Yorkshire

We're back from a 5 day trip to Yorkshire and we had a fabulous time. Our main purpose for the trip was to attend Yarndale but we always drive up a day early. The drive up went well and we had no hold ups so we decided to stop at an English Heritage property, Brodsworth Hall, near Doncaster. 

Walking around the house and gardens was just what we needed after a day of motorway driving. It was sunny and warm and the property was beautiful! We only spent about an hour there but I'll definitely go back if we're in the area again.

On Friday we decided to explore York. We spent a day in York two years ago and I really liked York. Simon wanted to visit the National Railway Museum so that was our first stop. I'm not into trains but I enjoyed it. There are some amazing engines there and a little reminder of home.

We walked around York and visited the Shambles, which is an old narrow street area of York. We found an alpaca on a street corner.

In the afternoon we weren't quite sure what to do so we walked over to Clifford's Tower. It turned out to be another English Heritage property and as we have a membership we went in. The views across York from the top of the walls are amazing.

We walked past York Minster on the way back to the car.

Late afternoon we headed to Skipton and the Yarndale venue which is a cattle/sheep market. This was our empty stall. I find it quite daunting turning up at a show venue and turning this into something nice looking which will invite knitters to browse and shop.

 We emptied the car and covered the walls which took longer than we thought it would.

We took a long time to set up and we ended up leaving on Friday evening and coming back on Saturday morning to put the shawl samples out.

All in all, I'm happy with the result. We had plenty of space for people to browse and tried to display as many shawls and patterns as possible.

Midnight (the blue shawl) and Delphine (the red shawl) were much admired. 

Here's our sock yarn table and shawl pins.

At the back of the stall we set up a table with patterns, books and beads.

And on the other side we put all the lace yarn.

Saturday was frantic! We were busy all day and sales were great. On Sunday morning we arrived early and managed to fit in a walk around the show ground before opening. 

We watched the alpacas having breakfast. They're so cute!

Here are two photos trying to show the scale of the show. It was huge this year! Can you spot our stall? Sunday was much quieter and I managed to run off for a few minutes to get some buttons from Textile Garden and a key ring from Herdy.

On Monday we headed back south. It was our 24th wedding anniversary so we decided to stop in Worcestershire and found a nice country pub where we had lunch then we headed to the nearby Witley Court which is another English Heritage property.

We only spent about an hour here. There were beautiful walks which we didn't really take advantage of. The house is a ruin with only the outside walls intact but it was obviously an impressive house at one time.

The fountain was very impressive and the gardens were beautiful!

Next to the house was a baroque church which is still in use. It was a fairly small church but the ceiling and walls were beautiful.

We got home on Monday evening. I've got a very busy week this week, but I'm hoping to find some time to get the YarnAddict Shop up and running again. I'll be at the 3 Bags Full Wool Market in Liskeard Public Hall on Friday from 4-8pm and this weekend I'm off to Sitting Knitting to teach on Sunday.