Cheese with the Nicolsons

Game on!

This weekend we were staying at home because we were being visited by the Nicolsons - Matt's old friends from University.  They now live near Middlesborough.  Anyhow, they all (apart from Kae) love cheese and were very keen to visit Wensleydale, so we arranged for them to come and stay.

Tom and I went down to the pool in the morning.  It was raining but Tom didn't mind.  Unfortunately we didn't know anyone down there today (it was Gala day) so Tom had to play by himself as I didn't have my swimmers with me - oops.

A helping hand

We met up with the Nicolson's at the Creamery to find that they had been there for over an hour already - they had done the museum and had already tucked into a starter in the tasting room.  We met up with them in the restaurant and we all had a cheesy lunch (except Kae who managed to find the only meal with no cheese in it!)

Unfortunately the weather was terrible, meaning you couldn't see any of the Dales at all.  We were planning to do the walk around Ribblehead, but we decided to call it a day and head straight over to Ingleton.  Now, James - the Nicolson's eldest is train mad.  He's 11 and just got his first job as a volunteer at the North York Moors Railway.  He was delighted to learn that Tom had a model railway, it was definitely toy of the weekend, which was great as Tom has lost interest in it in recent months.  We had to literally drag the two of them away from it.  Amy, luckily, was happy playing with all the farm animals and vehicles on it - so we had peace!

Flying Scotsman

We took them for a lap of the village and then ended up in the Old Post Office for a quick one - I introduced Kae to Rhubarb and Ginger gin and the kids played Connect 4.  We headed back to the house and actually managed to have a BBQ this time - British style though - cooked outside, eaten inside!  They all had good appetites and wiped me out of food!  I had 12x lamb, garlic and herb kofta kebabs from Booths which we had in the Peak District with the Singers and were really yummy.  Turned out the Nicolson's don't like lamb, but they tried them as they looked good and ate the lot!  Guess I converted them!

Sunday morning after much playing on the model railway, we took them swimming in the pool - it was sunny again so we enjoyed sunbathing whilst the kids played.  Believe it or not James and Amy both caught the sun in the pool - who would have thought it - they have predominantly Asian skin, so quite a coup for Ingleton! 

Doing the Ribblehead circular

We then headed to Ribblehead in time to see The Flying Scotsman come across the viaduct.  We then did the 3 mile loop walk, with a huge hiatus by the river, where James and Tom went paddling.  Finally we got ourselves to Hawes and Penny Garth Cafe for a greasy spoon lunch.  

A good weekend, James and Amy are good kids, a pleasure to have them and Malcom and Kae with us.