Up Hill and Down Dale

Maybe it was a result of Saturday's day of drizzly rain, but yesterday morning J and I both agreed that we should make the most of a dry day and go out for a short walk somewhere. We are exceptionally lucky to live on the very edge of the Yorkshire Dales National Park, so it's only a short car journey to get us out of town and Up Hill to one of our favourite fresh-air-and-views place.

This was an especially lovely little afternoon walk as we had all three Little People with us, and miraculously there was a distinct lack of moaning. We had announced our intentions over lunch (when Little Man had only just crawled out of bed, and the other two were still in pyjamas), and by 2pm we had everyone showered, dressed and ready to jaunt. I was impressed by the lack of resistance actually - that seems to be the best I can hope for these days, gone are the times when a simple walk was met with squeals of excitement. But I'm OK with that, I understand that things change and I am trying my hardest to adapt and not expect too much.

The air was surprisingly still up on the tops yesterday, it's usually a place of gusting winds and it's unusual to be able to stand still and tune in to the sounds of the birds without the wind howling in your ears. I noticed that the heather is only just starting to flower and the fells were still very brown looking, so it'll be a few more weeks before the landscape will wear it's purple coat. We must remember to go back for that.

We weren't Up Hill for very long, it's the place we go to when a very short, breezy walk is required. So instead of heading back home, we drove on over the fell and Down Dale to the riverside on the edge of the Bolton Abbey estate. It was a warm and humid afternoon and by the time we arrived at the river there was a light shower of summer rain falling, but not enough to worry about. We ambled along the footpath, it was so lush and summery and the tall grasses were absolutely full of wild flowers.

I used to retain a fair bit of knowledge about wild flowers from my childhood years spent walking about in the Dorset countryside. My Mum taught me a lot of the common wild flowers and yesterday I did manage to drag a few long forgotten names from my memory banks. I recognised Meadowsweet and Yarrow and Cranesbill, but had no idea what this cute little tufty purple one was. I've just looked it up (gosh you've gotta love Google for this sort of thing) and have discovered it's Knapweed. I have added the name to my wild flower data bank and hope that it stays there.

We also spotted these beauties - the Common Spotted Orchid no less (Google, you are marvellous). I love to have this sort of knowledge tucked away in my head, it makes me want to go right back there and identify every single little flower I can find.

We ducked off the footpath to go down to one of our favourite river beaches....

....to treasure hunt and find the best flat stones for skimming. J tried to teach Little B to skim, but he got soooo frustrated when he couldn't do it and ended up just lobbing stones into the water in a fizz of quiet personal fury. Bless.

Summer by the river is a true delight and I've grown to love our regular walks along this quiet stretch of the River Wharfe. It was lush and peaceful and green, a different kind of feeling to being by the sea but equally good for the soul.

At some point during our walk along the river back towards the car, tummies starting rumbling and we took a spontaneous family decision to head to the pub for dinner - pub grub and no cooking for me, oh yeah, bring it on!

 

It's a short drive to the delightful village of Appletreewick....

....where there are views in abundance....

....and one of our favourite pubs with a lovely little beer garden tucked away to the side. We sat out here for a while with drinks, encouraging Little B to burn off some energy (we set him a series of "challenges" which mainly involved him running around the garden counting things) before heading inside the cosy old pub to settle down for our dinner. It was such a lovely, unexpected treat, a family Sunday to be remembered and treasured.

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ps I just bobbed into the Attic archives to try and find the last time we came to this pub (the time when Little B had the pink plasticine under his hat) - it was the first Sunday in August last year. The repetitive rhythm of my life truly amazes me!

 

 

Comments

[nanou]

BRAVO ! Vous faites un très joli travail, j'adore, j'adore, j'adore ! Bonjour de France

[Joanne]

My husband, our two sons (9 & 6), and I went for an impromptu walk down to our local shoreline yesterday to look for crabs under rocks (a new fascination for the boys after a recent holiday trip to Holy Island). The weather was stunningly beautiful, so to try and take full advantage I suggested we walk a little further down the road to our local pub for a drink in the beer garden. But I was only met with serious moans from the boys, and despite my assurances that was a climbing frame and space outside to run about, they took turns in refusing to move, claiming they were too tired. I'm ashamed to say I sulked for the entire short walk home. To cut a long story short ("too late!") your post has reminded me to accept how our children grow and change and to adjust our expectations of them accordingly. I shall also aim to be less sulky myself!

[Heather]

Such simple entertainment - the best!

[Robin Summers]

Now I absolutely loved this walk! Appletreewick with a beautiful red telephone booth!! Absolutely the best thing I have seen in a very long time. Unfortunately there are no phone booths in the state of VA that I have seen. :( The wildflowers.. simply stunning.

[AnnaMaria]

I had to share! I purchased four of your Cottage ripple packs and I just finished my biggest project to date, a California King Size bed cover! I must say, I am quite pleased with the outcome, but at the same time, glad it is over. I love the colors, pattern and yarn. I just purchased the kit in the blues and greens, looking forward to making a crib blanket for our first grandchild, a baby boy!

Thank you for the ideas and the yarn selections.

AnnaMaria

[Gemma]

Looks like a beautiful place. You can't beat a pub lunch after a walk in the countryside :)

[Penny Rongo]

So love this post. Thanks for sharing with us all. You have a way for making us feel like we are walking along beside you experiencing everything you see and feel. It is wonderful.
You are blessed with a special gift.

[Sarah]

'Appletreewick' - what a sweet name. And we love getting out onto the moors too, albeit on this side of the Pennines. Having said that I've always fancied a trip to Bolton Abbey.
My mum taught me about wild flowers too. I'm currently drawing and painting a nature-themed alphabet and knapweed is my 'K' (yet to be drawn).
I've noticed that as summer moves towards autumn the fields are becoming a little less colourful. All the pinks, yellows and blues have faded away but autumn's coming and it's a beautiful time of year, especially up hill and down dale :)
S

[Amy Williams]

Beautiful post thanks for sharing your world. Happy thoughts for me to take to my world full of work, summer camp, Grandma care etc.

[Johanna]

What a glorious corner of the world you live in!

[Caro]

We live in Wensleydale and I love all my walks out with the dog. I share your leaving the house dramas with 3 children ranging from 8 to nearly teenage and it is blissful when the fuss is minimal and everyone ends up enjoying the outdoors in this stunning part of the UK whatever the weather - which included hailstones last week!

[Lucy]

It's a shame when they get to the moaning, or at least less enthusiastic, stage, but they'll probably remember your walks and outings with pleasure and nostalgia one day!

I just looked up your pub menu, salivating rather, and noticed you can still get chicken and chips in a basket, and for under a fiver! My husband nostalges about this as we've not seen it for years and certainly not here in France, and I tease him and say it was so eighties and really not always all that nice, when it came in a nasty yellow plastic basket, but now I wish we could head for Appletreewick and eat some with a good pint of beer!

[Debbie]

Oh, Lucy! Your posts always ground me.
(Could you adopt me? I'd love to be part of your family! I'm nearly 50 but I'm a child at heart!)

[Bernie Birkett]

Your walk reminds me of the lovely walk we had along the Wharf earlier this year. A glorious place to be. We then had lunch in Appletreewick as our grand son ,aged 4, thought it was a lovely name. Next time we may bring the whole family if I can round them up at the same time. Include our children and their offspring there are 12 of us ! Are the dales ready for that I ask myself. We are back again early next year so I will pop in and see you again

[Eleonora from Coastal Crochet]

Sounds like a wonderful family summers day to me!
I can totally relate to the repetitive rhythm of family life! xx

[Carol]

I neglected to give you link. Here it is,
https://www.flickr.com/photos/anniedesigns/8433182349/

[Carol]

Lucy -
I was following some links from Pinterest today when particular flower caught my eye. This picture (link)was taken from Flicker, with credits to another designer...LOOKS AN AWFUL LOT LIKE YOUR HAPPY FLOWER DECORATION! which was posted - hmmm! some time ago.
Someone called "Annie'sDesign" taking credit for this pattern...
frustrates me to no end to see someone take a pattern they've seen online (such as YOURS!) AND then claim it as their own....
I recently heard of one designer who has taken her blog, her Facebook and Ravelry pages down because she got tired of others taking her patterns and then putting their name on them...and then SELLING them for profit....when she had given freely to the crochet community out of the goodness of her heart and her love of crochet! I just wish there were a way to prosecute them - that is STEALING!

[DebW]

I just love your stories and pictures Lucy. I can remember when my siblings and I got to the age where we started to balk at family walks or rides. My mom had the perfect solution to that. She would pull out a list of onerous (to us) tasks that needed doing and said that we could stay behind if we wanted to complete one of the tasks instead. She was so darn sweet about it too. lol Lickety split we were in the car waiting to go with family.

[Arlene Bomback]

In love with your photos of the red phone booths. At home you'd be lucky to find a public telephone and when you come across one it is not charming or a lovely red and probably not working either :-)
.
Thank you for sharing all these glorious photos.

[Estella]

So lovely! Wish I were there but thanks for the pictures.

[Sarah]

What lovely memories you're making for your family. It's funny how children go "off" walking when they get to the age of 14 or so but I'm pleased to say that mine (21 and 19) now love coming on a walk with us again. The best thing about walking with children - uninterrupted time to chat.

[Claire]

You are so lucky to have the Yorkshire Dales on your doorstep - as you appreciate!

Isn't that odd (and cool) that you went there the same weekend last year?

[Teresa Kasner]

I enjoyed you taking us along on your family outing. I especially loved the river and mostly the image of the bridge and quiet pools of water and the pretty grasses. ((hugs)), Teresa :-)

[Judith Solecki]

I remember Appletreewick from The Missing Postman. At the time, I assumed it was a name invented just for the movie.

a

[Rural TN]

Very beautiful. The British have such quaint, descriptive names for places.