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Happy Holiday

Saturday 13 October 2012



I seem to be very lucky with holidays. There's a certain amount you can guarantee by selecting a nice place to stay and picking your holiday companions wisely, but the rest is up in the air.  Will the weather be awful? Will the cottage look nothing like the website pictures and be covered in dog hair? Will I forget to pack all my pants? Will the car break, stranding me in the middle of nowhere for a week? Will I blow up the cooker in the holiday cottage? (all of those have happened to me, although thankfully not all on the same holiday)
I went away last week with this lovely bunch:
L-R: Kim, Karen, Char, Heather, Ffion and moi.

Karen, Ffion and I work together and we decided, somewhat on a whim, to book a 5 day break and each bring along a friend.  We're all very similar in terms of likes and dislikes so I was fairly certain that I wouldn't hate the friends they brought with them.  And so it turned out!  Kim and Heather were both absolutely lovely and the six of us had a cracking time.  Lovely weather, lots of giggles and many jaunts around the countryside.  What more could you want?  Nothing went wrong!

Here's where we stayed:
Alas the amazing MG (Rita) is not mine.  She belongs to Karen.

An awful lot of gallivanting around Yorkshire was done. 

We went to Brimham Rocks:

And Nunnington Hall:

And Hutton le Hole (where I stepped in the most enormous amount of sheep crap):

And Thirsk, just to see James Herriot's house:

And we frolicked around a lot in the ruins of Fountains Abbey, seeing as it was practically on our doorstep:
Yes, that's Char falling off the back of a snail that toddlers ride on.  She then fell over on a silver dish thing as well.  FALLER!

But on a more relaxed note, we also loafed round the cottage drinking tea and coffee, eating a lot of cake and reading many, many books. We also played an awful lot of board games:
Articulate and 221b Baker Street to be precise.

Had a very civilized day out in Harrogate (where I bought lots of jumpers) and enjoyed delicious afternoon tea at Bettys:

And did a fair amount of charity shopping as well.  I saw these in the Oxfam bookshop in Ripon and went "YOICKS!", did the patented Alex shelf-sweep manouevre and scampered to the till with them.  Want to know the best bit?  In total, for eight 1950s Georgette Heyer hardbacks, it cost £6.75.

A perfect thing to take away from a perfect holiday.

19 comments:

  1. OMG TINTERN ABBEY. I spent my birthday there and it was the BEST EVER. Absolutely worth CAPSLOCK CRAMP. Yep, this would be my idea of a perfect holiday.

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  2. Ah you were really in my neck of the woods, in fact I am off to Fountains Abbey this very day (later on, they're lighting it up at night)! Did you love Brimham Rocks?

    I love the Bring a Friend idea as long as you think they'll all get on of course! Score on the books too, beautiful!

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  3. Oh this looks lovely! I am so tempted to book a little getaway with my friends now - maybe a good excuse for next year before the wedding! A mini hen weekend! Oooh. The cottage looks lovely, especially with the red MG outside (not sure if my red KA will quite have the same effect haha)

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  4. Looks like you had a great time, some funny pics! Yorkshire is lovely and Betty's tea room is gorgeous!

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  5. Sounds like a great weekend. The place you stayed looks really nice and plenty to do too! Shame about the sheep poo...

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  6. Some of my favourite places there. Very jealous!

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  7. Was that one of the self catering properties at Fountains Abbey? I love it there we try and visit at least a couple of times a year, it's especially stunning when floodlit. Those photographs of you all are stunning, glad everyone had such a great time. Linda xxx

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  8. Ooooh those Georgette |Heyers!!!!!!! Serious envy here!!!!!!!

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  9. What a bloody HOOT! Fantasmo surroundings,and what a glorious place to stay! I rarely holiday in a group,I frigging loathe trying to get people to agree,or get organised! You lot clearly are onto it!Fun fun FUN,I so wish I could have partaken,only I would have been the drunk one making an arse of herself!
    XXX

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  10. This combines all of my favourite things!! tea, cottages, mates and books. Jealous xx

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  11. I love the ruin frolicking! The whole thing sounds great fun - there's nothing like a girlie getaway x

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  12. This sounds like the perfect getaway, I am very jealous!

    Maria xxx

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  13. This sounds (and looks) like an amazing time. And I have Georgette Heyer hardback envy.

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  14. such fabulous pictures, it looks like you has a fab time x

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  15. Those photos at Fountains Abbey Are fantastic!

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  16. Gosh what a getaway, you all looked to have had a pretty fabulous time. You fitted so much in and it all looks so enjoyable, even the fun posing! xxx

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  17. I'm pulling my jealous face. I WANT TO COME NEXT TIME!

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  18. Oh, that bloody snail photo!

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  19. What a great holiday...although I might be a tad jealous because Harrogate is my home town. So glad you got to Brimham Rocks too - isn't it the most bonkers yet brilliant collection of rocks?

    Love the photos x

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