Long awaited update part 2

We got to Kettlewell and with some help from a poorly photocopied picture of where to and where not to park our car, we found our cottage.

Look about 6 or 7 down in this link, and you will see a tiny photo of the cottage we stayed in.

River Cottage is tiny. It has a small living room with a semi open plan kitchen downstairs, and upstairs it just has a bathroom and one bedroom.. thats it! It was great for a couple to have a very relaxing holiday :-)

We met up with the rest of the family, and had our evening meal with them, which was very pleasant.

On Wednesday, Douglas was still feeling a bit fragile, and so was I, so we decided to have a restful day exploring a nearby town of Skipton, which was lovely.

Follow this link, and click on any of the orange dots for views of the town!

Thursday we spent in Harrogate with our neice Martha. She had been pony trekking the day before, and was feeling rather stiff and sore as a result. Her dad and the two boys set off on a long hike up to see a limestone pavement, and as she would not have coped with it, we were lucky enough to adopt her for the day!!

One little treat we had was a visit to the world famous Bettys Tea Rooms. They opened in 1919 and are still going strong today! At lunch times, people queue for ages for a seat, but we went for a mid morning cuppa, and were able to get seated as soon as we walked in.

Below are views of part of the menu and the view from our seat.

That evening, Thos took us all for a meal out in one of the local pubs, and although it took a VERY long time to arrive, we had good food and a pleasant evening out.

Douglas really didnt feel very well again on Friday, so we spent a very quiet day in our cottage. We had also agreed to make an evening meal for everyone, so I popped out to the local shop (ouch! incredibly expensive, but then I guess it is a small village shop and they have to inflate their prices to make ends meet) to buy a few things, and then had a wander round the quaint village church that has some very beautiful and moving stained glass windows.

We cooked a roast chicken, mashed potatoes and broccoli for that evenings meal - we had salmon on brown bread for starters, I was pleased to see that everyone (apart from Carlo, and hes only 5) had some of the salmon. Despite having rather limited cooking facilities, we managed to produce a good meal that all enjoyed.

I made myself a really tasty veg stir fry as Im veggie, with home made sweet and sour sauce thats incredibly easy to make ( mix sploshes of vinegar, sweet chilli sauce, soy sauce, a teaspoon of jam or honey together until the whole thing tastes right). I had that with rice and thoroughly enjoyed it, as did Thos when he tried some after his main meal.

Saturday was packing up and going home day. We chose a much more sensible route home (non sat nav lol) and got home about lunch time.

My parents went via York to pick up Toby, one of my older brothers sons for a few days holiday which was nice, as we dont see a huge amount of his two boys.

As soon as Toby had left, my parents had yet more visitors! This time it was my fathers brother, my Uncle Bill who lives in Germany, and one of his sons, Chris, who lives in London. Yesterday my mum drove Bill over to see us, and tomorrow Chris is going to meet up with Douglas (who is still on holiday) and they are going to cook up a storm in the kitchen, as they both love cooking.

Well, thats it until I get some photos of the various goings on emailed over to me from my mum!

I promise not to leave it so long before my next entry, but please feel free to prod me if the gap seems too long :-)