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.

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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.

Autumn In The Air - Folksy Finds

I made up a seasonal selection of items on Pinterest. Here is a sample:-

Fall Leaves Small Hat £85 from Elizabeth Maynard.

Czech Glass Autumn Bracelet £8.50 from dawn sneesby jewellery.

Harvest Moon - handmade ceramic sculpture £35 from jo luckstead ceramics.

Original Painting - Autumn Vignette £55 by Essentially Beads.

 

And one from me! Harvest Stars £75 from Fire Horse Textiles. 

The original Pinterest board can be found here. It contains 20 autumnal gift ideas to browse.

Things To Do In And Around Edinburgh

I recently spent a couple of weeks in Edinburgh and managed to find plenty to do:-

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Afternoon tea and cake at Henderson's at St John's. I have to say that this was not a very good experience, although I have enjoyed lunch there in the past. The teapot barely held enough for one tea cup and the gluten free cake was about 2 inches square when it came out of its packaging (bought in, not made on the premises). Not very good value for money. However, it is an interesting place to sit and they do a good range of vegetarian food.

 The Scottish Gallery of Modern Art, housed in two buildings on opposite sides of Belford Road.

There are two interesting exhibitions on at the moment:- American Impressionism: A New Vision; and Generation: 25 Years of Contemporary Art in Scotland. The views above show some of the sculptures in the garden of Modern One.

I enjoyed early morning coffee and cake in the restaurant at Modern One before it was busy. A very nice place to sit and excellent gluten free cake choices!

The Royal Botanic Garden has two great cafes, glasshouses with exotic planting, and 70 acres of landscaped grounds to wander around in. This time I particularly enjoyed the mixed vegetable and flower borders, the wildflower meadow and the alpines area.

The National Portrait Gallery is set in a beautiful building that I believe was the Museum of Antiquities at one time. The library houses a rather gruesome collection of death masks. There is a John Ruskin exhibition on at the moment, and also one of John Byrne's work.

The National Museum of Scotland is well worth a visit. There is so much to see, including the 'Ming' exhibition, which is on until the 19th of October.

A short walk away is Mother India's Cafe, where you can order a variety of small dishes. Since I was on my own, I limited myself to two dishes with rice, poppadom and coriander chutney. I ate dal made with split peas, and okra with tomatoes. Everything was very tasty, with fast and efficient service.

When I had had enough of walking, I went on an open-top bus tour with Edinburgh Tour. It costs £14 for a 55 minute trip around both new and old towns. The view above shows the Scott Monument with Jenners Department Store in the background, seen at the start of the tour from Waverly Bridge.

 There are lots of East Coast beaches near to Edinburgh. The view above is of a beach near Aberlady.

 Brock on the beach at North Berwick.

 A view of boats from the beach at North Berwick. This was our favourite beach and town.

 A panorama of Portobello beach.

Moth Caterpillars

On our walk today we came across several caterpillars. Rob took photos of two of them:-

 Elephant Hawk Moth Caterpillar

White Ermine Moth Caterpillar

These both turn into beautiful moths that we had no idea were living in the area. The Elephant Hawk Moth Caterpillar feeds on willow herbs (of which we have plenty in the area) and the White Ermine Moth Caterpillar feeds on a variety of herbaceous plants.

A Trip To Alnmouth

Rob, Brock and I had a few hours at Alnmouth, Northumberland on Wednesday.

It is a very attractive seaside village, with a marina, golf course, lots of restaurants, pubs, hotels and cafés (for its size). There are also a few gift shops and delis to browse in.

We enjoyed lunch at The Red Lion Inn: a 'starter' of crisps, followed by Stilton and red onion sandwich for Rob; omelet and salad garnish for me. (The latter was a special request that they kindly cooked for me, since they didn't have any vegetarian, gluten free dishes listed on the menu.) The food was tasty, and it was a nice place to sit and relax. I see from their website that they do Bed and Breakfast, and also have a beer garden overlooking the sea, which we didn't spot. The Inn allows dogs into the bar area and beer garden, which is useful if you happen to have one with you.

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Next we had a walk on the beach, which is beautiful: wide sandy expanses and very few people, even on a sunny day in August.

Brock found a new friend to play with: Becky.

We enjoyed an ice cream and Brock showed quite a bit of interest in getting some. And succeeded.

The nearby market town of Alnwick is also worth a visit for the shops, Alnwick Garden and Alnwick Castle.

The Beach - Folksy Front Page

My Pinterest Board, The Beach, has been chosen for the front page of Folksy.com today :)

To see links to the items for sale, please visit the original board via this link, then click on the pictures twice to be taken to the sellers' pages.

Etsy Shop Recommendation: The Spartan Table

My latest purchase on Etsy was from The Spartan Table. I am a great fan of Greek cuisine having enjoyed holidays in Kos, Kefalonia, and Corfu in the past. The herbs especially are very pungent. My favourite dishes are Greek Salad and Tzatziki.

I make Greek Salad with tomatoes, cucumber, onion, black olives, feta cheese, olive oil, a pinch each of salt and black pepper and a sprinkle of oregano. So delicious served with bread to soak up the juices.

For Tzatziki, I use a very thick Greek yoghurt with finely chopped or grated cucumber, lemon juice, crushed garlic, salt and pepper and chopped fresh mint, again served with bread, or with vegetable crudités.

I bought some olive oil, olives, savory and oregano from Jehny and George's wonderful shop and it arrived within days. They had also included samples of the shepherd's tea (a herbal infusion, which is refreshing and claims medicinal properties. It will be on my shopping list next time); chamomile tea; and currants (sweet and delicious, sprinkled on breakfast cereals, yoghurt or porridge).

Here is a glimpse of a few of the items available:-

Olives - Kalamon Variety - 210gr in Glass Jar

 

Sun dried Tomatoes in oil with wild herbs

 

Shepherds Tea - 30gr - Wild Greek Mountain Tea from Mountain Parnonas

I really recommend this shop - the products and customer service are second to none.