Breaking News:

William and Kate are the parents of a baby boy,
a son and heir,

born on 22 July 2013 at 4:24 p.m.
8 pounds 6 ounces

Congratulations to the happy parents
the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge

Happy Birthday, Prince George Alexander Louis of Cambridge!

~ ~ ~ ~ ~


Back to today's blog entry:


It was a dark and stormy night, in Olde Yorkshire, England. The date was approximately two weeks after we'd been married, in 1986. We were on our honeymoon, you see. We were traveling around the land of our dreams - England & Scotland.

After about 2 weeks of driving from here to there, planning our itinerary as we went along with no firm plans made ahead of time, we had been up into Scotland, in Oban and then to Inverness and Nairn, down through Edinburgh and over to the east coast to visit Berwick-Upon-Tweed and Holy Island (see top of map below).




We crossed the border of Northumberland, driving along the east coastline, into Durham and back into Yorkshire and landed one late afternoon - one very dark and rainy late afternoon - in a town called Thirsk. Our first visit to Thirsk - the same town where James Herriot practiced veterinary medicine all those years ago.

We were aiming for Thirsk...





... just to immerse ourselves in all-things-Herriot, and found ourselves, tired and stiff from driving all day, on a little back street where the TIC (Tourist Information Center) was located. In we went - we were lucky they were still there - it had to be close to 5 p.m. already). We shook off the wet and they welcomed us in with open arms. They found us an available B&B to stay at that night, over in Boltby they said, not too far from there, called Low Paradise. It sounded lovely. They also pointed out, just in case we wished to know, that the James Herriot surgery was exactly across the narrow street from this office we were sitting in! We pretended not to be too "touristy" about it and said "Oh, thanks! We might go take a look."

They told us it was a little tricky finding Low Paradise but gave us detailed instructions on the route from Thirsk to Boltby (in the fog, no less!):




It was quite off the beaten path and we almost never made it that night. We came very close to sleeping in our car!

After a mad dash across the street to see, first hand, the famous Veterinary Surgery...





... with the plates on the front with the names of the doctors, etc., (Alf Wight, Brian Sinclair, etc.), we set out for our B&B at Low Paradise.

To make a long story shorter, the night was so rainy and foggy, we nearly got lost and we also nearly drove off into an abyss of a hill, but we eventually found our destination, Low Paradise Farm (the road leading to it is below):



Here's a little video showing the place we spent the next few nights of our honeymoon.



If you look at the front of it, we were in the room way at the top on the left-hand side, with just the skylight for a window, under the roof eaves. So romantic it was. Especially when the fighter jets would come roaring through the valley right outside our window at all hours of the night - the noise was ear shattering! We thought we were in a war at first!

Here is a page telling all about this beautiful farm where we began our married life, if only for a few days and nights. This brings back memories now...

You can have a look around by clicking on the smaller photos of the interior and exterior. I can remember having the most wonderful English breakfasts served up to us at that long dining table - it hasn't changed much at all since we were there back in 1986. I'm sure it's been sold at least once, though. I think the then-current owners told us, when we were there, that they were thinking of selling up but it was hard for them as the owner of the farm had been born and raised there, as had his father before him. It was their family home.

So that's all for now. Just a little glimpse into the past. It was during our initial trip to England and Scotland that we fell in love, for ever and ever, with that wonderful part of the world.

Cheers,

Bex-the-hopeless-Anglophile

2003 - Present Archives at Diaryland
2007 - 2009 Archives at WordPress
2009 Archives at JournalScape
2010 Archives at JournalScape
2011 Archives at JournalScape
2012 Archives at JournalScape
2013 Archives at JournalScape