Wigtwizzle - Norman Smith's Travel Blog.: BEAUTY

Showing posts with label BEAUTY. Show all posts

St Ives during Lockdown

St Ives Estate has been a Godsend since the easing of lock-down restrictions with it being only a few miles drive from home and, if you get the timing right, very quiet. Plus it gives you a bit of a leg-stretcher. Walking round the village every day does get a bit monotonous after a time whereas with St Ives you have got many paths and can make your walk as long or as short as you wish. I reckon a walk around the perimeter of the estate, going as far as The Druid's Altar is between two and a half to three miles depending on the route taken.

Met up with Sal on a couple of my walks whilst obviously making sure we both kept our distance. I've missed her company loads these past few months and she has missed mine. We have both had to come to terms with the fact that we have had to cancel holidays and I know things have been a lot worse for Sal as she has been unable to visit her family is South Yorkshire and offer them support.

I have posted a lot of photos in this blog but I could have posted many more. I have come to really love St Ives since knowing Sal and this year I have had the added bonus of being able to see the bluebells in Hollin Wood. I have also heard a cuckoo on more than one occasion, seen woodpeckers and jays aplenty and best of all, watch the Swans bringing up their eight cygnets.

The only thing I have missed is a cappuccino in The Ivy Kitchen!

Cuckoo Nest Wood

St Ives Bridleway

Hollin Wood

Druids Altar Bridleway

Race Course Plantataion

Cuckoo Nest Wood

White Veined Butterfly

Blind lane

Blind Lane

Hollin Wood Bluebells

Cow Parsley

Heron

Cuckoo Nest Wood

Sal in Hollin Wood

Race Horse Plantation

Coppice Pond Wood

Crow Nest Wood

Swan ans Cygnets

Cygnet

Damsel Fly

Mother Swan

Cygnet

Gosling

Hollin Wood

Autumn time, Middleton Woods

I usually miss the autumn colours in Middleton Woods but this year I appear to have been a bit luckier. Maybe they would have been better a couple of weeks ago, its hard to tell. Its difficult getting any really good photos in these woods because they are so congested, I don't think there has ever been any wood management so the place gets too overgrown. Plus, muddy ground underfoot and inadequate footwear also limited me to where I could go so I just stuck to the main paths.

I more or less had the woods to myself though, maybe the people of Ilkley were still in shock after England's World Cup Final defeat because as I drove back in to Ilkley, I saw lots of sad faces coming out of the local Rugby Club and the town's pubs.

My next visit to the woods will be in bluebell time next spring when, once again, I will bore the pants of of everyone with bluebell photos! See you then Middleton Woods.

Autumn Colours, Midddleton Woods

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.