Holiday in Yorkshire - Days 7 and 8 - York Racecourse, Ripon, and Grassington

We had been going to Fountains Abbey to walk Brock, but the £11 per head entrance fee put a stop to that, and we did the walk at the York Racecourse again, before driving on to Ripon for the second time.

We went back to Ripon for a second visit, to have lunch at Oliver's Pantry, a very nice cafe in the town. I had hummus and halloumi sandwich on GF bread; Rob had the all day 'veggie' breakfast. We bought a couple of their traybakes to take home for afternoon tea.

There are some good local shops, and there was a market on, where we bought some beautiful auriculas and cowslips.

We retired to the cottage in the afternoon and just had M&S veg curries with a glass of wine for dinner.

On Friday, we had a quick clean and hoover round before piling everything into the car for the journey home.

We stopped at Grassington on the way home and had a walk by Linton Falls and along the river back into the town.

We found socks for sale at Linton Falls, made using an antique sock knitting machine, and using mixed recycled yarns. We couldn't resist buying four pairs: payment is via an honesty box (actually the letter box of the house). They are long, without soles, so fit a wide range of sizes and there were lots of colours to choose from. The fabric is a little coarse, but they should make good socks as a second pair in walking boots. The maker is R A Horner, 24 Church Road, Linton Falls, Skipton, BD23 6BQ. They offer mail order, but don't have a website.


Lunch was at the highly recommended Retreat Cafe, a vegetarian and vegan cafe that welcomes dogs. I had an egg mayo GF sandwich, followed by GF coffee cake; Rob had quiche and chips followed by a sponge pudding and custard. All delicious, and served by friendly staff. A great end to our holiday.

I also bought some fabric with the last £3 in my purse, from some bargain bins with remnants and samples in, outside an interior decoration shop - they really were a bargain at just £1 per item.  The pieces in the bottom left corner are linen from a sample card.

Holiday In Yorkshire - Day 6 - Knaresborough and Harrogate

We had a very pleasant walk along Abbey Road in Knaresborough, along by the River Nidd.

Some of the lovely riverside houses in Knaresborough.

There were three carved tree stumps along the route of the walk; the work of chainsaw sculptor Tommy Craggs of Consett, County Durham. A kingfisher (above) ...

 a green man...

an owl eyeing a mouse.

The walk reaches a medieval hermit's (Saint Robert's) cave, then doubles back through woodland and so back to the town centre.

We had a walk around the ruined castle, then stopped for very good coffees and cake at The Moat Buttery, a cafe overlooking the castle. We were able to sit outside for the first time this year - it was almost too hot.

A view of the Victorian railway viaduct, seen from near the castle. A history of Knaresborough by Alyson Jackson can be found here.

It was a downhill trek to the car park, and then we drove on to Harrogate. Having covered 3.5 miles in the morning, Brock had a little 'rest' in the car while Rob and I went off to Wagamama for lunch.
I had their new warm salad with tofu, little gem lettuce, roasted vegetables and nuts. The dressing was replaced with Tamari to make it GF. Rob had the Yasai Chilli Men with noodles and a side order of Japanese pickles. We both had a vegetable juice: Rob's had tomato, carrot, orange and apple in it; mine was apple, mint, celery and lime. They were both delicious, as was the food.

We sidled straight off to Hoxton North for excellent coffees, and Rob had a flapjack. We bought a big bag of coffee beans of the same blend to enjoy at home, then had a happy hour looking round the many interesting shops.

Much later that evening, my brother Philip came back to the cottage at Askham Bryan to join us for dinner at the Nag's Head. Philip had scampi and chips, I had cheese and onion omelet and chips and Rob had lentil and mash pie. Philip and Rob had lemon cheesecake for pudding, and I had banana split. The food was superb once again - everything homemade and locally sourced, where possible. Highly recommended! The only way it could be improved, as far as we are concerned, is to serve more vegetarian food, with gluten free options.

Holiday in Yorkshire

Rob, Brock and I are just back from a week's holiday in York, staying in the village of Askham Bryan, five miles from the city. We stayed in Blacksmith's Cottage, which slept five and had a nice, big garden for Brock. The next door neighbour was very friendly and advised us on places to visit.

[Click on any photo to see a larger version.]

Blacksmith's Cottage. Photo from owner's website.

There was a fantastic pub in the village, called The Nag's Head. We ate dinner there twice. The food was brilliant, and the landlady suggested some vegetarian and gluten free dishes they could cook for us. Brock was allowed into the bar area, which he enjoyed.

Here are some of the interesting places we visited:-

 Whitby

Brock loved this beach at Scarborough - lots of dogs!

 Scarborough

 Pirate ship ride

 Brock at Brimham Rocks

  

Weird rock formations at Brimham Rocks - some look like grotesque faces or creatures

 The Shambles in York

 Lunch at Russells of Coppergate in York 

(More suited to meat eaters, but they did have jacket potato with cheese! 

We ended up here on a day with torrential rain.)

 York Castle

We also walked part of the city walls

 Grassington - a very picturesque village

 A walk at Grassington

 The weir and river at Grassington

Our favourite places to eat were The Nag's Head at Askham Bryan (mentioned above), El Piano in York (a vegan, gluten free restaurant with a very interesting menu) and we also had a tasty curry with my brother, Philip, at Sonali Indian Restaurant in Tadcaster. 

Harrogate had a branch of Wagamama, where we enjoyed a delicious lunch with great service (the staff were very helpful in suggesting gluten free, vegetarian options), and we also had a great coffee at Harrogate in Hoxton North. There was a vegetarian restaurant that we had hoped to go to, called Goji, but it hadn't opened for the day when we got there - next time!

Many of the towns and villages had a good range of independent shops. We particularly enjoyed York, Harrogate, Ripon and Grassington for shopping.