My UK & Ireland, One Year On: August 12

We woke up, had breakfast, and checked out of our lovely Derby hotel and headed south to the Cotswolds! I knew it could be a bit more tourist-heavy, as it was a weekend, but I have wanted for some time to just drive through the tiny villages and countryside that the area affords.

We stopped first in the market town of Moreton-in-Marsh. I can’t even remember why, but we did. We grabbed some snacks from the Tesco Express (as well as a flat of water bottles, so we would have plenty for the remainder of our trip), and started down the road to another market town, Stow-on-the-Wold. In prepping for the trip, I had come across a suggested drive along what is known as the Romantic Road. The route started and ended in the village of Broadway (which wasn’t far from where we’d stay that evening) and covered a fair bit of countryside using smaller roads to do it. This is exactly what I was looking for! So, I fudged with the route a bit, so that we would drive just over half of it, visiting a fair few villages in a semi-circle that would land us in Blockley for the night.

Stow-on-the-Wold is where we got our first decent bit of walking in. We headed up to the market square to the old library, which also houses the tourist information center. We bought a good map of the Cotswolds so I could navigate us on smaller roads, getting us away from using the GPS for the day. We also passed by The Porch House, which claims to be England’s oldest inn!

Our drive through smaller villages on tiny lanes began in the twin villages of Lower and Upper Slaughter. There were spots were the road would not have fit two cars on it (which was part of the fun!) and we were driving right by the river. The best part? No crowds of people. The market towns had already begun to attract lots, but not in these villages. It was heavenly!

We moved back onto a slightly larger road, only to turn on another tiny lane into the village of Naunton. It was here that we stopped for lunch at The Black Horse Inn and sat out on the patio. It was the first real sunny day we’d had since Ireland and the perfect weather for dining al fresco.

We continued through the village and along a few more ‘B’ roads until we arrived in the village of Hailes, home to the ruins of Hailes Abbey. Operated jointly by English Heritage and the National Trust, the ruins are set up as an open air museum, with an audioguide describing life as it was in the monastery before Henry VIII and the Dissolution of the Monasteries. Much of the stonework is still present, and the all that remains of the abbey church are the foundation stones, almost setting an outline of the building in the ground. It was a beautiful site to visit.

Our little lanes took us near Stanway House (though not early enough to stop in for a visit) and the village of Stanton before landing us in Broadway and the nearby Broadway Tower. I really think we might have explored Broadway a bit more had it not been busier than the other villages, but it made for a lovely pass through. I was getting weary, so we didn’t go climb the tower, but we stopped long enough to get a photo!

We continued on away from the Romantic Road drive through the village of Chipping Campden before settling in Blockley for the night. Now, when we were booking rooms, all I knew was that I wanted one night in a sleepy Cotswold village. We found a good price at The Crown Hotel in Blockley and pounced. It wasn’t until after we booked that I found out more about the village. In the past couple of years, I had become a fan of the Father Brown series of mysteries on PBS and I discovered that much of the show is filmed in Blockley. The village itself is essentially Father Brown’s village of Kembleford. The local church of St. Peter and St. Paul is Father Brown’s St. Mary’s. And we were staying right down the lane from the church!

We got checked in to our hotel, which was backed up on to a hill and had a driveway running through it. So, while many of the rooms were above the reception area, ours was across the driveway, kind of like a little motor court hotel. It was a nice little space! We walked down to the local shop and walked back through the church yard. We then ended our day with a meal and a drink in the pub and turned in a bit early. The next day would see us driving to Wales and we were getting an early start!

I hope you enjoy the beauty we tried to capture in the photos from this day.

My UK & Ireland, One Year On: August 11

We left Manchester early and headed southeast to the village of Disley, right on the edge of the Peak District. In honor of our plans for the day, I found us the perfect place for breakfast – a little cafe on the Disley High Street called Lyme Perk. We’re talking about a tiny place where the owner lives above the cafe and you can hear her cooking your food. And, goodness, it was delicious!

We left Lyme Perk and drove two minutes down the road to the entrance of Lyme Park. Lyme Park is a large estate that has been gifted to the National Trust and is probably best known to most Americans as Pemberley, home of Colin Firth’s Mr. Darcy. We were a bit early for visiting the house, but the grounds were open to visit. It was a bit drizzly and already muddy from the rain the day before, but it was a nice, fresh feeling! After parking in the muddy lot, we walked down by the lumber yard, perused the garden store, and had a tea in the cafe. At that point, knowing it was almost time for the house to open, we walked a path that took us on a grand circle around the entire house and some of the grounds.

It was on this walk that we could see Lyme from the vantage point that Elizabeth Bennet did in the film. And a little part of me felt the same rush that I imagine Lizzie felt. It was truly beautiful.

We walked through the door to the courtyard and up the stairs into the house. There was so much to see and so much to learn about the house. And the gardens were equally delightful! We took a ton of pictures, so many that we have two albums of photos to share for this day (with captions on just about everything). So here is album number one, filled with pictures from Lyme.

After leaving Lyme, we headed through part of the Peak District and decided we’d just stop for lunch when we decided we were hungry. That happened as we passed the tiny village of Tideswell, so we stopped at the Anchor Inn for lunch. We then headed down the road to the Chatsworth Estate.

Chatsworth is the seat of the Duke of Devonshire and the family welcomes visitors to visit part of the house and the beautiful grounds. There are some who speculate that Jane Austen had Chatsworth in mind when she described Pemberley. And, in the 2005 Keira Knightley adaptation of Pride & Prejudice, Chatsworth was Pemberley.

As we toured the house, Mom commented on the amount of knick knacks that they have collected over the generations. Obviously, they are extremely priceless works, but still – can you imagine having to dust it all?

I was most intrigued by the statuary, filled with some interesting marble works. The hall empties into the Orangery, which has been converted into the house shop. It was there that I came face to face with Mr. Darcy. Well… it was a marble bust of Matthew MacFadyen, the actor who played Darcy to Keira Knightley’s Lizzie.

After a short walk of part of the grounds, we headed out of the park and down the road towards Derby, driving through the towns of Matlock and Matlock Bath on the way. We arrived in Derby at our little hotel just in time to meet yet another friend for dinner in the pub. It was wonderful to get to meet my friend Sonia in person and share a meal in the pub and I am so glad she was able to make the drive out to meet us!

Now, this hotel, the Georgian House, is apparently haunted (if that’s something you believe in). I don’t know about all of that, but I do know it is old and our room was super creaky. There was a main room with a four poster bed, another small room with two twins, and then the bathroom, each having doors between them. The door from the main room to the small room would not stay open! So, the creaky door moving when no one was near was a bit freaky. But, that bed was so comfortable and we got some great sleep!

Here are the pictures of the second half of our day:

My UK & Ireland, One Year On: August 10

We had an early morning and had arranged with our hostess to be able to get into the breakfast room cabinets to take a couple to go items for the road. We then drove west to the port city of Liverpool for a day full of Beatles fun!

There is obviously much more to Liverpool than its Beatles connection (and I look forward to returning and exploring the city), but we planned our day around the Fab Four. The National Trust owns the childhood homes of Paul McCartney and John Lennon and the only way to see the inside of these homes is to take the tour offered by the NT. So, Mom & I planned to be on the first tour of the day. About half of our fellow tourists were Americans, which made for fun conversations, but others were Brits who just wanted to see this bit of history in their backyard.

We were picked up at the Jurys Inn on the docks and shuttled over to 251 Menlove Avenue, known as “Mendips.” On our way to Mendips, the driver drove by and pointed out parts of the city that were important to Lennon & McCartney and their songs, including Penny Lane and St. Peter’s Church (where they first met). We were greeted at Mendips by our delightful host (he and his wife run the houses for the National Trust). We were given the opportunity to take pictures of the front of the house, but were told that the cameras had to be put away once we entered the home.

Our host gave us some background on how John had come to live with his aunt and uncle at Mendips and what life was like with Aunt Mimi and Uncle George. The home was immaculately kept and Aunt Mimi was not a fan of John’s love for this new music or his new friends “off the estate.” We even got to walk into John’s room, where he and Paul worked a bit on music (though most of their early stuff is believed to have been written at Paul’s house)!

We were then shuffled off into the van again, just as another group of tourists arrived, and were taken to 20 Forthlin Road, the McCartney family home. Our hostess, again, gave us the opportunity for photos before we stowed our cameras to visit inside. We were invited to have a seat in the front room and listen to a welcome message from Sir Paul before taking a tour of the home and back garden. It was such a lovely experience!

We were shuttled back to the Albert Dock and Mom & I walked over to our next Beatles stop: The Beatles Story. The story provided a walk through Beatles history, with narration from John’s sister, Julia, on the audioguide. There was a replica of the Cavern Club, and of the Abbey Road Studios, in addition to all sorts of other Beatles memorabilia and replicas. It was a great exhibition and well worth the time.

We stopped at Pizza Express for late lunch (and a delicious Eton Mess Cheesecake for dessert!) before heading up the Mersey to Manchester for the night. We could have gotten out and about in Manchester, but it had begun raining when we arrived at our hotel and we were both so tired, so we snacked on treats we’d collected along the way and got cozy for an early night in.

As I mentioned before, we couldn’t take pictures inside the homes, so our album is a bit thin for today. But there are some photos from the Beatles Story!

My UK & Ireland, One Year On: August 9

We had a delightful sleep in our lovely little home away from home in York, and headed downstairs to a lovely meal in the breakfast room. We then hit the road for a day of exploring in Yorkshire!

We drove west to Harrogate, really for the sole purpose of stopping in at the original Bettys Tea Rooms. We found a parking spot just down the street and walked to the corner shop, enjoying the delicious-looking window displays as we neared the door. I simply wanted to buy tea from Bettys (which is part of the same company as my favorite tea brand, Taylors of Harrogate). I got myself a bag of loose leaf to bring home (still have plenty left a year later) and we walked back to the car to get out in to the country a bit.

I planned this road day to be able to drive through the Yorkshire Dales and take in the beauty of those valleys. We started with a quick stop in the market town of Skipton, to see the town (and to get Mom some coffee!) before heading north into the Yorkshire Dales National Park. Our drive took us through Wharfedale, driving up a narrow road and passing by some beautiful villages. One of the villages we passed, Kettlewell, was where the film Calendar Girls was filmed!

We passed over Kidstones Bank and Tomgill Bank into Wensleydale (alas, I did not actually eat any Wensleydale cheese while we were here – it completely slipped my mind!) in search of the village of Askrigg. For anyone familiar with the old BBC show (thus, PBS show) All Creatures Great and Small, about the vets in a Yorkshire village, you will be familiar with the sights of Askrigg and it was precisely because of the show that I wanted to visit.

Our journey in and out of Askrigg included a small lane big enough for one car to drive down – always great fun. But we soon found ourselves in the center of fictional Darrowby, home of James Herriot and the Farnon Brothers of Skeldale House. We stopped briefly in at the Drover’s Arms (The King’s Head) and genrally enjoyed being in this quaint village. We then headed back out the tiny lane to the highway and down the road to Aysgarth Falls and our first NP Visitor Centre. Instead of heading into the Visitor Centre first, we walked down the trail to the see the middle cascade of the falls from the north bank of the River Ure. What a lovely sight! Got quite a few pictures from slightly different angles along the bank and enjoyed the extended walk after being in the car so much.

Our journey then took us to Thirsk, where we visited the World of James Herriot. Here, in the actual home and veterinary practice of Alf Wight (aka James Herriot), there are rooms set up as they would have been during his life along with sets from the television show, culminating in a lovely statue in the back garden. It was a great little museum!

We drove from Thirsk to Ripon, wanting to get a glimpse of the market town and also planning to do some laundry! (Yes, we had been driving around all day with our dirty laundry in the trunk.) So, after parking near the laundrette, we first walked down to the market square to Appleton’s to buy dinner to go: steak pie, sausage roll, and a scotch egg. The food went in our bags and we headed back to the laundrette to get our washing done. We ate while we waited and then struck up a conversation with the sweet couple who ran the place. She suggested that we visit Fountains Abbey and Studley Royal park. We knew that getting to visit the abbey wasn’t happening as it had already closed to tourists for the day and we would be leaving the next morning. But, when our laundry was done, we still drove there to visit the surrounding Studley Royal park.

As we drove up the road into the park, a small part of me wondered if we were allowed. However, there was hardly a person to be seen, so Mom kept going up the path. We did end up turning down a path I am not sure we were supposed to be on, but it meant that we were suddenly surrounded by deer on either side of the path! Such a memorable moment – I am so glad we listened to the kind woman at the laundrette!

We drove back through Ripon for a quick pass at the cathedral (I will definitely go back to visit both the cathedral and Fountains Abbey!) and then we headed further east into the North York Moors National Park. Had we planned one more day in Yorkshire, this NP would have been our other day trip, taking us out to the coast to Scarborough. However, we only really got as far as the Sutton Bank Visitor Centre. It was closed by the time we arrived, so we took a quick gander from a high trail head by the parking lot and then hit the road back to York to turn in early.

It was a beautiful day filled with beautiful sights and we took a good amount of photos. Please click through… you even get to see the deer!

My UK & Ireland, One Year On: August 8

We woke up in our quiet little square and headed to the bar next door for breakfast (and it was delicious!) before hitting the road. Our end goal was the city of York, but we had plans for seeing some of Cumbria and Northumberland on our way. I left Scotland looking forward to returning sometime soon!

We crossed the border near Gretna Green on the M6 and headed towards Carlisle, where we hung a left to explore the parts of Cumbria and Northumberland where the historic Hadrian’s Wall can be found dotting the landscape. I had found places where they have forts and you can pay to tour them, but soon discovered that there were also free locations to visit, like the turrets and milecastles that connected between the forts. There are quite a few that are easily accessible from a small lane or down a short walk and they are free to visit!

Our first stop was Banks East Turret, where a few Roman soldiers would be watching over the frontier. There is a section of wall rising sloping out of the ground up towards the turret and we even walked in to the turret to look out over the Cumbrian countryside from the POV of the soldiers. Lovely view! While at the turret, I read about a nearby milecastle that was also free to visit, so we followed signs to the village of Gilsland to find it.

We parked near the railroad tracks and found a delightful little trail that led to the Poltross Burn Milecastle. The trail itself was beautiful. It ran along the backside of someone’s yard for a few hundred feet, before crossing Poltross Burn (with the railroad’s own bridge over the burn just behind, making quite the lovely picture) surrounded by lovely trees. And all of a sudden, we happened upon a large set of ruins! There were stairs that were intact and the walls so short in some places that you felt you were walking through a life-size floor plan. And we were the only ones there!

We walked back to the car and decided upon having lunch at the local pub, just across the lane from where we parked. When we first walked in, we were the only customers. It was kind of nice to feel that we were in this rather quiet, sleepy little place. The food was delicious and the view out our window was a horse paddock with a lovely pony in it. When we were done eating and settled up, we decided to walk across the street to get a photo of the pub. Mom ended up “bonding” with the sweet pony, who seemed rather interested in us, and then we were on our way.

We then headed as straight as we could to York. Our journey had us skirting the North Pennines and it was truly a lovely drive. We found our B&B in the St. Mary’s area of York and were so happy to discover just how close to old York we were! The B&B was delightful, and after getting checked in, we walked to Bootham Bar (one of the gates of the old city walls) and headed towards York Minster.

We arrived to discover that we were just in time to attend choral evensong if we so chose. Well, being a choral music nerd, of course I so chose! This was an experience I had truly hoped for – getting to sit in the quire area of the cathedral, hearing the organ and the voices reverberate off the vaulted ceiling. It was heavenly! We walked as slowly as we could towards the exit when the service ended, taking in as much of the cathedral as we could, before spilling out into the uneven and bustling old city.

We walked awhile, mostly looking for the Shambles area of the old city. Though we didn’t find the actual shambles, we still saw rather off-kilter architecture and it was charming! We began walking back towards Bootham Bar to return to our digs and found a delightful little cafe, the Cafe Concerto, where we had dinner. Literally, music on the walls – loved it!

Upon returning to our digs, we relaxed in our room with the Olympics on the tv and got ready for the long day we had planned ahead!

Please enjoy the photos we took as we toured the Roman history – including Mom’s new equine friend!