Up t'hill and down t'dale, off to Yorkshire again!

We are just back from a glorious week in the Yorkshire dales, an area I've visited briefly but not actually stayed in or explored before.  I favour the moors side, as mum is from that side of Yorkshire and I spent many happy holidays there as a child.    It was, of course, beautiful. It was also hot, not quite as hot as Curtise in the latest edition of VOGOFF, but almost! 

We stayed at Pott Hall cottage, a holiday cottage a few miles outside of Masham, and completely surrounded by countryside. 

  
This was the view from the cottage when we arrived, no traffic, no neighbours, no internet, not much of anything.  Just beautiful scenery, animals and fresh air.

We had a quick walk around the area, and settled down for the evening. 

Sunday brought more good and unexpected sunny weather so we set off to explore Masham.  There was a thriving international Sunday market in the large market square, lots of food and several South American stalls selling pan pipes and knitted goods.  We resisted the goodies, including the kangaroo sausages, I really wasn't sure if it was literal or not so thought it best not to sample! 

I saw this poster in the town hall craft market, I'm disappointed that we will miss the racing sheep!

We drove on towards Thirsk in the search for Sunday lunch.  Him indoors has a theory that if we drive till lunchtime, we will arrive at a nice pub.  So we did, and we found this place at noon, spooky!  It is The Carpenter's Arms in Felixkirk.

Of course, we had roast beef and Yorkshire pudding!  The Yorkshires were just like my grandma used to make, so I was thrilled.

After lunch we had a little walk around the village, then, realising that we were not too many miles from the picturesque Helmsley, we set off again.  After a stroll around, we headed for the Ryburn tea rooms, set back down a side street so not so packed as all the other tea rooms on a Sunday afternoon!  We had tea for two, and two large slices of Victoria sponge with cream.

Obviously, after all this food, we needed a walk.  So what better way to exercise than a gentle meander around one of Yorkshire's stunning abbeys?  The 12th century Byland Abbey (another victim of Henry VIII's dissolution of the monastries) was nearby, so we headed on over.  

Byland has stunning examples of medieval floor tiles, these are just a few photos of the  designs.  Hard to imagine these have lain in the ground for over 600 years!

I did love the shadows cast by the sun 

and the way a shaft of sunlight caught the beautiful York stone, and lit it up!

This interesting seat was in the pub across the road, obviously not from the time of the abbey (the carvings show the abbey in ruins), but certainly old

Phew, that was quite a busy first day!