1 Skipton Castle is Only 20 Minutes Away

Saturday we drove over to Skipton to see Skipton Castle, the closest "real" castle.  It is at the head of the town and looks over the main street where the historic Skipton Market is set.  A Norman baron built a basic fort here around 1090, which was soon replaced with the stone castle.  This was the family home of the Cliffords from 1314-1676, and their banner still flies overhead.  The Cliffords made many improvements and repairs to the castle throughout their tenure.   It is a lovely estate and we were lucky to catch a rather fair weather day for late January.

I have the tour book which of course has fabulous pictures and plenty of historic information which I won't copy here, but should you ever come to visit it will be here for your viewing pleasure and we of course can drive over for a visit!

This is the entrance to the castle estate, the outer gate.  The word across the top is the Clifford family motto,

"Desormais" or "Henceforth".

This is a picture from the shell room in the east tower of the gatehouse.  It was created in the 1620s.  It's now where you buy your entry tickets.  On the walls amongst the shell decorations are four carvings, the deities Fire, Air, Water, and Earth.  This picture is Mother Earth, she looks rather porcine in the head and I thought the naked pig lady was funny.

This side of the castle is off limits to visitors- as it is currently private residences.  Paul would like to live here.

I am standing in the fireplace of the great hall, just to show you how large it is.  I thought the actual hall was kind of small, more the size of a large classroom than the great banquet hall often depicted in Hollywood.  Granted, this was a smaller castle and not one that the higher Nobles and royalty frequented.

This is the window to the courtyard from the master bedroom.  A lot of light, but a rather boring view especially before the yew tree was planted by Lady Anne Clifford in 1659.  (That tree is 350 years old!!)

One of the arrow slits.

When Lady Anne Clifford began to rebuild the castle after the Civil War the Cromwellian government required that the walls be weakened and the roof made unable to withstand cannon fire.  While this was country-wide enforcement, it was especially important at Skipton Castle, as the original 13 foot thick walls enabled the castle to be the last fortress in the North to holdout for King Charles.  Notice here how thick the walls originally were and how they were carved into.

The dungeon.  Dark, damp, not too stinky, though.  There was no light, behind where I am standing (not in the actual dungeon) there is a tiny chimney-type dig in the wall leading upwards, best guess by me is for some ventilation.  There was no torture here, the most restraint required were leg-irons.  One prisoner testified that he'd never eaten so well as when he was held here by Lord Clifford!

These "stairs" were blocked off for a reason- they were completely dark, so I used the camera flash to show them- I wouldn't want to walk up these!  Some of the steps still in use are quite worn, even down to just small curves that are very difficult to step on.

A view to the gatehouse from one of the windows, you can see the town beyond.

The sink from the curing room, adjacent to the "new" kitchen, built in the early 16th century. It faces the inner courtyard.

A crossbow slit.

The Chapel of St. John the Evangelist.  It was built in the 12th century, last used on record for a baptism in 1637. This window shown was recently restored in order to show how it originally looked.  All other stonework windows are broken.

The old wall is now a walking path.  Dogs are allowed everywhere except in the actual giftshop and tearoom, so we plan on coming back here on a warmer day and bringing Sloan and Max to stroll along this path- you can actually walk around the entire castle estate, which is quite a ways!  Paul and I chose to walk through  Skipton, which is a lovely small town, and we look forward to returning there soon.

0 The Muddiest Walk Yet

was yesterday.  Most of the snow melted literally overnight so we went out on another pasture trek.  Thank goodness for wellies (and my waterproof Sorels- it was still cold!) because we were suctioning through mud most of the way!  It was overcast and drizzly, but none of us mind being out in that, especially since the dogs got their raincoats!

This time we headed in a different direction.  We wanted to check out "the corner" as we call it.

I'll describe it more in the following pictures.  Because we were unfamiliar with these pastures and where sheep might be we kept the dogs on leashes the whole way.  The walk also took us through a plowed field, which is allowed as long as you stay exactly on the path and keep dogs leashed.

The view back towards Birstwith.  The steam is from a Kerry food factory.  No clue what is produced there, we just drive by it.

This is "the corner."  We'd driven by it numerous times, seen sheep standing in it once, and so we wanted to see it up close.  According to our ordinance map it's "Clint Hall remains."  The main road by it is Clint Bank Road and Clint Hall Farm is the farm there.

I can't find any information about it online, so next time I'm at the Post Office I'll ask.  Matthew, the owner of the local Post Office (it's a tiny general store as well) is a really nice guy and apparently his family has been in the area for years- so hopefully he can fill me in.  Paul and I are guessing from notches in the stone that this was a doorway.

This shows you how thick the stone walls are here- houses built like this (ours) are called "solid wall" for a reason.  I'd love to know when this one was built.

Both dogs were sure something interesting was in this hole.  Sloan kept trying to jump into it and with the overcast day and low light I couldn't get a non-blurry picture of her!

Max just wanted to show you how good he is at waiting.  And how handsome his raincoat is!

Paul regularly checks the ordinance map to make sure we're on path.  Here we were trying to find a different route back home, because the one we took to the corner required us to lift Max over two fences- not fun.  Sometimes the path takes you through gates, but sometimes there are steps over the fence or wall instead.  Not easy for dogs, especially nervous chicken legs like Max.

Sloan is impatiently waiting on Daddy to finish reading the map. Notice in the dim light both she and her raincoat glow- I love that it has the reflector strips.  Max's does too.

Another fun trek for us.  There are lots more we're planning on, so look forward to more pictures!

0 Surrounded by Pastures

This was the view from part of our walk. Not too shabby, huh? The tiny dots in the distance are sheep.

We have a lot of walking options as our house is literally surrounded by pastures. Yesterday we took the pooches on a trek through 3 pastures. According to www.mapmywalk.com (a wonderful site!) we looped 1.4 miles total- through mid-calf snow!

Max showing off his stylish raincoat. It mostly resembles the blankets worn constantly by horses here.

Sloan in her raincoat- hers is insulated! She is also showing how she patiently (ha!) waits for us to open gates.

The dogs running off lead. As long as there are no livestock in the pasture and you're on an established path, "voice control" is allowed. Whether or not they listen, we hope.

Paul stopped to give Max a snow drink. Max eats snow constantly, in our yard he will munch for 20 minutes at a time like a goat. This was more sensible, he was thirsty!

This picture appropriately shows Sloan's love of off-lead pasture walks. Obscuring Max's face you can see our Ordinance Map. This is a map showing all the established walking paths- a must!

Hopefully when you come to visit we can fit in some pasture walks- bring your wellies!!

0 For your viewing pleasure

I know it's no fun to read me going on and on with no images, so here's the babies' version of England- it's cold!!

Sloan enjoys making nests out of blankets and couch pillows. She's discovered that wedging herself in this position is quite comfortable.

This isn't uncommon- piles of blankets on them. The pink bathrobe, for those of you unfamiliar with it, was literally stolen from me by Max back in winter '06 and has been his favorite blanket ever since.

He doesn't usually like his face covered. Normally his tush is, though.

Mia loves nesting in the dogs' bean bag beds and she LOVES blankets. Every morning around 6-7 we are greeted with a "Merow!" as she comes to snuggle under the covers with us. This would be more welcome if she was a silent generator... unfortunately for sleep her motor is quite loud :)

This is an old collapsible hamper Mia has taken over. It's upstairs in our clothes room and she's drug it under the radiator to make a quite warm little haven. If she's not in the way downstairs, chances are she's in this upstairs.

Very common site- Sloan under a blanket. She has even perfected walking around the house with a blanket over her. She wears her coats too, but seems to get sick of them, so usually we put them on her before outdoor play and then leave them on her until bedtime. Blankets are always welcome to her, though!

0 27 is a whole new year

My actual birthday was kind of lousy, Paul had to go into work to do some stuff and it took far longer than he expected, so by the time he got home I was in a bad mood and it was dark out. Today became Birthday 2.0, otherwise known as Gesci 27.1. We got up (later than I hoped, but earlier than usual) and went to the gym. Now, as you know, I am NOT a gym person, but I am also not a get out of breath walking up a hill with the dogs person, which lately I am, so I figure the tables can turn on the gym thing too.  After that we came home and walked the dogs, cause I feel bad exercising without them when they need it too, showered, then got in the car to go to Ripon.
Ripon is a fairly large town about 20 minutes north of us. It seems to have quite a bit going on, with lots of site-seeing places right around and in town and also tons of shops. Well, it was dark, freezing, and snowing, so we walked around a little, drove around a little, ate at a little pub- quite good scampi and curly fries for me, southern fried chicken burger and chips for Paul- then came home. Ripon is high on the "Go Back to on a Warmer Day" list. The street we drove into town on also has a section that is the most beautiful road- overhung by large arched trees and a gorgeous house or some sort of building down view. It was dusk when we drove through, so too dark for a good picture, but I'll definitely get one on here next time.

Side note- we had originally tried to go to Europe for a short break (2-4 days), but everything we found had cheap flight-pricey hotel or vice versa. Consequently, we decided to have a short break on the island. Scotland seemed out due to the poor weather so we decided to go to Wales. We found an excellent hotel deal and had started the planning, but hadn't quite booked online since we still didn't have a caretaker/kennel for the pets. Then the weather got worse. And worse. And worse. We canned the plans and decided to have a birthday trip for me in a month or two. Which was good, since 2 major highways in Wales are closed and other roads are considered impassable (yes- unable to pass through- also impossible though!).

As the days begrudgingly get longer I'll have more light and we'll do more adventures, leading to more pictures for all you people. Anyone planning to visit do let us know what you're interested in doing so we can either scout out the place or find deals for getting in- a lot of the sites are pricey, but deals can be found with planning!

Here's to 27!! (.1)

1 Let Me Introduce You

to my new neighbors. No, still haven't really met any humans, just a couple of names. But we have more exciting neighbors, at least as far as Sloan and Max are concerned.

There are nine sheep, they've been there since about the 2nd week of December. All are lame on one leg, so we're guessing "our" pasture is the hospital. Whatever, they don't mind us as much anymore and we are fairly used to them!

This is by far the most social sheep, he (or she, no clue here) is always at the front of the group and doesn't bounce away from us, even the dogs. The lower picture shows the steps down from our garden to the pasture- he stayed right there, even with both dogs at the gate and me taking pictures!

Anytime the dogs go outside they run to the pasture gate to check on the sheep- or burrow their heads in the hedge to see them better! Sloan has gotten stuck in the hedge once and got through once, but she didn't try to chase the sheep, just peed in the pasture and then smelled around while Paul wrangled her. While we don't allow the dogs access to the pasture with the sheep in it, I am not worried about them hurting the sheep. Sloan is generally scared of livestock and definitely not a herder. Max might "run" (haha, it's Max) after them to play, but he's harmless as well- he enjoyed the horses/donkeys/goats near us in Mountain Home- especially licking their noses!