Temples, terraces, walled gardens and wine

Off to Whitby Folk Week, this time via Helmsley for a couple of days with our friends Andrea and Donald. Staying at The Feathers in the market square. Thursday we drove up, had lunch in The Feathers, and a look round the lovely shops. Then we walked to the Walled Garden which I've seen at various times of year, but the herbaceous border looked particularly good at the moment.






There was also a beautiful wild flower meadow.



We had diner in The Feathers, and then a quick pub crawl round the Market Square in the rain. Well, a quick dash to the only other pub which is all of 2 mins away.

Friday was a lovely day, and we had a quick look round the Market, bought provisions for a picnic, and set off to walk to Riveaulx Abbey. The walk was lovely, and took about an hour and a half, with a coffee stop along the way. I took the opportunity to rejoin English Heritage while we were there, and we had a good look round the ruins.


Then, on the way out we spotted a fridge full of cold beers. Knowing that we had some climbing to do, we bought a couple as we thought they might come in handy. We were right! We climbed up to the terraces and temples, and went up the "summer path" rather than the road. It was a 1 in 4 slope, on a narrow, muddy, slippery path. To say I was out of breath at the top was an understatement, and we could all barely speak as we went into the temples. But, it was worth it.



The views were fantastic, and the cold beer to wash the picnic down with was very welcome.



We walked from one end of the terrace to the other and back, which was covered with wild flowers and butterflies.






Then it was back to Helmsley, an 8 mile walk in total, and you can see it on runkeeper here.

We'd been looking for a cottage for our girls weekend away in November, thought we'd found a good one on the Internet, so went to have a look. Nice place, perhaps I'll write about it in a few months if we can work out how to get to Helmsley by public transport. Suspect getting back on the Sunday might be a problem.

Then a was and brush up, posh clothes on, and off to The Feversham Arms for a nice meal. Cocktails, some amazing food, and some nice wine made for a very pleasant evening. Nice to be recognised by all of the staff, but Stuart was a bit disconcerted to hear the maintre 'd tell the waiter that "Mr Sexton likes a lot of wine".



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