Brightwell-Cum-Sotwell

I think I've taken more train trips in the last six months than my whole life combined! Wednesday found me back at the train station, heading five hours south to the small (and I mean small!) village of Brightwell-Cum-Sotwell for my Level 2 Bach Flower Remedy training. 

York train station

Brightwell-Cum-Sotwell were two incredibly tiny villages (Brightwell and Sotwell) that grew together to make one very tiny village. The village has only one pub and one shopette. The shopette is about the size of your average gas station snack shop, and sold milk, eggs, cheese, crackers, some meats, breads, and other assorted foods. The pub is an award-winning pub for its food and traditional, hand-pulled ale selection. It's a 16th century thatched-roof pub that is just as sweet as can be. 

The Red Lion Pub, Brightwell-Cum-Sotwell

I stayed at a bed and breakfast, so my first meal of each day was covered, I purchased lunch items from the shopette, but my only option for dinner was this pub. Night #1 I ordered the steak and ale pie, but it was so much food I was embarrassed by how much they had to take away when I was done (no mini fridge in my cabin, so there was no way for safe leftovers). Nights two and three I ordered their soup with a side of fresh baked bread (spicy butternut and carrot + coriander/cilantro) which was just the right amount. Each night I ate there I met up with gals from my class, so it was really fun and a nice way to enjoy the environment without feeling like too much of an american  tourist :-)

The Red Lion's bar

Each morning we (there were four of us at the BandB taking the course) had a 15-minute walk to the Bach Centre. We saw a lot of village residents, including cows...

Mooooo!!!!

.... and duckies!

Quack! Quack! Quack!

And on the first morning, I woke up to find sheep grazing in the plot right in front of my wee cottage! The hostess of the BandB was surprised to see them as well, as her next-door land owner had never had sheep in his field before. I could faintly hear them bleating from inside my cabin, and it was so sweet! 

Sheep by day

That night (and the next day) the sheep were still there! It's harder to see them with the sunset behind them, but if you look closely, you can see them. I love the sheep! Almost makes me want to not eat lamb... but not quite.

Sheep by night

Autumn Cider Festival

It's autumn (not fall, apparently that's an American term for autumn) in England. As a Californian who has never really experienced a true autumn (fall), I have been in awe of its beauty. Everyone says this autumn isn't that spectacular because we had such a warm, dry summer, but I still think it's gorgeous. 

The Craven Inn, Appletreewick

A few weekends ago, Bill and I met a few of our new friends in a small village called Appletreewick for their annual cider festival. 

Cider Festival

The cider was delicious, as was the apple-inspired menu. We learned a lot about cider - for example, "scrumpy" cider made in western England is not carbonated. We were all a bit surprised by so many flat cider options, but most of the varieties we tried were very tasty. The food was tasty, but I think I'm the only person who ordered from the specials, as their regular menu is also very yummy. 

Autumn Leaves

After cider tasting and lunch at the Craven Arms, we walked down the main road to Appletreewick's other pub, The New Inn. Along the way we encountered 25 or so young people celebrating a 21st birthday, all dressed as "Where's Waldo" and I wish I had thought to take a photo of them! The second pub had a few different ciders to choose from, but we all agreed the first pub had the better selection. The view at the second pub, though, was outstanding; rolling rock-walled greenery dotted with sheep as far as the eye could see. 

Appletreewick Views

Appletreewick Residents

Back at the car park, the boys found a cool old tractor that they had to explore. All in all, a very fun day!

Boys Being Boys!

Middleham (castle!) and Hawes (and cheese!)

A week or so ago, Bill and I set out to drive the hour & a half or so to the town of Hawes. Hawes is in Wensleydale, smack dab in the middle of the Yorkshire Dales National Park and is famous for their cheese. If you've ever watched Wallace and Gromit, you're familiar with Wensleydale cheese. It is yummy, yummy, yummy cheese! 

We took our good cameras and decided to stop if we saw something we wanted to photograph. We were on the road only a half hour or so when we spotted one of the many (many, many) small churches that dot the English countryside. This one didn't differ much from the others, but it had an easy pull-off-and-park area nearby, so we parked, grabbed our cameras, and took a few snapshots.

Yorkshire church

Inside they had handmade cushions in front of every seat. My favorite was the Yorkshire rose, below. The white rose of Yorkshire is found all over the place - in fact I am just beginning to crochet a Yorkshire rose blanket as a memento of our time here. 

Yorkshire rose cushion

We drove a little farther down the road and I spotted a sign for Middleham castle. The castle played a huge part in history as it was Richard III's castle and primary residence during his reign as King of England. (Spoiler alert: it did not end well for him.) I had learned all about the castle in my history class, and decided we had to stop in for a few minutes. 

Middleham castle yard

Middleham castle

It was really quite an impressive castle. Yes, it is in ruins, but you can really get a good feel for its layout and how it could have been a home and protector for so many people. There were a lot of neat doorways and rooms that you could explore, and even some second and third story access for panoramic views. 

Bill exploring the castle

Middleham castle's great hall

The kitchen area was really interesting. The stones around the fireplaces are still charred black, even though there has been no fire in them is several hundreds of years. There was also an interesting grain grinding area - I wonder who or what had to walk inside that circle for hours on end to grind the grain!

Grain grinding circle

I wish I had taken an up-close picture of the statue of Richard III, as it depicted his scoliosis as an evil-looking dragon crawling up his back and over his shoulder. If Bill got a good picture of it, I'll have him post it at a later date.

Middleham castle and Richard III statue

Up on the third floor viewing platform was a breathtaking view of Middleham village. 

Middleham village

Needless to say, we spent more than a few minutes at Middleham castle, so we hit the road again. Only to stop a few minutes later, just inside the Yorkshire Dales National Park to take some pictures of the view. Nope. Nothing gorgeous about that view. Nothing at all... 

Yorkshire Dales National Park

We finally made it to Hawes! it's 1:45; bring on the Wensleydale Creamery's cheesy lunch!! Wait, what? Your cafe closed at 1:30 today for a private function? But we're really HUNGRY!!! Grrrr - back into town for lunch, then back to the creamery for the dairy tour. Wait, what? Your dairy tours ended at 3:00 and it's now 3:30?!? Okay, fine! Let's buy some cheese and go home! 

At least we found a really pretty waterfall in Hawes to photograph. Bill told me that next time we go to Hawes, we're getting up early and driving straight to the creamery - no stopping!! :-)

Hawes waterfall