Aysgarth Falls

When we decided to go on our holidays to Bainbridge, I was really excited to visit Aysgarth Falls. As a child, I loved the film Robin Hood: Prince Of Thieves, and when my brother discovered that one of my favourite scenes was filmed there, I knew we had to go.

On arriving at the falls, you can hear the distant noise of the river and I found it increased the excitement hearing the water gushing as you walk along the path towards the falls. We visited after a spell of rain, so the water was travelling at a great velocity. There are three areas of the falls to visit from the car park - the upper, middle and lower falls. The falls are 5 minutes from the car park and then perhaps an additional 5 minutes between each of them.

There is plenty of space to enjoy a picnic at the Upper Falls, and what a scenic spot to do so. I imagine that children would love clambering about the area. You would need to be careful with them getting too close to the river when there has been heavy rain. I have seen pictures of people playing in the river, when it is shallower, however. It would be nice to revisit when there is less water, as it looked a lot different from photos I had seen.

My little boy was not overly impressed!

Visiting the falls is free, but there is a charge for parking of £2.50 for 2 hours. The falls are sort of wheelchair and pushchair accessible. We took our son in the pushchair, but to be honest we do have a sturdy pushchair. There is a path linking the falls, but to actually get right by the river in most areas you have to descend stairs or clamber over rocks, so we wished we had carried our son in his sling instead.

There is a visitor centre with refreshments and toilets adjacent to the car park. However, we visited the quaint little tea rooms by the bridge, in between the Upper and Middle Falls. The ice-cream was delicious.

One thing I have learned from my trip, is that although it is nice to wear billowy floaty dresses, when you are bending over trying to get that perfect shot, you wish you had worn jeans. I had a constant battle against the gusts of wind, and frequently I was defeated, much to the dismay of my embarrassed husband.

There was a rich man from Nottingham who tried to cross a river. What a dope he tripped on a rope! Now look at him shiver!

Brimham Rocks

On our Yorkshire holidays, we enjoyed a little jaunt to Brimham Rocks. I was incredibly excited to go, having visited as a child. There is always a danger in revisiting places from your youth. Would it live up to expectations? My imagination has been known to exaggerate the beauty of what is infront of me. My memories of Brimham Rocks are synonymous with a land where you could envision a Velociraptor creeping through the ferns. I hoped that they would still envoke such childlike wonder, and that my husband would share my enthusiasm for a bunch of rocks.

 We didn't get off to a great start. We had headed out to Ingleton bright and early, and as we left, with our son fast asleep, we decided to continue driving, so we wouldn't disturb his nap. My husband passed me the map (he would sorely regret this decision) to find somewhere to explore that afternoon. After two hours of what I am going to refer to as a breakdown in communication and navigational difficulties, we arrived. My husband was understandably grumpy, so I tried to use my son's smiles to break the tension. But alas to no avail, as my son was a little groggy having just woke up to a balmy 28 C and there were no smiles to be had. We strapped a wriggly little boy into his baby carrier and headed off into the wilderness.

The first set of rocks, we arrived at were interesting to look at with their natural caves and hidden nooks and crannies, but as my husband had our precious little bundle of joy attached to his chest, it was difficult to explore.  I feared that he would not enjoy our trip.

We walked a little further and was met by the most majestic sweeping panorama. I must admit as I stood up on the rocks surveying the beauty before us there was an deep intake of breath and a little giggle of glee. There was no doubt that this was worth the two hours sat in a stuffy car.

We meandered amongst the undergrowth, and clambered up on the rocks for over an hour before heading for refreshments. There did appear to normally be a large selection on offer, but arriving on a busy summer's day after the lunch rush, we had to settle for a cheese toastie, bag of crisps and a sausage roll. They proved to be quite delicious!

We loved our trip to Brimham Rocks. It really is a fantastic idea for a family trip. We spotted children of all ages having a wonderful time climbing like monkeys. There are plenty of picnic tables, but most were enjoying their picnics on the rocks.  It is wheelchair and pushchair accessible around the rocks. Entry to Brimham Rocks is free, and parking costs £4 for 3 hours (remember coins for pay and display). Opening hours to the rocks are 08:00 until dusk each day. The shop and visitor centre opening hours vary, so please check here before you visit, if you require these.

Our journey home may have involved some smug remarks of how Yorkshire truly is God's Own County to my Scouse husband's dismay.

Our Yorkshire holiday

Last week we enjoyed a stay in the Yorkshire Dales. The weather was glorious, the views spectacular and with the company of my two favourite boys, this shaped up to be the perfect relaxing week away. We stayed at Cherry Bank lodge in Bainbridge (website here), which was well equipped and comfortable. I thoroughly recommend a visit. I'll be sharing some of our day trips in future posts, but here's to reminiscing about sunny fun-filled days!

How to celebrate Yorkshire Day - 1st August.

This year I will be celebrating Yorkshire Day in Hawes in the Yorkshire Dales. I love Yorkshire so much, I even holiday there! Now everyone makes a huge fuss about St. Patrick's Day when they are not Irish, so why not give celebrating Yorkshire Day a try. I'm sure we can drink just as much as the Irish! Here's some of the key ingredients to a fabulous Yorkshire Day. Ee by gum its going t' be a reyt good un'!

1. Tesco, 2. Amazon, 3. Amazon, 4. Tesco, 5. Tesco, 6. Ebay, 7. Amazon, 8. Ebay.

Food

Parkin
Rhubarb
Pontefract Cakes (Liquorice)
Yorkshire Puddings (How about for breakfast?! - love this recipe from my sister on Bilberry Tart - One of my faves)
Barnsley Chop

Wensleydale cheese - available here

Drink

Yorkshire Tea
One of the many local ales and beers such as Barnsley Gold, Jorvik Blonde

Yorkshire Tea - available here

Decor

White Rose bunting.
Sheffield steel cutlery.
Pit lamps.
Yorkshire pudding pillow.
Nobody's perfect pillow above.

Yorkshire Pudding pillow - available here

Music

Arctic Monkeys
Kaiserchiefs
Pulp
Chumbawumba

Dress

Flat cap and whippet are essential

Games 

Traditional games include Rhubarb thrashing (where you literally stand in dustbins and hit each other with rhubarb!), nipsy, knur and spell. For further info visit this site full of traditional games.

Some slang to try out at your party

laikin' - playing
spice- sweets
wang - throw
bairn - child
bray - beat up
chelpin - talking
gi' or - give over
fuddle - a bring and share type party
mardy - sulky
nesh - cold
a Scarborough warning - final warning of bad behaviour.

Finish up your evening relaxing with a nice film..

Four lions
The Damned United (One of my favourite films ever featuring one of my favourite actors Michael Sheen. Good lad!)
Kes
Brassed Off
The Full Monty

Brassed Off - available here

Or a book.

Any of the Brontë's amazing works.
Dracula by Bram Stoker

Events taking place

If you would like to visit a Yorkshire Day event, there are some suggestions here.

Now all you need to do is practice the Yorkshire mantra whilst sipping a brew of Yorkshire tea.

'Ear all, see all, say nowt; Eyt all, sup all, pay nowt; And if ivver tha does owt fer nowt -Allus do it fer thissen.'

For those of you who are not aficionados with the Yorkshire language, this loosely translates as 'Hear all, see all, say nothing; Eat all, drink all, pay nothing; And if ever you do anything for nothing - always do it for yourself.'

Hope you have a fab Yorkshire Day whatever you are up to. Si thee later! 

Experience Barnsley Opening

On Thursday I went to the opening of Experience Barnsley. I was really excited to see what our new Barnsley museum was going to be like. Barnsley Town Hall is such a beautiful piece of architecture. Even though I pass the building most days, I still always stare at it. It looks far too grand for my little hometown. I hoped that the modification of this building had been done with great care and consideration. I wasn't sure what the museum would be like, but it exceeded all of my expectations.

The museum's opening was filled with pomp and ceremony. There was music, an animatronic dinosaur, children's carousel, cricket players walking on stilts...what more could you want from an opening! The Lord Mayor and Dickie Bird were also on hand, but they were not alone in cutting the red ribbon to unveil the museum. There was a huge red ribbon emblazoned with the Experience Barnsley emblem, which they invited people to cut and then keep a section of the ribbon. 

There has been a remodelling in front of the museum, which will feature fountains (This part of the building work is not complete). Not everyone is in love with the piece of modern art at the front of the town hall, which has been nicknamed the 'nit comb'. It had not been in situ a day before some bright sparks had attempted to scale its heights. Although it is not necessarily in keeping with the aesthetic of the town hall, I do think it adds something a little different to the town centre.

The museum has been filled with donations from the people of Barnsley, and I think this is what makes it so engaging for all ages. You feel the lovely warm glow of nostalgia from the second you enter the exhibits. Many of the pieces are personal to Barnsley, but there is also a wider narrative of key events in British history such as World Wars, Roman occupation and the Miner's Strikes. As part of my archaeology degree, I did a module on Modern Archaeology, which was fascinating. In this module, we looked at the importance of museums, and what we should preserve for future generations. As I walked round with my 11 week old son, I realised that my own childhood is now history and looked forward to a time when I can show him the artifacts from my youth. Looking at a school shirt that bad been signed by classmates on the last day of school took me back to my own school days. Museums give us chance to reflect on life throughout the ages. 

There was a wonderful atmosphere of community on the day. I enjoyed speaking to other visitors as I wandered round. One gentleman started quizzing me about a photograph of miners, and I was ashamed that my knowledge was scarce. He then went on to tell me many stories as we perused the exhibit. I really think this will be a lovely place for grandparents to take their grandchildren, and to teach them about their heritage. As a Christmas gift, I got my parents a book, available from amazon here, for them to complete for my son about their life, as I regret not sitting and learning more about my grandparent's lives. I cannot wait until my son is old enough to visit the museum with his grandparents.

The museum is free and open 7 days a week. Opening hours are Monday to Friday 10 a.m. - 5 p.m., Saturday 10 a.m. - 4 p.m. and Sunday 11 a.m. - 4 p.m. There is so much to see that I didn't get chance to see half of it. It includes archives where you can look up your family history, investigate what resided on the land your home now inhabits, etc. There is a gallery holding works of art that have been commissioned and take their inspiration from photographs of old Barnsley residents. I was particularly moved by this part of the museum. There is a section that children will love that has a dress up box, puzzles to complete, and an area where children can dig up artifacts. It also has a blast from my own past - some carousel horses and a car that used to form part of the carousel ride in Barnsley market. The staff are knowledgeable and helpful. I was chatting to one member of staff Michael in the Discovery Centre, who answered my questions and enthused about all of the amazing things to see and experience.

I am in love with so many of the items in the gift shop! It has the standard teddybears, pencils, etc with the Experience Barnsley emblem, but also includes so many reproductions of retro and vintage items, and cute little crafty nick nacks. There is also a large range of books about Yorkshire. Speaking of Yorkshire books,  I have been asked to donate the children's books I have written as part of the Barnsley authors section and would be honoured to be included. (I am currently in the process of improving them, but will be donating once complete - plus excited to be creating a Bones The Dog in Yorkshire adventure!)

I really hope that the museum goes from strength to strength and that we all engage with this wonderful project and help it to evolve as our community evolves.

I urge you to go and visit. What is stopping you!