We actually got here yesterday, but Sunday in Northern England is about as dead as Sunday in Germany. We flew from Dublin in the afternoon. In the Dublin airport, they had a little Barney rider train that I knew I recognized. I was sure that I had a picture of Em riding one of those trains when she was little. So, I made her take another one. Here they are, at 13 and at 2.
The plane smelled like pee. When we got off the plane and out of the Leeds airport, it smelled like dirty cat box. Odd. I've smelled lots and lots of fertilized fields, but nothing that ever smelled like dirty cat box. At the rental car place, there were two people dressed in the best outfits ever. They were black satin, or something else shiny. All over them , they had gold foil American symbols. Great Seals, dollar signs, eagles, etc. It was amazing. Unfortunately, both the camera and the phone had been stowed for the plane trip, and I wasn't fast enough getting them out. So, I'll leave it to your imagination. But, even your imagination won't be as awesome as reality in this case.
So, it was sprinkling when we left the airport. And it continued to do so for our half an hour drive to Harrogate. Then, it continued for the rest of the day. And the whole night, and the entire day today.
Em & I only have a car for three days while we're here. Max has a car, but he needs it to get to work, so I looked at what we wanted to do while here, and how many things would require a car. Three days' worth.
This morning, Max dropped us off at Enterprise, and Em & I got our car. The Enterprise guy seemed nervous about me driving, and he showed me all of the buttons and pedals. I told Em she could sit up front, since she's 13 now and ALMOST as tall as me. But, she hopped in the back. That made the Enterprise guy more nervous. Ah, well.
The original plan was to drive over to the Lake District to see Beatrix Potter's farm, Hill Top, and then see the Bronte Parsonage on the way back to the hotel, if we had time. Well, when I got in the car, it said we'd get to Hill Top a full half an hour before it even opened. I didn't feel like sitting in the car for that long, so we decided to hit the Parsonage on the way there, instead. I knew it wouldn't be open yet, but I also feared that we'd be too tired on the way back from Hill Top to go. I had a full day planned at Hill Top, and the Parsonage may not have been open on the way back, anyway. So, Parsonage first.
It was a pretty uneventful drive, except for when we were about an hour into the drive, and I looked down to see that we only had 1/8 tank of gas. I've never before gotten a rental car with less than a full tank of gas, so I hadn't even thought to look. If any of you have driven through the Yorkshire Dales, you might know that gas stations aren't as plentiful as other places. But, we found one without too much trouble, and by then Em felt comfortable enough to move up front. I am proud to say that the entire extent of my messing up with driving today was that I bumped one curb. That's it. And that was driving on teeny roads with stone walls along the side. Seriously teeny roads. With tractors coming the other way. And 60mph speed limits. In the rain. It was pretty much a 2.5 hour heart attack on the way there.
It was fairly pouring by the time we got to Haworth. That's where the Bronte Parsonage is, and where all three girls wrote their novels. It was closed, as I knew it would be. But, I got some pictures.
It wasn't due to open for another half an hour, and not only did we not have the time to wait, but waiting in the rain is no fun. Nothing else was open yet in the village, either, so it would have meant sitting in a foggy car. No thanks.
So, it was off to Hill Top. The Lake District is a big holiday spot, but not in a September deluge, I guess. We found our way to the Windermere ferry easily, thanks to the wise counsel of the GPS. Along the way, we saw Giggleswick. Tee hee!
We also saw a place called Whoop Hall, which made us sing Whoop Hall's Drag Race for the rest of the day.
The Lake District was quite lovely. I'm guessing it's even prettier when you can see out the windows. I love the stone walls all over up here.
We found the ferry.
The roads from the ferry to Hill Top were even more heart attacky than the rest of the drive had been. I think we must have been in some alternate dimension that causes cars to get thinner as another one is passing, because I swear we shouldn't have made it sometimes. We found the parking lot and grabbed the ONE SPOT that was left. It was a sneaky spot, too, around a corner and behind a big van. I'm glad, because Near Sawrey is not a big village, and I have no idea where we would have parked. We bought our tickets and trudged the short way up the hill to the farm (in the pouring rain).
There is a small shop on the grounds that was seriously packed with people escaping the wet. The tickets are timed entry, so there's a fair amount of waiting to do. We had about 45 minutes. Luckily, they have loaner umbrellas.
The farm is lovely, despite the fact that it's not really summer anymore, but there aren't any fall colors yet.
Beatrix left Hill Top (and 13 other farms) to the National Trust upon her death, with the proviso that Hill Top stay exactly the same as she left it, including her china and furniture. She wrote several of her stories while living here, so you can recognize parts of the town and the house and garden. In the parts of the house that she had drawn in her books, the NT has opened copies of the stories to the pages with those illustrations. No pictures are allowed, and it's more heavily guarded than the Sistine Chapel, so no photos for me.
But, there are plenty of places outside you might recognize, as well.
From Jemima Puddle Duck
Tom Kitten's Gate
Buckle Yeat Guest House, which features in several of Beatrix's books
The postbox from Peter Rabbit's Almanac
Anvil Cottage, from The Tale of Samuel Whiskers
We then had lunch at Tower Bank Arms, where we ate a delicious steak and ale stew. The proprietor was concerned that we hadn't liked it, because neither of us could finish, but we assured him it was very good, we were just full.
After that, it was time to go to Hawkshead, a nearby village, to see the Beatrix Potter Gallery. It's in a building that used to be her husband's office.
The exhibition was all about the original Peter Rabbit story. The original pen and ink drawings were hung around the walls in story order, with the story in her handwriting, winding through the rooms. In most rooms, they also had places to sit and books about Beatrix or the Lake District to read. But, it was rather stuffy and humid in there, so we didn't hang out for much longer than it took to see the pictures and read the story. I bought the version of the book with her pen and ink drawings and her handwritten words, since we had seen them all.We did a little bit of shopping in town, but not much.
I had planned that we would maybe go on a walk through Cuckoo Brow Wood or along the lake, or something, but the weather made those choices unappealing. Plus, we were pretty tired, so we just went home. Em was supposed to remain awake to take a picture of Whoop Hall, but she fell asleep pretty soon after getting in the car.
I did pull over at one point to get a picture of a pretty, mossy stone wall. It wasn't the best one that we saw, but it was the one with a place to pull over.
We thought about trying to go back to the Parsonage, but we would have only had a couple of minutes there, if we had made it at all. Since it's about 30 minutes out of the way, we just went straight back to the hotel. It was another 2 hours of heart attack, because the rain had been steady enough that the whole north of England was becoming a lake district. So, not only was I driving on the wrong side of the road, way too quickly, on teeny windy roads, with people coming the other way, but now I had to either try to dodge lakes or have that wonderful loss of control that comes when hitting water at 60mph.
When we got back to the hotel, I needed to go in and get a parking pass. I had found a spot, which really amazed me. While I was waiting in line at the desk, a hotel guy came out of another hall and asked me what I needed. I said a parking pass, and he got me one. I went out to put it in the car, and when I came back in, he was chatting with Em. He asked what we had done so far, and what plans we had. He said his favorite thing in the area was Ripley Castle, and that we should visit if we had the chance. I said that Em & I enjoy history, and he got a huge smile and took us on an impromptu tour of the hotel. Turns out, he was the owner, so we got to go all over the place. Today's post is long enough, though, so I'll tell you about that another day, when I go back and get some pictures.
Emma says - It was pouring rain the ENTIRE time. Beatrix Potter was seriously pretty and I'm so glad we went. Lunch was soooo good. And, I got to fall asleep in the car. Woo hoo!
The plane smelled like pee. When we got off the plane and out of the Leeds airport, it smelled like dirty cat box. Odd. I've smelled lots and lots of fertilized fields, but nothing that ever smelled like dirty cat box. At the rental car place, there were two people dressed in the best outfits ever. They were black satin, or something else shiny. All over them , they had gold foil American symbols. Great Seals, dollar signs, eagles, etc. It was amazing. Unfortunately, both the camera and the phone had been stowed for the plane trip, and I wasn't fast enough getting them out. So, I'll leave it to your imagination. But, even your imagination won't be as awesome as reality in this case.
So, it was sprinkling when we left the airport. And it continued to do so for our half an hour drive to Harrogate. Then, it continued for the rest of the day. And the whole night, and the entire day today.
Em & I only have a car for three days while we're here. Max has a car, but he needs it to get to work, so I looked at what we wanted to do while here, and how many things would require a car. Three days' worth.
This morning, Max dropped us off at Enterprise, and Em & I got our car. The Enterprise guy seemed nervous about me driving, and he showed me all of the buttons and pedals. I told Em she could sit up front, since she's 13 now and ALMOST as tall as me. But, she hopped in the back. That made the Enterprise guy more nervous. Ah, well.
The original plan was to drive over to the Lake District to see Beatrix Potter's farm, Hill Top, and then see the Bronte Parsonage on the way back to the hotel, if we had time. Well, when I got in the car, it said we'd get to Hill Top a full half an hour before it even opened. I didn't feel like sitting in the car for that long, so we decided to hit the Parsonage on the way there, instead. I knew it wouldn't be open yet, but I also feared that we'd be too tired on the way back from Hill Top to go. I had a full day planned at Hill Top, and the Parsonage may not have been open on the way back, anyway. So, Parsonage first.
It was a pretty uneventful drive, except for when we were about an hour into the drive, and I looked down to see that we only had 1/8 tank of gas. I've never before gotten a rental car with less than a full tank of gas, so I hadn't even thought to look. If any of you have driven through the Yorkshire Dales, you might know that gas stations aren't as plentiful as other places. But, we found one without too much trouble, and by then Em felt comfortable enough to move up front. I am proud to say that the entire extent of my messing up with driving today was that I bumped one curb. That's it. And that was driving on teeny roads with stone walls along the side. Seriously teeny roads. With tractors coming the other way. And 60mph speed limits. In the rain. It was pretty much a 2.5 hour heart attack on the way there.
It was fairly pouring by the time we got to Haworth. That's where the Bronte Parsonage is, and where all three girls wrote their novels. It was closed, as I knew it would be. But, I got some pictures.
 |
| Hard to tell, but that sign says Haworth |
 |
| A shop |
 |
| The Parsonage |
 |
| The shop. I had hoped it might be open |
It wasn't due to open for another half an hour, and not only did we not have the time to wait, but waiting in the rain is no fun. Nothing else was open yet in the village, either, so it would have meant sitting in a foggy car. No thanks.
So, it was off to Hill Top. The Lake District is a big holiday spot, but not in a September deluge, I guess. We found our way to the Windermere ferry easily, thanks to the wise counsel of the GPS. Along the way, we saw Giggleswick. Tee hee!
 |
| Giggleswick |
We also saw a place called Whoop Hall, which made us sing Whoop Hall's Drag Race for the rest of the day.
The Lake District was quite lovely. I'm guessing it's even prettier when you can see out the windows. I love the stone walls all over up here.
We found the ferry.
 |
| Mopeds, Motorcycles, and Horses |
The roads from the ferry to Hill Top were even more heart attacky than the rest of the drive had been. I think we must have been in some alternate dimension that causes cars to get thinner as another one is passing, because I swear we shouldn't have made it sometimes. We found the parking lot and grabbed the ONE SPOT that was left. It was a sneaky spot, too, around a corner and behind a big van. I'm glad, because Near Sawrey is not a big village, and I have no idea where we would have parked. We bought our tickets and trudged the short way up the hill to the farm (in the pouring rain).
There is a small shop on the grounds that was seriously packed with people escaping the wet. The tickets are timed entry, so there's a fair amount of waiting to do. We had about 45 minutes. Luckily, they have loaner umbrellas.
The farm is lovely, despite the fact that it's not really summer anymore, but there aren't any fall colors yet.
 |
| Flopsy, Mopsy, and Cottontail! |
Beatrix left Hill Top (and 13 other farms) to the National Trust upon her death, with the proviso that Hill Top stay exactly the same as she left it, including her china and furniture. She wrote several of her stories while living here, so you can recognize parts of the town and the house and garden. In the parts of the house that she had drawn in her books, the NT has opened copies of the stories to the pages with those illustrations. No pictures are allowed, and it's more heavily guarded than the Sistine Chapel, so no photos for me.
But, there are plenty of places outside you might recognize, as well.
From Jemima Puddle Duck
Tom Kitten's Gate
Buckle Yeat Guest House, which features in several of Beatrix's books
The postbox from Peter Rabbit's Almanac
Anvil Cottage, from The Tale of Samuel Whiskers
 |
| In the rafters at Tower Bank Arms |
After that, it was time to go to Hawkshead, a nearby village, to see the Beatrix Potter Gallery. It's in a building that used to be her husband's office.
 |
| The cream building is the gallery |
 |
| Not offensive here |
I had planned that we would maybe go on a walk through Cuckoo Brow Wood or along the lake, or something, but the weather made those choices unappealing. Plus, we were pretty tired, so we just went home. Em was supposed to remain awake to take a picture of Whoop Hall, but she fell asleep pretty soon after getting in the car.
I did pull over at one point to get a picture of a pretty, mossy stone wall. It wasn't the best one that we saw, but it was the one with a place to pull over.
We thought about trying to go back to the Parsonage, but we would have only had a couple of minutes there, if we had made it at all. Since it's about 30 minutes out of the way, we just went straight back to the hotel. It was another 2 hours of heart attack, because the rain had been steady enough that the whole north of England was becoming a lake district. So, not only was I driving on the wrong side of the road, way too quickly, on teeny windy roads, with people coming the other way, but now I had to either try to dodge lakes or have that wonderful loss of control that comes when hitting water at 60mph.
When we got back to the hotel, I needed to go in and get a parking pass. I had found a spot, which really amazed me. While I was waiting in line at the desk, a hotel guy came out of another hall and asked me what I needed. I said a parking pass, and he got me one. I went out to put it in the car, and when I came back in, he was chatting with Em. He asked what we had done so far, and what plans we had. He said his favorite thing in the area was Ripley Castle, and that we should visit if we had the chance. I said that Em & I enjoy history, and he got a huge smile and took us on an impromptu tour of the hotel. Turns out, he was the owner, so we got to go all over the place. Today's post is long enough, though, so I'll tell you about that another day, when I go back and get some pictures.
Emma says - It was pouring rain the ENTIRE time. Beatrix Potter was seriously pretty and I'm so glad we went. Lunch was soooo good. And, I got to fall asleep in the car. Woo hoo!
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