Wish we were there at the same time!

I returned home the other night to a message from a friend saying she and her husband were going to book flights to Cape Town for a winter holiday and that she'd love to meet up while I am there with another friend. Great idea. I rang back, but it is a case of bad timing. They fly back the night we fly out, so we'll be on planes that pass in the night. In the air at the same time, but unfortuantely unable to meet up in Camps Bay and have a sundowner together.

Jervaulx Abbey - a haven for wild flowers or is it just overgrown?

Jervaulx Abbey, is in Yorkshire and was founded in the twelfth century and plundered during the dissolution of the monasteries in the sixteenth century.

It is described by the Jervaulx Abbey website as having “ crumbling walls........ heavily clad in diverse vegetation” http://www.jervaulxabbey.com/home.php . Others would describe it as a ruin which is very overgrown with weeds. The truth is somewhere in between the two.

Although the abbey is ruined, it is possible to get a feel for how splendid it must once have been. On a warm summer evening and with the right sort of light and the sun setting in the right direction, this would be an atmospheric setting to get some great photographs. On a very cold and windy day (the day I was there with two friends), it feels less romantic.

Unless you have a special interest in ruined abbeys, it isn’t worth going out of your way for, but is worth a look if you are passing by.

The Bowes Museum

The Bowes Museum is in the town of Barnard Castle in County Durham. It is the legacy of John Bowes and his wife Josephine Benoite. They wanted to bring art to the masses and this purpose built Museum is thanks to them, so it is said that the building was not completed until after their death. A friend described the style of the building as French Municipal, which sums it up really; it wouldn’t look out of place in a town square in France, so is a little incongruous in a typical English market town.

The artefacts cover European furniture, ceramics and paintings from the Middle Ages to the nineteenth century. It includes paintings by Caneletto ,Goya and many others and Recoco furniture.

The highlight of Bowes is the Silver Swan. It is a 240 year old clockwork swan covered in silver leaf, which moves as smoothly as if it was alive and eats a fish. You can see it in action at 2:00pm every afternoon and also by clicking on this link http://www.bbc.co.uk/mediaselector/check/england/realmedia/insideout/northeast/090114_io_north_east_swan?size=16x9&bgc=C0C0C0&nbram=1&bbram=1&nbwm=1&bbwm=1

There are also temporary exhibitions. It is good to see that the museum promotes local artists from the present day as well as having fine art from the past. It isn’t all serious fine art and at the moment there is an exhibition called ‘Toys Tales’ which is all about children’s television characters.

The Museum has a rather odd and unenforced photography policy. To take a photograph, you pay extra, but can’t use a flash, they don’t do anything to people who ignore the rule though, so what is the point?

The swan is the fun part of the visit for anyone and there is much else to see that will please you even if you just have a passing interest in fine art.

The Old Lodge, Staindrop, near Barnard Castle

The Old Lodge is a great venue for a holiday in the countryside with friends or family. It is a few miles from the village of Staindrop and reached by a single track road. Being well away from street lights means it is possible get excellent views of the stars on a clear night. The property has four bedrooms on three floors. Most of the rooms are extremely large and well proportioned. The only ‘small’ room is on the top floor and only seems small in comparison to other rooms in the house. In fact it is probably as big as a double room in an average family home.

We found the layout ideal. Everyone can be together while meals are being cooked, but there is enough room for people to find a quite space. On the ground floor there is a large living room with kitchen, eating and sitting areas. It has a huge open grate fire and logs are supplied. The downstairs bedroom and en-suite are a good size. On the first floor there is a huge bedroom and family bathroom with roll-top bath. On the top floor another huge bedroom, a smaller bedroom and shower room. Outside there are outbuildings, a games room, a pleasant sitting area and a stream running through the garden. The Old Lodge is built up on a mound, so the grounds are not very even, which could present problems for people who are unsteady on their feet.

The furnishings and equipment add a homely feel. The crockery, pans, sheets and floor coverings are all high quality. As mentioned in a previous post, there are also nice touches like an ipod docking station and printer.

An added bonus is that the property is over 600 years old, so has lots of character, such as thick walls, leaded windows and some stone floors. It is part of the Raby Castle Estate and has previously served as a look-out tower and hunting lodge. It was restored in 1991 by the 11th Lord Barnard. Rentals can be arranged through various agencies, we used Cottages4You.

A lovely Sunday

We had a late and leisurly breakfast buffet done by me with lots of assistance. The only criticism was that there was no maple syrup for the pancakes.

Afterwards some of us went for a moderate walk into Staindrop follwed by a pint, others stayed at the Old Lodge relaxed.

It hasn't rained on us and was nice and sunny this morning. The good thing about going away at this time of year is that there are no high expectations of good weather. That it has been warm for the time of year and sunny has been a bonus.

Those of us who went for the walk enjoyed a drink in the The Wheatsheaf. Not many people in there, but it seems to be a hub of community activity judging by the trophys and notices about local groups. On the way back the women walked briskly and were home well before the blokes.

We have had a lazy afternoon and evening enjoying a rib of beef and all the trimmings. The chefs for this task excel at roast beef and did us proud. A good end to an enjoyable weekend.

A weekend in the countryside

The Old Lodge

The Bowes Museum

High Force

During the summer a friend had the excellent idea of a group of us hiring somewhere in the countryside for a few days and now here we (seven of us) are. We are staying at The Old Lodge in Staindrop, which is near Barnard Castle in County Durham. The Old Lodge dates from the 14th Century and feels like a rather grand home, not a holiday let. Careful attention has been paid to every detail. Not only do we have wireless Internet access, but nice little touches like a wireless printer and Bose docking station for our ipods. I will do a separate post, soon about our wonderful base for the weekend.

We arrived on Friday and toasted the beginning of our long weekend with some fizz. We ate an excellent fish pie and washed it down with white wine, followed by more wine and conversation. We teased the person who has organised the weekend for suggesting we bring two bottles of wine each and we will continue to do so. It is fair to say that we went over our suggested four glass ration on Friday, but we didn't stay up that late or drink that much, even so I felt decidedly 'fragile' this morning. The breakfast buffet task, which was allocated to me was completed, but took great effort.

Today we split into two groups, the hikers and strollers/ gallery goers. I opted to stroll. We did a short walk to High Force, which is a waterfall on land owned by the Raby Castle estate. We had to pay to park and walk on the trail and were surprised that they didn't extract money for us to have a pee as well. Times must be hard for the aristocracy. We were amused by the many signs on the trail with detailed instructions about what we could and could not do. Basically they were saying if you kill or injure yourself, its your fault.

Later we went to the Bowes Museum (more detail about this in a later post). It is a palatial setting with many fine art works. We loved the clockwork silver swan which moved around so smoothly it looked as though it was computer generated.

We then went into Barnard Castle, an archetypal English market town. We had a lovely traditional lunch at a cafe.

After eating we decided to call into a gallery I had spotted on our way to the Cafe called Mouncey Fine Art. We were delighted with the impressive range range of ceramics and paintings. I purchased a humorous dog by Marie Prett and was tempted to buy a piece by Christine Cummings (another dog). We came back to the Lodge and met up with the hikers. We shared stories of our day and decided on a name for my ceramic dog. He will be called Barnard.

We have had an enjoyable evening in. Delicious Jambalaya, great choice of music, stimulating conversation and good fun.

A day trip to Whistler

Whistler is best known as a ski resort, but offers all year round outdoor activity options. In 2010 it will be the venue for many of the Winter Olympics activities. It can be visited in a day from Vancouver. Be warned, this allows little time to experience much of Whistler, but it hardly matters in many respects as the main purpose of the day trip is to take in the scenery. To get more of a feel for what Whistler has to offer as a resort requires a few days.

There are lots of trip options, train, coach, plane or a mixture of the three. I think the train option is s a must for part of the journey. We decided on train and coach. This allowed for stop offs on the way back and meant we could see things we didn’t see on the way to Whistler. There are two classes of travel on the train, the more expensive option means you are in a carriage with larger windows. As the best view is on the open observation deck, the posh seats are in my view not worth the extra money.

The views from the train are of mountains and forest. They offer many photo opportunities. But the highlight of the trip is to take a sea plane ride over the mountains. This is well worth doing as the views are awesome. We got the big sell for the sea plane trip on our way to the train. It was all quite comic. The guide had very long curly hair and he described the trip with such energy and enthusiasm that his hair was flying all over the place. He was good entertainment value, but best enjoyed in small doses. The seaplane he was so enthusiastic about deserved the hard sell.