The Great Yorkshire Brewery Tour

I love Christmas, and this weekend we had a great reminder of it - we'd been given a Red Letter day experience which was a brewery tour, and we used it in Cropton, North Yorkshire. We set off early Saturday morning, and got to the pub in time for coffee - a lovely pub, The New Inn.

And then set off to the brewery, which had begun in the pub cellar but now occupied a couple of buildings close by. It was also undergoing a rebranding from Cropton Brewery, to The Great Yorkshire Brewery which was considered to be abetter brand for the international market.

As a former member of CAMRA, and a lifelong believer and drinker of cask ale, I was surprised to see some kegs outside

But our very entertaining tour guide Karl explained. The brewery produces some very fine beer which is put into casks and bottles, but they also produce some beer which is "craft kegged". This is for a couple of reasons - they are selling into international markets and cask beer doesn't travel, but also because they are producing lager, which needs to be kegged.  The brewery tour was excellent, and more informative than many others I've been on.  At the end we could choose three beers to sample, and I went for quite a mixture. The one in the middle is a red lager. very hoppy, and very much to my liking - I prefer hoppy, bitter beers to sweeter ones. The one on the left is flavoured with nutmeg and cinnamon, which I wasn't keen on and the other is a pale ale which was very nice!

 Of course, it would have been rude to only have one, so we forced another one down with lunch, but I went for the red lager again as it was so good. Having made the very sensible decision not to drive home after sampling 5 different beers, we checked into a room at the pub and had a lovely walk round the village. The sun was actually shining, and it was warm!  Got back to the room in time to watch the Grand National but no luck in the office sweepstake!  Great steak and ale pie in the pub for dinner, cooked in their beer of course!

Sunday breakfast was very fresh eggs on toast, then we drove to Helmsley for a coffee. But, we got seduced by the shops and didn't have time for a coffee. Then to Nunnington Hall, a National Trust property. A lovely house and garden:

and not over-restored. Very much left as it has been when it was last lived in between the wars. I like to get inspiration for my dolls house, and loved this dining room.

One of the attractions for me was a collection of miniature rooms, painstakingly recreated in many different styles. This is one of them - a Palladian Hall

The gardens had a ribbon tree, where children ere encouraged to tie and ribbon and make a wish, and it added some colour to the place - many spring flowers not yet out because of the very cold recent weather. There was also a peacock and peahen. He decided to display to here, and opened and shook his tail feathers - a beautiful sight, but she was not in the slightest bit interested, only going near him to pick up crumbs on the grass.

I did mange to get close enough to take this picture though, which shows the amazing detail and colour on his head and tail

Back home by 4, in time to cook Sunday lunch. A lovely couple of days, and thanks a lot to Tom and Fiona for treating us.

Graves, rain, mist, snow and photographs

Got back last night from lovely weekend in Scotland. Stu's family had bought him a photography course for his 60th birthday last September, so on Friday we set off for Kirkcudbright. Interesting trip across the Snake Pass in freezing fog, with lots of snow on the hills, but none on the road.

Stopped in Kendal for lunch, and got to the hotel by 4pm. We were staying at the Selkirk Arms Hotel, allegedly where Robbie Burns wrote the Selkirk Grace, and if anyone is in the area, I would recommend it. After a rest, we went down to meet the rest of the group - we were in the capable hands of Philip Dunn and his wife Norene, and including Stu there were 5 photographers and me! A very friendly group, and Philip and Norene went out of their way to include me in the group. Great food, some nice wine and good company.

Saturday dawned damp and misty. The photographers did their thing, and in the morning I went for a walk round the town (which is pronounce Kirk-COO-Bree). Lots of things to like about it -  the brightly painted houses:

The tendency for local residents to stack things in their windows:

and lots of interesting passages:

and of course, the shops! The town has a reputation as an artists town, and there are many art galleries and designer shops to look round. I had a very pleasant (and expensive!) morning. It didn't really clear up, but I was sure the photographers would have plenty to go at. This was the view of the harbour:

Joined them for lunch back at the hotel, which was at the bottom of a misty bank

Then after lunch went to find the Stewartry Museum,  which was just behind the hotel. It was amazing, and as someone commented, it needed picking up and putting in a museum itself:

While I was there I picked up a leaflet about the Kirkcudbright cemetery, and decided to walk up the hill to it. It was very atmospheric

I was the only person there, not another soul in sight. Lots of mist and elaborate graves, including those of martyrs and a Gypsy King.

There was supposed to be a fantastic view over the River Dee, but I couldn't see it. Just mist and drizzle. Had a great time though - lots to look at, including some "table-top" graves with carved legs.

Not a lot of colour up there, apart from my newly acquired bright pink hat!

Back to the hotel for afternoon tea, homemade shortbread, and a long soak in the bath before dinner. Another lovely meal, although Stuart wasn't feeling too good so missed it. Next morning we woke to more rain, but not the snow that had been forecast. Whilst the intrepid photographers went in the rain to photograph Colin in his shed (!), I curled up in the lounge of the hotel with my iPad and read the newspapers and a good book. After lunch it was time to say our goodbyes - I had had a thoroughly good time with some lovely people, and am told that Philip is an excellent teacher and photographer so Stu had learned a lot which he now needs to put into practice. You can read a post about the weekend on Philip's website here. He does week long courses in Menorca, which sounds good to me....

So, set off about 2, expecting a 4 hour journey. I kept my eye on the road situation, and although the M62 had snow, the Snake Pass was reported clear. So, we got to Glossop and there was just rain. Looked out of town towards the Snake, just rain. So we set off. on the way to the summit, the rain turned to snow. It got thicker, cars slowed down, we started to skid, and I wanted to go back! Eventually a car coming down warned us off, so we turned round. Then we saw a snow plough going up, so turned round again to follow it (not my idea!!). Snow plough disappeared, snow got thicker, road got slippier, we skidded sideways several times, all automatic braking systems went berserk, and went we started getting warning messages that the whole braking system had failed, we had a full and frank exchange of views about whether to continue or turn round. We turned round. Decided to try a different route, which was snow free till we got to high ground at Owler Bar  where it was terrible again. But, we made it home 6 and a half hours later, to a cooked meal which Dan had prepared for us, and made it to the pub quiz! Interesting end to a great weekend.

Godless trip part 2

Monday we got on a boat and went for a trip down the Thames.

I love the view you get of London landmarks from the Thames, and of course, many you can't see any other way.

We stopped off at North Greenwich and had a look round the O2 Arena Square which is looking really good

and then got back on the boat to Greenwich where we went round the Cutty Sark.

I
t's had a huge restoration programme, and has been lifted up 3m to create a hall under the hull which is very impressive.

From there we walked to the Royal Maritime Museum which was hosting an Ansel Adams exhibition.

Ansel Adams took beautiful black and white photographs, and this was a stunning display of landscapes from the mountains and the sea. Then it was a steep wall up the ill to the Royal Observatory, and I couldn't understand why the parkland in front of the Naval College was all being reseeded, until I was reminded that it had hosted all of the equestrian events during the Olympics.
The view over London from the Observatory is stunning, and you can just see the reseeding in the bottom of the picture

Of course, you have to take the obligatory picture of the Prime Meridian, which I am reliably informed also runs through Cleethorpes. Lots of tourists having their picture taken standing on it, but I've not seen that happen in Cleethorpes.

Then it was back on our boat, back to the Embankment, and a quick tube journey back to the hotel.

We were off to the theatre again, so grabbed a meal in the Massala Club - a thali of mixed curries, very nice. Then off to the Theatre Royal to see One Man, Two Guvnors. A comedy set in the early sixties, but based on a Commedia Dell'arte play from 1743. It was hilarious. One of those plays where you are desperate for the interval so you can stop laughing. Well worth seeing.

Tuesday morning we went to the Museum of London, which we'd not done before. Lots of really interesting stuff about the History of London, including the plague, the great fire, the Blitz and how the city has developed. well worth a visit.

Then we checked out of the hotel walked to St Pancras where we took advantage of the shops to do a bit more Christmas shopping, and a very relaxing journey home

Godless trip

The weekend before Christmas we always try to get down to London to see the Godless shows, as they are affectionately called. More on that later.

Sunday - early train to London, first class, booked in advance so dead cheap. Walk to hotel, stopping for a sandwich lunch on way. Check in, get lovely warm chocolate cookie from reception (a feature of all Doubletree hotels) and set off for a walk. Towards Covent Garden we saw a group of Pearly kings and Queens - first I've ever seen "in the wild".

Covent Garden looked lovely - all decorated for Christmas, and was obviously very busy.

Managed to do a bit of Christmas shopping and buy some presents, and saw the Jack Daniel's Barrel Tree

There was also a giant lego advent calendar, and loads of street theatre and buskers. My favourite  was not actually a busker, but a homeless person I think who was playing Christmas carols through a traffic cone - and doing it very well and collecting loads of money!

From there we walked to Leicester Square and Picadilly Circus through to Trafalgar Square. Saw the Christmas tree and Menorah in the square, and had a quick look in the National Gallery. We both love the National Gallery - so many beautiful paintings in there.  Then a walk back to the hotel to get ready for the show. We ate at a little Italian place  and then walked to the Bloomsbury Theatre, which is owned by UCL.

Nine Lessons and Carols for Godless People is put on by Robin Ince, and originated from an arguement he (as an atheist) had with someone from Christian Voice, who said that atheists couldn't have fun at Christmas. So, determined to prove him wrong, Robin puts on this celebration of science and comedy every year, which always sells out.

We love it. Always slightly anarchic, different people appearing every night depending on when they are free, or whether they just happen to turn up. This year we had Robin, obviously, and a variety of other scienctists and comedians.
 It started with the band, and a laser harp! Very impressive. Laser beams played with white gloved hands.

 Alexei Sayle, turned up unexpectedly, he said he was just passing, and read some of his autobiography:

Richard Herring, in a very ironic Christmas jumper,  talked about his book, Talking Cock. Don't need to explain what it was about, needless to say it was hilarious. So funny that I bought a copy from him at the interval for Stuart for Christmas.

Ben Goldacre, (of Bad Science fame) had a good 20 minute rant about pharmaceutical companies refusing to release all of their clinical trails data. Very interesting, especially when you look at how much money the government spent on Tamiflu during the last flu scare, and yet there is no real published evidence that it works.

There was music from Helen Arney, Grace Petrie and others (can't remember them all), and the mathematician Matt Parker showed us his binary scarf:

as well as solving a rubric cube puzzle in under 3 minutes whilst delivering a stand up routine.

Perhaps the most bizarre act was Baconface, who turned out to be Stuart Lee in a wrestling mask with bacon draped over it.

My favourite bit was from Andrea Sella, Professor of Chemistry at UCL who produced ever increasing sizes of explosions on stage:

You can't beat an explosion for pleasing a roomful of nerds and scientists!

Diary of an Easter Weekend in London

Friday.
Get up, slightly later than normal :-) Tram to station. First class train to London (advance tickets, very cheap). Walk to hotel, via a lovely little sandwich shop called Chive - I had chicken, smoky bacon and leek, very nice.
Check in at hotel, and get warm chocolate cookie each, yummy.
Tube to Pimlico, and short walk to Tate Britain. Not been here for ages, but loved it, especially the pre-raphaelite stuff. I had Ophelia and the Lady of Shallott on every student room I ever lived in.

Walk back down Thames via Westminster, Big Ben etc, and back to hotel.

Quick G and T, relax, and back out again for walk to Covent Garden.
Dinner in Dishoom, a Mumbay cafe style restaurant. sort of Indian Tapas. We had about 6 dishes - lamb biriyani, chicken curry, black dhaal, spiced fish fingers, minced lamb on hot toast and garlic naan. and beer - of course.

Cambridge Theater for Matilda the Musical. Bit of a shock when charged £32 for 4 glasses of white wine. But, show fantastic. Can't find enough superlatives. The music (by the wonderful Tim Minchin), the set, the songs, the children and the choreography, are to die for. Can't help but smile all the way through.

Back to hotel for  nightcap and a film.think it was Minority Report but I nodded off...

Saturday
Nice breakfast - lots of fruit, yoghurt etc
Tube to South Kensington and off to V and A where we'd booked tickets for the special exhibition, Great British design from 1948 to now. Excellent stuff. Lots of great things.

Ecxited to see Keith's spoon in Silver gallery.

Coffee in the garden, then  Camden market.
Never been before. couldn't believe how big it was. Great designs on shops on Camden High Street.

Lunch in Camden Lock market sitting on chairs made from scooters. Think we could have just walked round trying free stuff.

Underground market in horse tunnel very impressive.

Back to hotel. Bath to relax aching legs. Quick drink and out again for tea. Couldn't get in Cabana, the Brazilian restaurant we wanted to eat in, so had nice meal in Zizzis instead.
Rock of Ages. Fantastic. Plastic lighters to wave. Great rock songs. Lots of clapping, standing up, singing, fireworks, gold glitter bombs, tinsel bombs. Real feel good night.

Sunday
Realised it was Easter Saturday, so couldn't do shopping day we'd intended, but walked to Covent Garden anyway.Craft stalls open, and lots of eggs around.

 Walked to Trafalgar Square via Leicester Square and went in National Gallery so Stu could see Madonna of the Rocks.
Then to National Portrait Gallery. Contemporary portraits,  Portraits of unknown people.

Back to hotel. Pack. Walk to St Pancras,. Lunch in Betjenman Arms.
I had a Sunday Roast sandwich,
Ace idea!

Train back, nap, angry birds, and back to Sheffield in time for curry in Saffron Club. Closing in a couple of days so our last night with Naz, Nash and the lads. very sad, but great end to great weekend.