131- Lakes District - Edinburgh - Yorkshire - UK

It's always good to see Daniel and Ellen. We'd last seen them in Majorca a few weeks before, and we were grateful to be able to stay with them again inbetween jaunts and pet sits.

That weekend, there was a 'Lambing Day' at a local farm and Ellen and Daniel had taken a gig selling Jersey milk ice creams for a local farmer who couldn't make it that day.

The queues were like this all day!

Sheep dog demonstrations. Some of these border collies fetch more than 50k AUD at auctions.

And... what the day was named after. This one looked blissed out!  Welcome to the world, little one. ❤️

Pics around Sevenoaks.

Since we had no pet sits booked, we took advantage of the longer days and improving weather and planned a 'loop' to three destinations: the Lakes District, Edinburgh and the Yorkshire Dales.

    The whole trip was just over 1500 km, which we covered in about 9 days.

The first stop was Windermere in the Lakes District. We did fall in love with this place as the scenery, villages and people were a delight to be around. Accommodation is quite expensive in the UK in general, but we managed to get some reasonable deals as the school holidays had just finished.

As I walked down the road, I suddenly came across a stream running between buildings hundreds of years old. I could have watched that for hours.

One of the many accommodation cottages.

Since Spring arrived we have been fortunate to start seeing the beauty the natural world has to offer and how it encompasses and complements the architecture of another era. The wisteria has been divine. Also, the Lakes District is crawling with pet doggos. Max was in heaven. 

My kind of furniture.

One of the ideas or dreams we have is to buy an old church and look at doing it up to live in and/or run an accommodation business or both. Even though there's often a fair bit of regulation around what you can do on the outside, apparently the rules aren't so strict on the inside. We found this one online and it was only about a 15 min drive. We couldn't make an appointment that day to be shown around, however, we managed to get a good look at it inside and out. 

The stonework was immaculate, the windows were usable, and, it even came with a bell tower!

The creepy part was the number of graves that actually lined the outside walls and apparently, there were some graves under the internal floors, not to mention all the graves around the grounds.

I took this pic from the window, showing the inside.  The slate tiles on the floor told us there would have been issues with the roof. The good news is all fittings come with it. Again, the arches and general stonework looked amazing.

 And the price? Not bad eh?

One of the local pubs in the village nearby not only offered meals to bipeds.

Nothing better than a red and a pizza.

Our next stop was going to be Loch Lomond in Scotland, however, there was little accommodation available, so the decision was made to go to Edinburgh. Even though we're not city people, Ellen had told us it was worth going there and so it was. We ran the gauntlet and booked our accommodation the day before we needed it, and landed at a nice manor house turned hotel about a 20-minute bus ride from the city centre.

Edinburgh is beautiful. The city has some wonderful architecture and full marks to the Scots that most has been left intact. We took a 'Hop on-Hop off' bus which enabled us to do a circuit of town, and then get off on stops on the second circuit. 

Edinburgh Castle - I didn't realise that no one has lived there since Charles I.

Obelisk? 

James is a world-class performer, speaking enough of so many languages in order to engage with the crowd. 

How could I not take a photo of one of these guys?

When perusing some retail outlets, we got chatting to someone who asked what we'd seen around the city, who then listed a list of things we hadn't. One place she mentioned was the Rosslyn Chapel, which caught my attention, as it played an important part in the book/film, 'The DaVinci Code. The bonus was it was only a 15-minute drive out of Edinburgh.  This places you in the quiet countryside. No sprawling suburbs here.

We checked out of the hotel and made our way to the Rosslyn Chapel.

'The Da Vinci Code actually saved the Chapel from ruin as, once the film was released, tourists in their hundreds of thousands came to visit this piece of architectural excellence to get a glimpse of the place that today still holds the mystery and intrigue of its past.

It's incredibly ornate and one can stare for a loooong time.  Legend says that Jesus and Mary Magdalene had a child and that the Holy Blood represented a royal blood line from Jesus, which was secretly protected by a holy conspiracy, culminating in a scene that suggested that the Holy Blood line was hidden and protected by a secret society based at Rosslyn Chapel. The final scenes of the film show the tomb of Mary Magdalene, hidden beneath a “Rose Line”, no longer at the Chapel, but part of a line of energy which crossed Europe, its secrets protected by a loyal band of followers.

Today, it is under the care of a Family Trust that will not allow anyone to excavate, as many are curious as to what lays beneath. The vaults below the building are said to be as deep as the Chapel is high.

We couldn't take photos inside the Chapel, so I downloaded some as the internal workmanship was literally jaw-dropping.

This stunning column is said to have been carved by an apprentice stone mason who, by his craftsmanship, made his mentor so jealous that he was murdered by his master.

The ceiling.

 I love legends and mysticism and this place left its mark.

We started heading south to the Yorkshire Dales. We've heard so much about its beauty, rolling green hills and people with broad accents. On the way we happened to pass Banburgh Castle. I'd never heard of it, but it's impressive nonetheless. They had expensive tickets to view inside, but visitors are only allowed in 14 rooms out of the 300. We have it a miss. It's a massive structure that forms an imposing vista as it comes into view from the road. 

After crossing over a non-existent border, we arrived 3 hours later at our accommodation, just outside the town of Richmond. We landed well as it was in a beautiful part of the country.

They kept some sheep as pets. They are a swiss breed called Valais Black Nose and are naturally very friendly.   This was the bubby. 

We had lunch at a local pub in a small hamlet and admired some of the parking techniques.

I love these places.

Just lovely...

Max and I do love our cheese, so we had to go.  Wallace and Gromit made it famous, and again, the entertainment industry saved a business from closing.

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Yet again, we were on the road for a 5-hour trip back to Sevenoaks to look after Daniel and Ellen's place while they tour of the land down under for weddings, parties, anything.