OUR FIRST DAY IN YORKSHIRE…

…and boy, did it rain!  We had a good journey up, leaving a few minutes after 7 o’clock, although we were surprised at how many people were out at that time of the morning - when you are retired, that is a non-time - well to go out anyway!

We made good time, but sadly got caught up in the rush hour, school runs, lots of roadworks and many mad motorway drivers, but such is life and Mr. HCB took it all in his stride.

We reached Harlow Carr, the stunning RHS garden quite near Harrogate in North Yorkshire in just over 5 hours, but did have one stop on the way.  We had left in thick fog, which persisted a lot of our journey, but just as we got out of the car, the heavens opened and it rained and rained, and then rained even more. 

There was a Betty’s Tea Rooms just inside the gates of the Gardens, but after asking the lady on duty outside, decided that waiting in the rain for 30-45 minutes was not a good idea, so Mr. HCB got the umbrellas out of the car and off we walked, but not before we had bought ourselves two Yorkshire Curd Tarts and a cup of coffee in the Betty’s Shop.  We stood under a roof awning and ate them, with Mr. HCB contemplating how wet we were going to get - see the first two photographs in my collage!  

However, we were determined we were going to walk around these gardens, and were thankful that Mr. HCB has membership, a birthday gift from our son and DiL, so we didn’t have to pay, but it was obvious that lots of people had come just to go to Betty’s and weren’t going to pay all that money to walk around in the rain.  The good thing was that there weren’t that many idiots people doing the same thing so we virtually had the place to ourselves.

We made for the alpine house, where I took the shot of the beautiful cyclamen - and at least it was dry in there, but we had to wade through lots of puddles to get there.  The trees are beginning to put on their “Autumn garb” but it will be another 2 or 3 weeks before they are looking truly spectacular.

We decided to do the Stream Walk, where there are lots of waterfalls and water running over stones, plus the relentless rain, so we were thoroughly soaked by the time we got back to Betty’s - which took about 2 hours, but joy of joys, there was no queue, so in we went and had haddock, chips and peas - and the waitress said we could have a smaller portion, so there was just enough room for a delicious cream cake afterwards too.  

We couldn’t get into our Air BnB until after 6 o’clock, so we stayed in Betty’s, where it was warm and cosy.  Mr. HCB had copious cups of Betty’s special tea and I had two cappuccinos so by the time we left at 5.45, we were full and warm.

However, by 6 o’clock, the rain had stopped and there was a little bit of blue sky, so we are hoping that tomorrow will be better.

Our Air BnB is lovely - with a very obliging hostess and we have the top floor of her home, up two flights of stairs, which overlooks allotments and Harrogate in the distance, although there is a very low ceiling and it’s the side that Mr. HCB sleeps, so we hope he doesn’t knock himself out if he needs to get out in the night! 

We were going to go out for a walk, but sadly it started raining again, so we are just going to relax and read our books, as there is no television in our room - but that’s no bad thing!

An early night calls before we go on to our friend’s where we are having lunch before we go on to our lodge about 3 miles from where she lives.

We learned the truth of this saying today - and I know it is a favourite of blip friend, Yeeeed: 

“There's no such thing as bad weather, 
     only unsuitable clothing.”
Alfred Wainwright : A Coast to Coast Walk


P.S.  I put a bright yellow border round my collage because I refuse to believe that it is going to be a completely rainy holiday and wanted something bright!