Almost over

So, our week in Ingleton is almost up. We've had had a really nice time, but have only found one house that's both big enough and within our budget, which is slightly disappointing. We were due to look round it again tomorrow, but we've just found out that the owners have suddenly gone away and won't be back until tomorrow evening. For some reason, the estate agents don't have a key, so that's that. We're both annoyed by this. Don't they want to sell their house?

Anyway, we had another beautiful day today (so much for seeing the dales at their worst), so we paid a very quick visit to Ingleton's weekly market (about 3 stalls) and then set off up Ingleborough for a walk. We weren't planning to go all the way to the top, but walked about 1.5 miles uphill to a spot called Crina Bottom, admired the wonderful view and then came down again. We headed to our nearest pub for lunch, where we both had lamb hotpot. It was delicious, but Tom spotted immediately that it contained meat, and therefore refused to even consider putting anywhere near his mouth. He did eat a few lumps of gravy-covered potato and a couple of sandwiches, but still not great.

He's currently down for his afternoon nap, and we're planning to drive the few miles to Ribblehead once he's up. There's a nice pub there where we quite fancy afternoon tea. Plus, the viaduct-dominated scenery's tremendous round there. Last chance for some good photos.

Again, what a difference a few hours makes. We've decided to raise our budget from £250k to £300k, as we discovered a few very nice-looking and spacious properties in Ingleton for about that much. We've arranged 1 viewing tomorrow morning, and maybe 2 more. It means we'll probably need a mortgage for the move, but if that means we get a house that we really like, so be it.

We did have a brief trip up to Ribblehead, where I managed to get a few shots of the viaduct looking mighty impressive in some very dramatic light. We also managed to arrive just as a train was passing over. Thence back to Ingleton, where we tried out the pub that offers the mammoth mixed grill. A nice place with friendly locals, but a very poor whisky selection.

Tom is now having his tea. Again, no meat, but he's eaten a huge amount of veg, so he'll probably get his treat (date slice & yoghurt).

Right, cheerio. Time for Chuggington.



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To the hills...

A lovely day dawned and Tom & I seem to be on the mend from our coughs, so we decided to get out for some fresh air. We drove the 4 miles or so to Clapham, left the car and headed for the path up to Ingleborough Cave. Which was closed for pheasant shooting. Ho hum. Fortunately, I'd had the presence of mind to download the OS Explorer maps for this area onto my iPhone, so we managed to find an alternative route. We let Tom walk the bit around Clapham but, being Tom, he got distracted by anything and everything around him, mainly a cat that followed us up the road. The cat seemed to be called "Daddy", but then again, so is almost everything these days; cars, trees, toast...

The walk was lovely, and once the path levelled out alongside the river, we got His Nibs out of the rucksack for a walk. Total refusal. He remained rooted to the spot and screamed his lungs out. Even raisins wouldn't placate him. We're starting to wonder whether he's outgrown his current shoes and walking hurts his feet, so we'll be putting him in his wellies next time. So, back into the lad lugger for the trip back down from the cave to Clapham, but he still seemed very dissatisfied with things. We thought he'd just got a cob on, until we realised after about 15 minutes that we'd put him back into the rucksack wrong and he was effectively in a half-nelson. Partly his fault if truth be told. He makes it as awkward as he can.

Anyway, we got back to the car without further drama, drove "home" and then wandered into Ingleton for a spot of lunch. Settled on a tea room, which turned out to be not a patch on the one we've already become quite fond of. To make matters worse, Tom refused his sandwiches and then got proper stroppy when we didn't give him any of our lunch. We seem to be going through a difficult eating period just now, and we're hoping that being a bit strict with him now will pay off in the long run. Any thoughts folks?



We're now back in the cottage, while Tom has his afternoon nap and, I hope, thinks about his actions. Ha ha. Nik has discovered that a pub just outside the village stocks 300+ malt whiskies, so a trip is more than likely on the cards.

Well, what a difference a few hours makes. It's now 5.30, and we've just watched Tom eat half a large Christmas sausage, several chunks of sweet potato & carrot, a handful of blueberries and, as a reward, a piece of date slice. This was a great relief to Nik & me, as we did wonder whether this evening would be a battle too. I hope this isn't just a one-off. We made sure that Tom realised we were very pleased with him, so perhaps this will sink in via a sort of osmosis in the end.
Anyway, the day has ended on a far better note than we feared it might. Now looking forward to bath time and more lovely-looking stuff from the award-winning Pearsons of Ingleton (butchers) for our dinner. Snow forecast for tomorrow, so I wonder what we'll all get up to.

One slightly worrying note though: Nik seems to be developing a taste for fine malt whisky.


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Enjoying the Dales

No further news on the house-hunting front, but we're off to see Saturday's promising house again this coming Saturday - it's the only possible one so far. There are a few other very nice looking houses up for sale in the village, but the cheapest is £345,000 - somewhat more than our budget.

Tom and I have been slightly under the weather with coughs, so we haven't done much outdoor stuff yet, but we're both on the mend, so a walk is planned for tomorrow, possibly Clapham up to Ingleborough Cave.

Today we went into Settle for the weekly market. A very nice town is Settle - almost no chain stores on the high street, only handsome little independent shops & cafés.

We stopped in one of these cafés for elevenses and then headed off for a drive through Horton and Ribblehead to Dent, mainly in search of the treacle tart at The Sun Inn, which we enjoyed several times last year. It wasn't on the menu board when we arrived, but they managed to find a couple of pieces lurking in the kitchen, so it was a successful trip. We then drove back to Ingleton along an incredibly narrow, twisty road that required Nik to get out and open & close gates about 5 times. Gorgeous drive though.

Tom had his afternoon "nap", after which we marched him down to to Ingleton Playground in near-darkness. Didn't stop him having a good time, although he did insist on stopping for a swift half on the way home (see photo).



As I write this, we're having the daily battle between Tom and his dinner. He seems to refuse any type of protein, preferring to exist on a diet of carbohydrate and fruit. Things like treacle tart seem acceptable too. Hmmm.


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The hunt is on

We're now in Ingleton, having just started our week of house-hunting. The trip up yesterday was a bit slow (M6 especially), but we made up for that by having lunch in Booth's in Garstang - probably the nicest supermarket we've ever been to. I think we may well stop there on the way back too.

We actually had a viewing yesterday afternoon, and very encouraging it was too. A large 4 bedroomed house with a huge utility, an office, a big enough garden and an integral garage. And within our price range. That's set us off in the right mood. We also spent an hour strolling round the village, and it was heartening to see our nearest pub quite full and lots of walkers around on a cold damp November evening. I reckon a lot of villages of this size would be deserted now.

We're staying in a grade 2 listed ex-magistrates court, which is very comfortable and convenient. Tom settled in straightaway - always a good sign. He also slept right through the night, which was surprising given that he's picked up a nasty cough that seems to get worse whenever we're outside. We need to get him better before we think about lugging him up Ingleborough.

After a good breakfast, we went for a longer stroll round the village to see what houses are up for sale. We were even shown round two new homes still being built; one had a good size garden but was too small, the other was big enough but had a tidy garden.

We stopped at Dalesware, a huge outdoor store on the main road, which Tom charged round like an utter looney for a good 20 minutes, giggling constantly and charming all the staff. He's certainly not letting his cough get him down. We then passed a pub with a menu board outside (see photo) that horrified Wilby & Bertha, until we explained that mammoths weren't actually on the menu.


We then had a very pleasant lunch in one of the many tea rooms in the village, during which we got lots of info on the village schools, activities etc from the ladies inside. All very useful.

So, a very good first day all in all.


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Location:Ingleton

Grotty Ears

We've had a manic week and I'm still catching up with myself which is why there hasn't been a blog entry for a while.

Main news for the week is that Tom has been ill. He wasn't himself on Monday, we were babysitting Hannah and Becca from school, Tom didn't really want to play with them and snuggled into me and fell asleep - not usual behaviour, he normally follows the girls and tries to join in with them.

Got a call from nursery on Tuesday saying that his temperature was 40.7, which is way too high. They didn't discover this until almost home time as they said that he was playing as normal, it was only when he refused to eat his lunch that they thought that he might be ill and discovered his temperature, and gave him a quick dose of Calpol to try to get it down.

I arrived to a naked Tom. Poor thing. Took him home to bed and booked an appointment at the doctors. His temperature was 39.2, so still not great. The nurse called a doctor in for a check over to discover the source of his fever, it was his ears again - both of them were red, inflamed and 'grotty'. Looks like his weak area is going to be his ears. They sent us home with some more banana flavoured penicillin - which he loves.

To our astonishment Tom slept through the night, even though he was a poor old soul when we put him to bed, he was very miserable and had red eyes. He seemed ok when we got him up, but for no reason after half an hour he started to cry again, so we decided to keep him away from nursery. This meant that I got behind with my cakes, but Tom's comfort had to come first. I can't actually remember what we did on Wednesday, but I do know that he wouldn't eat and was miserable when we put him to bed.

Thursday he looked a bit better. I took him to Jungleland, but he didn't really want to play and was happy hanging around me and the babies rather than wanting to play, which was fine. He did manage to eat some chips (not nutritionally sound I know, but something is better than nothing). Came home and put him to bed. He didn't look good when he woke up - back to red eyes and grizzles. We were babysitting for the Gouges in the afternoon, Matt looked after him whilst I went to pick them up from school and then I picked him up and went to their house (easier to babysit them in their house as they have their toys there and Matt is left in peace). I explained to the girls that Tom was ill and they were as good as gold with him, trying to find things to make him feel better.

Thursday evening, Lindsey arrived. Tom perked up as soon as he saw her which was fab, although he still didn't eat much dinner. He managed to stay up until 6pm (longer than he had done) and once again slept through the night. We had a lovely evening with Lindsey - chatting away catching up.

Friday we spent the day with Lindsey - she bought Tom his first ever train set - see pic. It's fantastic, even if it took both Lindsey and me the best part of an hour to put it together! Tom was very pleased with it, with Matt even more so! We went to The Shropshire for lunch - got fantastic service as usual, think we were there for 2.5 hours. It was so good to see her - talked about everything (just as we did when we were lodgers at Vera's) - she's one of those people you can talk too without being judged, fantastic - just hope I didn't bore her - we really shouldn't leave it 2 years before we meet up again! Tom seemed much better and even managed to show her some of his usual cheeky self.

Saturday, Matt was away in Milton Keynes for the ITI AGM, so it was just me and Tom. He wasn't very happy - not sure if he was feeling ill or missing his Dad or both? Took him to the main Telford library to pick up some more books, but he kept falling over (his ears, making him loose his balance?) He wasn't at all happy, so we cut our journey short and came home early. After his nap, Tom was grizzly - he was ok when hugged, then he would get down, do something, burst into tears meaning I had to pick him up for hugs. This went on and on. I was quite relieved when it came to bath time.

Sunday, he was happier. He spent the morning with his Dad whilst I caught up on cake work, then we went back to The Shropshire for lunch, where he actually ate his sandwiches (first time this week). I then did a much needed admin catch up during his afternoon nap. Tom was initially grumpy when he woke up, but after a dose of Calprofen (he felt hot so I think his temperature had come back) he perked up and played quite nicely. He even managed to eat a decent(ish) dinner before bed and bath.

Here's hoping he continues to get better, although to be honest, he has been very good. You can see he's not well, but he does his best to be happy AND he has slept through every night, can't really complain - it could have been much worse. I've got a busy week next week with two big cakes going out and then we are off to Yorkshire on Saturday for a week in Ingleton.

Oh, almost forgot to report that amongst all this Matt has managed to contract a cold, so both boys are ill!

Boys' day out

Today was a rare day for Tom. No Mummy! Nik was off at the NEC all day for Cake International, so Tom and I were left up to our devices. I tried to think up some manly pursuits for us to do, but as it was Saturday, most of the morning was taken up with Water Babies. This didn't go well today, as Tom was pole-axed by a delinquent older child charging down the corridor like an idiot as we walked to the pool. The kid's Dad didn't even apologise. Probably as a result, the lesson didn't go well; lots of crying and very little joining in with the activities. He perked up afterwards though, especially after a drink and a handful of dried fruit.

As it was a lovely sunny day, we decided to make yet another trip to Attingham Park for a walk and a play in the playground. Tom was fast asleep in the car within a minute of leaving the pool, probably due to the late night he had last night (see below), and I actually had to wake him up when we arrived at Attingham. He seemed a bit out of sorts

(quiet & tired), and wouldn't walk to the playground. Once there, though, all systems go, and he headed straight for the baby swings (always his favourite) and spent a few minutes there. Once I pried him away from there, he actually headed to one the slides and had about 6 goes without any prompting - rare these days, as he's been of them for a while. I then decided that we should have a go together on the bigger swings, which he loved - he sat on my knee and giggled like a loon as we went back and forth. I got cramp in my legs in the end, and got us down. Tom was not impressed at all - walked straight back to the swing and shouted "Dada! Dada!" at the top of his voice while slapping the swing. I think that's the closest we've yet come to a real word. There was certainly no doubt as to what he meant.

We then headed to the cafe, where Tom ate all of his lunch (4 sandwiches) followed by half of my fidget pastie and almost all of my carrot cake, much to the amusement of all the tables roundabout. I couldn't believe how much he ate, or how little I did. Perhaps he's looking after my waistline, bless him.

We then did a mile-long walk through the woods, of which he walked about 50 yards. I didn't take the rucksack with me today, so I ended up lugging him round most of it. Hmmm.

He nodded off in the car on the way home, and he was so deeply asleep that not even opening the car door, unbelting him, taking his shoes off, getting him upstairs and putting him in his cot woke him up. He had about 2 hours in the end. He had a surprisingly good tea given his mammoth lunch, and we then drove down to the station to pick Mummy up from the train. Then bath-bottle-bed as usual.

As alluded to above, Tom had a night out yesterday. We were invited to a bonfire night do in Newport by Lou & Andy, NCT friends. It ended up being a bit of an NCT get-together, as there were 4 of the 7 babies there. The weather wasn't great, but it was a nice do and all the kids enjoyed the fireworks - no tears fro any of them. Tom then ate 5 (five!) cocktail sausages back at Lou & Andy's, and would have had more if we hadn't called a halt there. Little bugger, he won't touch meat at home. Anyway, it was after 9 o'clock when he got to bed, but he stayed cheerful all evening. He's definitely more resilient these days. He wouldn't have managed that even a few weeks ago. The lad's growing up!