ENGLAND 2000
Day 3
Yorkshire Dales to Cotherstone, Durham, England
Saturday
May 6, 2000
It's Saturday...Sheila has offered to drive us over to Harrogate to see the Valley Gardens in the morning...and this afternoon we will pack up our things and drive north to Durham to our first cottage at East Briscoe Farm.
After a very nice breakfast, we drove over to nearby Harrogate to the Gardens. We found a good parking spot at the edge of the Gardens and entered at the main entrance near the Bath House.
First thing we saw as we entered the Valley Gardens was so funny ... a little boy, about 2 years old, who must have had to make a "loo" stop and just couldn't wait another minute...as we rounded the corner, his parents were yelling at him to pull up his pants...he was so cute!
We strolled through the gardens, admiring the plants there - they are really spectacular...here's a flowering tree with a bed of flowers used as a sundial. I have to tell you that my pictures don't do the colours here justice...must be the cheap film I was using!
On down the path we came across a fountain, and if you look closely, through the statues, you can glimpse a couple on the seat across the way - it was a sunny day, lunch time, and they were cuddling over there...aww, how sweet!
We walked, talked, and stopped here and there for a sit-down...we eventually found a lovely building on the side of the gardens that had been all renovated - it was going to be torn down, but the residents became very vocal about their wanting to retain this structure, and it eventually was all fixed up again...it has a lovely trellis over the veranda and wysteria growing all over the top...I can only imagine how wonderful must be the aroma sitting there in the warm month of June when the Wysteria is in bloom...we actually saw a few buds of it the day we were there...
We sat on a bench for a good long while...my feet are always in need of rest...and we met a very nice bearded collie named "Bee". Bee's owners stopped to chat with us for a bit - it's always nice to meet the creatures of England!
Here is a view of some of the flowers and plants along the garden way. The tulips near the fountain were in full bloom on the day we were there and it was a spectacular display of Mother Nature at her finest!
We got back to Sheila's around 1, Paul had lunch, and I had a cuppa Yorkshire Gold tea ... before we packed up our car for the drive north to our first cottage in Cotherstone, Durham.
We drove up through the Dales, the long way, and in fact we ended up taking a lot longer than we'd planned...those tiny country back-roads can really wind and bend and they are slow going at times. We went through Leyburn, up to Barnard Castle where we found a grocery store (after the "loo" stop of course!) and stocked up on some food for the cottage. It was only about another 5 miles from Barnard Castle over to Cotherstone, and about 2 miles off the main road in Cotherstone to our cottage...which we found right away.
As we drove down the path to the cottages, Peter Wilson, the owner, happened to be outside in the driveway to greet us...it was about 5:30 pm by this time - we were a bit later than we'd planned but no problem! Peter was just as nice as could be and his wife Ann as well was wonderful. We got all our luggage from the car into the cottage and took a few pictures of the place...
Here is Barn Cottage at East Briscoe Farm Cottages...the exterior front door, which was a lovely spot to take our coffee or tea in the early mornings, the stairway to the 2nd floor, the living room showing the hearth, and the beautiful arched windows in the living room. At the 2nd floor, this is the bedroom which Margaret used, and here is one view of our bedroom (and another view of our room) where Paul and I slept for this first week. It was a perfectly lovely place. We were very lucky to have such a nice accommodation here at East Briscoe Farm Cottages.
We made ourself a sparce little supper and watched a little telly before retiring for the night...tomorrow we have to get up early and get down to Thirsk to the railroad station to pick up our friend Margaret who will be coming by train up from York where she has spent the last 3 days of her holiday.
Boy it feels good to be here!
Here is a little family of sheep who reside on the grounds of East Briscoe Farm.
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