowds of people who were gathering to wait and watch the next steam train crossing the Glenfinnan viaduct (Hogwarts Express for the Harry Potter fans).
Listening to the beautiful sound of the bagpipes being played outside Eilean Donan Castle along with crowds of bus tour folk.
Retracing steps of soldiers who fought at the Battlefield of Culloden
Fun times walking/running and playing in the sand on the beaches at Dornach, Nairn and Lossiemouth with our gorgeous girl Isla during our house sit days.
Watching salmon leaping up through fast flowing rapids at Falls of Shin – and we think life is tough!!
Surprised eyes seeing a gorgeous golden sand beach on the shores of Loch Morlich which is located 300 meters above sea level in the Caingorms National park.
To finish our Scotland tour, an inside shopping day for Liz at The House of Bruar shopping centre – Scotland’s answer to Harrods, along with upmarket outlet shops. Meanwhile Peter climbed his little heart out to the top of a misty Schiehallion fulfilling a dream of hiking in the Scottish Highlands & “knocked off his first munro” (google it…) in the process.
Schiehallion Conquered in the mist
Sailing on Loch Oich
Loch Kinardochy
Buachaille Etive Mor in Scotch Mist