Out!

Yesterday and today, we've actually been Out! Out the house! Doing Family Things in the outdoors!! Yes folks, we finally managed to get out and about in the fresh air, not once but twice, and it's been brilliant. Brilliant.

Yesterday afternoon, despite the rather gloomy grey, cold weather, we made a spur of the moment decision to walk down the hill, along the canal to the station, get on a train, ride along the line to the next stop and get off again. The train ride itself took less than ten minutes, but it added an enormous amount to the whole experience, especially for our sweet little two year old.

Our destination was a small, rural village not far from the Attic where there happens to be a really terrific playground just a minutes walk from the station. The Little People took their scooters, but there was plenty to keep them occupied here. It's a beautifully designed playground inspired by the Yorkshire landscape with large rocks, wooden sheep and tractors to climb on, stone walls to balance along and lots more besides.

Such a fabulous thing to watch children at play, I adore to see such boundless energy, such joy in using limbs and muscles to swing, climb, jump, run, slide, spin, crawl, leap, bounce, balance, dig, step. Two hours of fresh air and active good fun, it was great to shake off the indoorsyness that we've been experiencing of late.

This morning, after weeks of exceptionally cold, bleak winter weather, we finally saw blue skies and sunshine. After the happiness of yesterday's little outing we decided to head 9 miles out of town to a small National Trust property that we'd always meant to visit (seeing as we are NT members) but had never got around to. This is East Riddlesden Hall, an old, old 17th century manor house.

It was beautiful inside, quite informal, even cosy for a grand house. It had beautiful windows. It also had lots of old, old chairs and other valuable furniture and possessions that were scarily at toddler height and not roped off in any way. It was quite a stressful experience taking Little B through the beautifully laid out rooms. He rolled about on the floor quite a lot, and he touched many things that were labelled Do Not Touch. But the house was quite a modest size and we toured it relatively quickly. I physically exhaled with pure relief once we were out in the fresh air again and Little B could go running freely about.

I expected more of the gardens, but I suppose it is the middle of winter, and many of the information boards standing beside areas of bare earth told us how beautiful it would look in Spring and Summer. One area that made my heart soar was a small Wild Flower garden where the early spring bulbs were already carpeting the grass. Such joy to see the crocus with their petals flung wide open to the morning sunshine!

After such a lengthy spell of freezing grey air here in North Yorkshire, the blue of the sky today gave me an incredible surge of joy. I walked around much of the gardens with my face turned towards the sun, soaking it in, drinking in the rays as if I were parched. I've sooooo missed the sight and feel of the sun in recent weeks.

There was a small but lovely playground in the gardens, and for the second day running I enjoyed watching my Little Peeps do their thing. I never tire of taking them to these kind of places, it makes me feel really good just to stand back and observe them. I remember one of my earliest blog posts was about a visit to our local park, it's such an essential part of life with children isn't it?

And seemingly stripy tights are the outfit of choice for Park Visits, some things don't change much.

After all that outdoorsy stuff, it was rather nice to come inside and enjoy this cosy National Trust cafe for a spot of lunch. We are normally a family of picnickers, but today J declared he would treat us to an indoor lunch, and it was a really nice treat. Sandwiches for the Littlies, homemade soup and crusty bread for J and I. Frothy coffees, apple juice and a generous slab of cake to round off.

I'm enjoying this holiday from routine very much actually, despite the rather moochy start. Tomorrow...........well tomorrow is Hooky Day for me, yaaayyyyyyyyyyy!!!!!! I've (hopefully) secured time to work on the Happy Flower for you, well that's to say that I've arranged for Little B to be taken out with his wonderful grandparents so he'll at least be out of the equation for a good part of the day. I'll still have J and the Little Peeps at home, but they've been told in no uncertain terms that Mummy/Wifey will not be available for normal Mummy/Wifey duties. We shall see. Keep your fingers crossed for me!

Back soon xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

 

 

 

 

 

 

Comments

[OhAbigail]

Your hooky day sounds perfect - I call it 'Mothers respite' if I ever get a day off! As for the park, it looks absolutely worth a train ride, you are right, once you have children you become a park critic!

[Rachel]

Hurrah for outdoor time!!!
That playground looks amazingly fun!
Good luck with getting your Mummy Crochet Time tomorrow, I look forward to seeing the results!!

[Jennifer W]

L- I'm so glad you were able to get outside & revived! How lucky you are to have such fun outings "close" to home. let the little miss know that her stripey stockings are MOST befitting an outdoor adventure! check out tangledhappy.com for a great purse project for her! :) -jenn

[louise]

Wow that yorkshire inspired post looks fabulous! As does East Riddlesden

The peak district is still under the clouds of grey and gloomy and it's quite windy and very chilly still so I'm desperate for some sunshine! I need a surge of joy at the moment too!

What a great start to half term, hope you enjoy the rest of it!

[louise]

whoops, meant to say Yorkshire inspried PARK above, not post! sorry!

[Alice]

That playground looks AWESOME!! I've always been a huge fan of parks and would have loved to have gone there when I was younger (or that it was acceptable for me to go there now!) Have fun hooking tomorrow.
Alice :)

[lianne]

Huge congratulations Lucy on your Inside crochet blog award hugely deserved

Much love and admiration

Lianne

xx

[Katie]

Those crocuses are beautiful! My wee boy has really come to love the park over the summer months - although he still needs assistance getting on the swings etc - and I'm not sure what I'm going to do when winter comes around and we are cooped up inside! I will be watching the sky for a break in the weather to get out I think :-)

[Nicole]

Lovely pictures! My dream is to see your part of the world one day before I'm too old and gray. Your wonderful pics just make me all the more eager!
It's just as cold and dreary here in the northeastern part of the US (Pennsylvania)
Take care!

[Colleen]

That's exactly what you needed, Lucy!! You've been having what we call here in the US...cabin fever :)

Thanks for the lovely pictures :)

[Jeanmarie]

Thanks for the outing! It almost felt like being along for the ride.

[Sarah]

I'm so glad you managed to get out with the children. I miss my half term holidays now the children have grown up!
Your photos are lovely especially the crocus showing spring is on it's way!
Sarah

[Rachel]

I love your posts. You make me miss England so much! There is nothing like what you've pictured here in Canada - no grand old manor houses or castles, no ruins, and our cities/towns are not walkable at all. Sigh. Someday I'll go back and visit my Yorkshire relatives (Dad's side) and my Hampshire relatives (Mum's side).

[Alissa]

Well done on getting outdoors - I love any chance to be outside... especially if stripey tights are involved :)

[One-oh-four]

Lovely blue sky! Sounds like you had a great day out. Good luck with the hooky time tomorrow; we are all waiting with bated breath.....

[Annie]

Oh how I long to see a blue sky, it feels like weeks since we had anything overhead here but grey, grey cloud. Good luck with tomorrow's hooky :D

[Helpful Mum]

I love that park - my kids are off there tomorrow with the childminder as I'll be at university.

[Ariadne]

I loved seeing these outings!They reminded me of my days in Kent!AriadnefromGreece!

[Renee]

You are gorgeous Lucy. So happy the sun came out for you.

Looking forward to your tute!

[Rachael Iddon]

I will be 'tuning in' tomorrow to see if there is progress on the happy flower. Well, that's after I've taken my littlies to the local RSPB place to dissect an owl pellet and create a food web. I hope the cafe there is as good as the NT one you went to. Happy half term.

[Trudy McLauchlan]

What lovely adventures outdoors!! Enjoy those bursts of sunshine :- )

[Jen Y]

You live in such a beautiful place & I love how you focus on the beauty.

[Kate]

Looks like a lovely day or two.Splendid!

[Alida]

Being from Florida... Is that normal to have so much snow and then go to green grass in a few days? I'm having so much fun looking at your pictures and comparing our environments! Your colors in your crochet have also been a HUGE inspiration for me to live with more color!

[Deco Cat]

Glad to hear you sounding brighter! Those days out look wonderful!