Holiday in Yorkshire - September 2017 - Days 5 - 6

On Tuesday, Mum and Dad went into York, while Rob and I headed out to Robin Hood's Bay. It was a warm and sunny day, so too hot to leave Brock in the car.

We had checked the tide times in advance, so were able to time our walk to take in the whole of the bay and around the picturesque fishing village. Dogs are allowed on the beach at all times of year, and it is popular with fossil hunters as the cliff is continually crumbling - we saw small rock falls occurring as we were walking.

Lunch was taken outside, overlooking the promenade and sea, at the Swell Cafe Bar. We had the ploughman's lunch and mineral water or green tea. It was busy and the service was a little slow, but very friendly and the food was good.

The walk back up to the top car park is extremely steep!

Later that evening we treated my parents to dinner at The Nags Head in Askham Bryan. The food is always superb in there. We all ate far too much, but enjoyed it thoroughly. I had the three egg omelet with cheese and onion, and chunky chips, followed by banana split. Yum!

The next day we went to York and Mum and Dad had a rest day after all of their walking in York the previous day.

We gave Brock a 50 minute walk along by the river, before he had a 'little rest' in the car (we parked in the Piccadilly multi-story car park: a 'bargain' at £7.50 for three hours). We looked around The Shambles, bought some food for dinner in M&S and had lunch in Molly's Tearoom in The Antique Centre. I had a very good egg mayonnaise sandwich on gluten free bread and Rob had a veggie breakfast of eggs, mushrooms, tomatoes, toast and baked beans. Recommended! The antiques were interesting to browse, too: numerous cabinets of well grouped and laid out treasures. I was very tempted by some red and blue faceted, glass jewellery, but managed to resist.

Holiday In Yorkshire - Day 5 - York

We started the day with a 2.5 mile walk around the York Racecourse.

There were people jogging, cycling, walking dogs, exercising children: it was busier than it looks!

We parked at a very expensive city centre car park in York, to make sure that Brock was under cover.

I went to the Quilt Museum, which consisted of a large room in a historic building with numerous beautiful quilts, and quilted items on display. There were two side rooms with smaller exhibitions of "Voices From The Inside" showing quilts and other items made by people in prison; and "Chinese Whispers", which was an interesting project. One person in the quilting group is shown a photo of something. They make a quilt on the theme, then show a photo of their quilt to the next member, who then responds with their own interpretation of the theme. Each person only sees the previous one quilt, and the theme evolves and changes - fascinating! What started as a view of Glasgow went through themes of recycling and ended up as trees.

This was my favourite quilt in the exhibition, known as The Billings Coverlet (1805-1810) - featuring fifteen frames of extraordinary piecing skill. (This image from the Quilt Museum's website.)

The museum also has a small gift shop with souvenirs and crafting kits, sewing notions, fabric etc.

Rob wandered around The Shambles area in the meantime, and we met up in El Piano, a gluten free, vegan restaurant.

This is my main course - 'fiery' kebabs, pineapple fritters, salsa, vegan mayo and herb/yogurt raita dip. Rob had a similar plateful (with spinach fritters and hummus). It looked good, but was a little bland for my taste. I would have liked more herbs and spices. The drinks are a generous portion, served in a jug. We had one veg energy drink, one delicious hot chocolate, and one coffee afterwards. I had a portion of the Victoria sponge cake, which came with a tiny dish of strawberry puree. The cake was quite solid (as GF ones often are!) with incredibly sweet, faux butter cream filling. It went quite well with the coffee, though, which was strong and black. The bill came to £34.30.

I would go back again, but maybe try something different from the menu. It's the only place I've been to where I can choose anything from the menu. The hot chocolate and coffee were both very good. The staff are friendly and the interior decor is interesting - Spanish style. I read that they are hoping to plant an edible wall outside. You can buy various specialist foods and kits from the restaurant, too, and from their website.

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.