The 2011-12 school year finished on a bit of a high for the Locksley Christian School students with the annual banquet at the Louth Town Hall. As usual, the night included a lot of live performances, including reprises of a number of performances from European Student Convention. Jack and Anna played their part (literally) in a number of performances and also took home some awards, Jack taking the school art award and Anna receiving the highest GPA award for the Oaks of Righteousness (the high school) and the Principal’s Award, making her the youngest ever recipient of the award. It was a great night and the kids were pleased with their performances and awards.
With the school year done and dusted Carolyn, Jack and Anna have had some time to spend with the newest family addition – Benjamin the Bunny, aka Benny, Ben or Bunjamin. Jack spent a week at a Christian youth camp near Market Rasen with one of his mates from school along with a bunch of kids from Yorkshire, Lincolnshire and other parts of the country.
The Yorkshire Dales
While he was at the camp, Carolyn, Scott and Anna had a short trip to the Yorkshire Dales. Stopping first at York (where we drove past Bad Bargain Lane) for a look around the Shambles and a yummy morning tea in the courtyard of the Earl Grey Tea Rooms, we spent the afternoon at Beningbrough Hall. This is a very impressive 18th-century house just outside of York and has beautiful gardens. We spent quite a bit of time eating our lunch and wandering around the gardens, as well as looking through the house before heading off to check in at the Travelodge in Skipton for the night. After checking in we drove out to Grassington, where we had a delicious dinner at the Black Horse Hotel before heading back to the hotel.
The following day we packed up and headed off into the Yorkshire Dales National Park on a mission to find some decent coffee and a nice place to stop for breakfast. We never found the coffee, but took in some stunning scenery before stopping at Aysgarth Falls to eat. We had been there on our way back from the Lake District in 2009 and were happy to sit at a picnic table near the falls to eat our variety of pastries. After breaky we wandered up the river, then headed off through Buckden to Yockenthwaite, where we parked the car near some sheep and took a walk to Hubberholme (what a great village name!) and back along the River Wharfe. The scenery was fantastic, as was the old world war 2 fighter that flew through the valley below us!
After a very tiring walk, we stopped off in Buckden for a cool drink and a bite to eat before heading home through Harrogate and York.
Norfolk
We had the privilege of being invited to the wedding of Luke Franklin and Toni Strong earlier this week. As the wedding was in Fakenham, Norfolk and the reception in Norwich, we decided to make a holiday out of it. Heading off early on Tuesday, we drove South through Boston then turned East into Norfolk, eventually stopping at Hunstanton, where we ate our breakfast in a park on the Promenade looking out over The Wash. They say that on a clear day you can see Skegness from there. It was a clear (and gusty) day and we can verify that “they” are right in this case.
After breakfast, we headed east along the A149 through some charming villages like Burnham Deepdale, Burnham Overy Staithe and Wells-Next-The-Sea toward Cromer and on to Sherringham Park. We spent a couple of hours wandering through the park and climbing the gazebo which gives wonderful views of the country around the park.
After lunch we headed over to Felbrigg Hall, a magnificent old stately home with about 500 acres of park and gardens. We had dinner in the garden before heading into Norwich to check in at the Travelodge Heathersett, just outside of the city.
On Wednesday morning we went into Norwich, parked at Castle Mall shopping centre and had a walk through Elm Hill, down to Quayside (where we got what is probably the best coffee since arriving in the UK, from the King of Hearts Cafe) along Tombland, through the grounds of the Cathedral and to the Royal Arcade. Back to the hotel to get ready for the wedding, then off to Fakenham. The wedding was held at the church of St Peter & St Paul, and was a really lovely ceremony. The reception was held at Open in Norwich and was our first hog roast dinner (delicious!). We had a great time and enjoyed the many musical performances by Luke & Toni’s friends from NGM in Bristol.
On Thursday we drove out to the Horsey Wind Pump (in Horsey, naturally) where, after another picnic breakfast of pastries and fruit, we explored the old wind pump then had a walk out to the beach to see if we could spot any seals. There were a few floating just off shore, checking out the humans on the beach – they were very cute but it proved impossible to get a decent picture of them!
We got in the car and headed for the Blickling Estate – an absolutely stunning old stately home with huge gardens. the rain started to come down quite heavily on the way there and continued all afternoon, so we were content to look around the house and explore the second-hand bookstore rather than tour the grounds.
Only a short trip, but quite relaxing, helping us to rejuvenate before getting back to the grind of school and work on Monday.
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