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 3 - Brimham Rocks and Ripon

After a vegetarian cooked breakfast at the cottage, to set us up for the day, we headed out to Brimham Rocks. There are hundreds of weird rock formations on the site.

It is like walking around an alien landscape. It was a bit busier than when we were last there in October. The car park costs £5 per car, which is their 'entrance fee', I suppose.

Dogs are allowed onto the site, so Brock came along and was off the lead for most of the way, although you do have to watch out for some steep cliff edges in places. We wandered at random along small grass pathways and over the moorland before coming back to the Visitor Centre, which sells souvenirs. There is a refreshment stand (not yet open when we were there), picnic tables and a toilet block.

We drove on to Ripon and ate lunch at The Royal Oak pub. Dogs are allowed into the bar and beer garden.

I had feta salad (the only vegetarian, gluten free option), Rob had a falafel burger and chips and we both had cups of coffee. There were about four vegetarian options to choose from. The food was tasty and well prepared, and the staff were very attentive. The other people in the bar were locals and chatted about dogs with us - always a good subject! Definitely a recommended place to eat.

Ripon has a good range of small, independent shops, as well as some chain shops, plus plenty of places to eat. We bought some food for dinner in the Sainsburys, then headed back to the cottage to read the papers and relax.