Beautiful Yorkshire, part 1

Thank you for all your lovely comments on my last two posts and a warm welcome to my new followers. I hope that you'll enjoy reading my posts. As promised I want to write about my wonderful Yorkshire experiences.

I just had a look at all the pictures I have taken last weekend when my husband (I will call him J from now on as it is the first letter of his name) and I travelled to the Yorkshire Dales for a short trip. It's been our 16th wedding anniversary and usually we do not go in for something special (just a good meal in the evening and some flowers for me :-)). But this year my mother had time to take care of the children, the dog and the house and we used the opportunity to get away for some days. 

Since I had seen the photos of last year's Yarndale I had told J that I would love to go there eventually. And as he is a perfect planner (if it was possible he would love to plan our holidays for the next 20 years...), he booked two flights to Manchester and told me to search for an accommodation. I was so excited! It is really something extraordinary for us to go an a holiday just the two of us. Since we have children (my son is 11 years old) we mostly travel to the Netherlands or to Denmark because it is just the easiest and the most inexpensive. I wracked my brains where I would like to stay the three nights but looking at the prices I soon realised that a good B&B would be best for us. Finally I came across the Bondcroft Farm, a lovely B&B in Embsay just on the outskirts of Skipton.

On Thursday, the 25th veeery early in the morning we drove to the airport of Hamburg and 1,5 hours after departure we stood at Manchester airport. We had booked a car at the airport and J bravely got behind the wheel. "Why on earth do the British have to drive on the wrong side of the street?", J uttered once in a while concentrating hard on the traffic. 

We didn't want to stay in Manchester for long but I wanted to take a look at Chinatown. Since I studied sinology when I was a young woman, my interest in China has never ceased and I was curious how it would look like. But this was a real disappointment. If you visit Manchester and if you are interested in China and if you love Chinatowns all over the world, don't go to Manchester Chinatown. There is nothing to see except the archway. 

No crowded groceries, supermarkets or furniture shops, no Chinese decoration, nothing that is so typical of Chinatowns. After a short walk we decided to leave Manchester for the countryside. 

Our first stop was Haworth, a village famous because of the Brontë sisters who lived there. I have always wanted to visit the Haworth Parsonage since I read 'Jane Eyre' and 'Wuthering Heights' when I was about 17. 

I wasn’t disappointed. We arrived in quite an awful weather - the sky was gloomy and the air was filled with drizzling rain -  so there were only a few tourists strolling around. We had the chance to see the parsonage when there were only a few people.

Haworth Parsonage

I was quite amazed that there was so much of the furniture that had actually belonged to the Brontës. Often, museums just have furniture which is of the correct period in them so it was really wonderful to see the real things, including the sofa on which Emily died. Many, many personal belongings are on show. Letters and books, study boards, art work, dresses, shoes, jewellery, hair and sewing boxes. The house is beautifully decorated and I can highly recommend visiting it if you are interested in the Brontës.
The one thing that surprised me was the size of the place. I had always imagined the parsonage to be really big as it looks very impressive in photos. In reality it is much smaller than I had thought it to be and it must have been quite a squeeze to fit 6 children, parents and a servant into it. Parsonages are usually huge, so I guess Haworth must have been a very poor parish.

A sign showing the gate
used by the family to access the church from the parsonage

St Michael and All Angels Church

After visiting the Parsonage we had a look at the graveyard. It was incredibly beautiful and terribly sad wandering around the graves. The village had awful sanitation in the early 19th century. Most of the water that ran into the town came in through the earth of the graveyard. Disease was widespread. There were long tomb stones filled up with the names of family members who had died in quick succession - the average life expectancy was only age 22! Can you imagine living in a house surrounded by this? It's no wonder many of their stories were filled with such sadness.

 Then we strolled around the village. Haworth is so sweet! A wonderful village with small, interesting shops, nice pubs and tea rooms. Worth a visit, even in rain!

 

Gorgeous flowers blooming in the rain

 

 In the afternoon we headed for Embsay to settle down in our B&B room. I forgot to take any photos of it but it was a nice, comfortable and (most important for me!!!) quite accommodation. However, I would like to say a few words about the 'full English breakfast'. My dearest British friends, I have to admit that this is nothing I can recommend. Sausages, bacon, black pudding and an egg - who is able to digest so much animal protein in the mornings? The second morning I asked lovely Elaine just for a small portion of scrambled eggs and tomatoes. She also offered fresh fruit, yogurt, muesli, toast and home-made jam and marmalade. All in all very delicious and absolutely sufficient for me. It has been a really comfortable stay there.

Morning view from our window

The next day the weather didn't get better. So we decided to explore the countryside by car. We headed for Grassington, a little market town in Wharfedale. We passed Bolton Abbey, and the Linton waterfalls but as the rain got worse and worse we didn't stop. We just followed the route, admiring the landscape.

The Priest house at Barden

Burnsall

When the rain ceased we reached the small town of Grassington in Upper Wharfedale. Centred around its small cobbled square is a selection of shops, pubs and the village museum, offering food, clothing and gifts.

 I love this dwarf's face carved into a tree trunk!

So true and so beautiful!

 The sun was coming up and we decided to do some hiking. Not a long, strenuous walk but a little tour. We drove to Malham, a small village surrounded by limestone walls and with a stream running right through the middle of the village. We decided to take the walk to Malham Cove, a huge curving amphitheatre shaped cliff formation of limestone rock. The vertical face of the cliff is about 260 feet high. The top of the cove is a large area of limestone pavement. Originally, a large waterfall flowed over the cove as a glacier melted above it. But now a stream emerges from a cave at the bottom of the cove.

The way up...

On the top...

Way down again...

Passing many, many sheep...

Because our walking-tour was so enjoyable we spontaneously decided to take the little diversion via Gordale Scar. This is a spectacular gorge, complete with waterfalls, cut right into the limestone hillside. The gorge was produced by water from melting glaciers sometime over the last three million years.

On the way back to Malham we passed 'Janet's Foss', a small but wonderful waterfall and pool in a kind of magical wood. Janet’s Foss got its name from a fairy queen in folklore (by the name ‘Jennet’) who was said to reside in the caves behind the falls.

On the footpath we discovered a tree stump that has become home to hundreds of pennies to make a wish with Jennet 'the queen of the fairies...

I could go on like this for ages but I think I have to stop now. Family time! The other part of our trip will follow soon, I promise. 

Have a super Sunday, 
Viola

Hooray! Something cosy, snuggly and warm is finally finished!

Hello everyone! 
In one of my last posts I showed you a picture of a small project I started some time ago. A small project relating to autumn and winter, something I am in very need when it is getting cold. Something that is almost essential for me to be able to get a good sleep. Something for my cold feet...

An old-fashioned hot water bottle cover! 

When I was blog surfing a while ago I came across the really lovely blog of Kate called 'Foxs Lane'. A few weeks ago she started a crochet along with this hottie pattern and I just couldn't resist trying it immediately. I love hooties because I just can't fall asleep when my feet are frozen.

So I took my everyday cotton yarn Lang Quattro and chose all the blue colours I could find in my stash.

Then I started making some simple granny squares choosing the colours randomly.

 I do love this colour combination very much. It reminds me of summer holidays, blue ocean, warm weather, endless beaches and a cool breathe that strokes your heated skin. When I cuddled on my sofa slowly crocheting these simple grannies, memories of golden summer holidays evoked in my mind. Crocheting is such a soothing occupation...

This afternoon I weaved in a few ends, enjoying a fine cup of tea and my finished hottie. I love, love, love it!

When I finished all ends I immediately felt the urge to fill the bottle with hot water though I didn't have the time to cuddle on the sofa. I had to fetch my son from school and bring my daughter to her gym lessons. Nevertheless I put the hottie on the sofa, it is now lying there in the arms of 'Frieda', my favourite cushion on the sofa (originally it's been a breastfeeding pillow). The hottie is patiently waiting for me, I will enjoy its warmth and cosiness this evening when sitting on the sofa, trying to finish the next project patiently waiting in my crocheting basket.  

I wonder if the cotton yarn was the right choice for it or if I should have chosen some snugly wool, merino wool for example. Has anyone any experience with crocheted hotties? Anyway, I will give my cotton hottie a try and if it is not as cosy as I had thought, maybe I'll just make another one from wool. This really is a nice little project, something you can just start while doing other things. Perfect! I am very, very happy! 

I hope that you will also have a comfortable, cosy and heartwarming evening. See you soon. I haven't forgotten my post about our trip to Yorkshire. I will write it soon!
Hugs, Viola

Yarndale and Yorkshire Dales

Good morning to you all!

I haven't written a post for such a long time but the last week was so busy, busy, busy that I just couldn't work round to write a line. My mother came to visit (she is living more than 400 km away from us) because my husband and I wanted to take a break from everyday life. It's been our 16th wedding day and we decided to go to Yorkshire for a couple of days. So my mother agreed to take care of the children, the dog and the house and off we went! We have never been to Yorkshire before but I have always wanted to go there and I was keen to visit Yarndale as well, of course!

On Sunday then we went to Skipton, parked our car near the train station and had a lovely morning walk through the Aireville Park to Yarndale. What a feast for the eyes! There's been so much gorgeous yarnbombing in the park.

 

And then, tickets and brochure bought, it was into the entrance hall where there was so much more colourful crochet bunting than I have ever seen before.

 

 And then there were all the gorgeous mandalas that have been sent to Lucy from attic24.

 

I neglected to take more photos of the vendors - too busy looking round. My husband soon left me for some other distraction...

 That's me visiting Yarndale, maybe not the best foto in the world but it reveals a lucky me! 

There were, of course, absolutely loads of fantastic vendors and lots of amazing yarns. I just couldn't stop touching all this soft and precious yarn. And I did some shopping, of course. Not too much because I have so many, many projects in my basket that want to be finished first. But there is no point in visiting a yarn market without buying any yarn, isn't there? 

 This is Drops Alpaca yarn in a beautiful green that will match with my winter coat just perfectly. It is a very light and soft yarn, I could have bought all the different colours!

 This is also a Drops yarn, a baby merino in a wonderful raspberry shade together with one ball of soft pink. I don't know what I will make out of it, but I just had to buy it.

And the last one... A silk and alpaca mix for a wonderful lace shawl. Something luxurios, I will take my time to find the perfect pattern for such beautiful yarn. 

This is quite a long post now and I haven't written a word about our wonderful trip to the Yorkshire dales. I will soon come back and write about it. These four days were absolutely lovely and I'll tell you more about it next time.
Sorry that I haven't had the time to read your blog posts and write some comments. As soon as there is a little time slot again, I will catch up with all that has happened the last two weeks. 
Have a beautiful day! Viola