Castle and Trains

On Friday, Matt decided to have a half day, so Tom and I had a useful morning tidying up, cleaning etc and then we headed out.  We decided to explore Ambleside - there is a huge garden centre there which we got lost in.  Lots of toys for Tom to play with there and a massive, MASSIVE Christmas display, I'ld be quite interested to see what it is like out of Christmas season.  We then went to Grasmere - mainly to look around the Herdy Shop.  This is a new brand based on a local breed of Sheep - the Herdwick which are very cute, they have charming faces and overly baggy bodies.  We have always liked Herdwicks since we first saw them up here and are really pleased there is now a brand dedicated to them.  It is a quality brand too.  Have a look at their latest video and shop:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=28mB950rXLU Herdy Film - vey charming
http://www.herdy.co.uk The Herdy shop

Relaxing in the Big Hall

We then returned to Ambleside and had an Italian before heading home.

On Saturday Matt had a half day translator's meeting in Darlington.  We had a choice, let Matt take the car and us be stranded in Lupton for the day or go with Matt in the car and have a play whilst he was at his translator's do.  We opted for the second option.

It wasn't a very nice day - initially we thought it would be misty in the morning and then clear up, but the mist was too dense and the sun never got through which meant it was very cold, very damp and very dreary for the whole day.

We had discovered that there was a large Tesco in Catterick Garrison just outside of Richmond, on Tuesday I visited the local Tesco here, and whilst it was quite poor I did notice that they were doing a deal where you took your Tesco vouchers in and they doubled them up for you.  Matt had just received some vouchers in the post, so we took them in and managed a £100 shop where we paid just £30.  We came out feeling very pleased with ourselves.

Tom and a Castle

Matt subsequently got the bus to Darlington whilst Tom and I had lunch and then headed into Richmond - a nice Dales market town which has a castle right in the centre, so we decided to explore it.  Now, I'm not sure what was wrong with Tom today, as soon as we got to the castle he started to cry and kept saying he wanted to go back to the car.  He said that it was too steamy for him.  He wouldn't even consider chocolate as a bribe.  I had visions of a terrible afternoon as Matt wouldn't be back until 6pm and this was 1pm!  I took him inside to see an exhibition but he continued to cry - saying it was too steep (it was on the second floor).  He was happy enough looking round the shop and eventually when I asked if he wanted to see the castle he said yes.  Phew!  I then had to use the chocolate bribe to get him to walk round it. Eventually he relaxed and did enjoy it, in fact we spent over 2.5 hours there and I managed to get him to climb right to the top of the tower, so it was a success, but I still don't really know why he was so miserable at the beginning.

Banking

As a reward for good behaviour we stopped at a tea room for tea and a bun and then went for a look around the town.  It's the sort of place that has lots of interesting shops - ie no chain shops, and plenty of Aladdin's Cave type shops which gave us plenty of time to browse in the warmth.  We then had a hunt for a pub to have dinner in whilst waiting for Matt to return (he had pigged out at lunchtime in Darlington and didn't need proper feeding) This was quite problematic, as nearly every pub I looked at through the window seemed to be full of lads drinking - I understand why, cold Saturday afternoon but I couldn't really take Tom with me into an environment like that.  I was beginning to get desperate, but luckily the last pub I looked into (it would be the last one wouldn't it!) was empty, with a very friendly bar lady so we gratefully made ourselves at home and tucked into a huge plate of Cumberland sausage, mash, veg and Yorkshire pudding - yummmmmy.  During this time Matt arrived from Darlington so we finished up and headed home.  Tom slept for the whole journey and went straight to bed on arrival.

Tom and Daisy

Sunday we had thought about going to Keighly with our Dales pass and the steam train there, but Tom had had a long day on Saturday so we decided to stay closer to home.  Matt discovered in the morning that our local steam train - Lakeside and Haverthwaite railway were doing cheap trips for residents - only £4 return for the 3 of us, although it was a diesel day today.  Too good to miss so we went.  They also did a 2 course home cooked dinner for £5 so we had that as well - a bargain trip out.  We are really liking all these resident only prices for the Winter, means we will be out and about on every sunny day we get.