In Search of the Pink Dinosaur at Ripley Castle

Note to self...don't visit Ripon on either a Thursday or a Friday. Thursday is Market day so you will never get a parking place in any car park and Friday is well...just Friday! This was my second aborted attempt at spending a few hours with Sal in Ripon. The last time we came ended with the same result which was down to the fact that it was a Thursday and market day.

Fortunately Ripley Castle is only a ten minute drive away and, at this time of year, the Castle gardens are open to the public free of charge so we plumped for going there instead. Its history is one of political, military and religious shenanigans, of plague and persecution, of renaissance, enlightenment and industrial revolution.

Some interesting facts about the Castle and the Ingilbys -

Henry Ingilby collected taxes for Edward III and helped the king to finance the construction of Windsor Castle.
His brother Thomas the king from being gored by a wild boar whilst on a hunting expedition and was knighted for his courage and was given the boar's head symbol as his crest.
Sir William Ingilby held high office and served Henry VIII, Mary Tudor and Elizabeth I through some of their darkest days.
Sir William Ingilby supported Charles I during the Civil War, and was made Baronet Ingilby in 1642. He fought at Marston Moor in 1644, when the King's forces were totally routed, making his escape to Ripley and hiding in a priest hole while Oliver Cromwell billeted himself there for the night.
James I stayed at the castle in 1603. By 1605 the Ingilbys were plotting to kill him
Nine of the eleven known conspirators of the Gunpowder Plot were close relations or associates of the Ingilby Family.

The place never lets us down, the weather is usually nice, there is a lovely coffee shop there, a couple of local craft shops and the Castle and Gardens. We started off with the obligatory coffee and then headed in to the craft shop which houses the entrance to the gardens. Its one of those shops which is popular for browsing round but its very rare that you see someone actually buy anything, probably due to its prices.

Once in the gardens or should I call it the deer park, we decided upon walking the full circle of the lake and then come back via the woodland to the more formal house gardens and hothouse. We got some nice reflections of the Castle as we rounded the lake and the light, as we walked through the woodland was more or less perfect so we both took some nice photographs. But it was whilst walking back through the woodland that I came across the enormous pink dinosaur which unfortunately was literally looking rather deflated. I've no idea what it had been used for but the poor thing looked well and truly on its way to extinction!

It was in to the Castle gardens which, at this time of year, were lacking in colour and looking a bit sorrowful but they had still managed to cultivate a very healthy looking vegetable patch which I presume is in everyday use for the castle and coffee shop. Finally we went in the hothouse which served its purpose by warming us both up before we made our way back to the car.

A visit to The Smiths Arms at Beckwithshaw ended our day out perfectly.