Fryup

I’ve titled this post ‘Fryup’ (mainly because I think it’s a brilliant name) but I’m not sure these photos were actually taken at Fryup, it was just the nearest place to where we were.  (Originally, that was where we were heading, but after following a couple of iffy sign posts I can’t be sure that’s where we ended up!) Fryup is a hamlet on the North York Moors and is separated into two small valleys, Great Fryup Dale and Little Fryup Dale.

However, it was a lovely little place for a walk. It was quiet so we parked on the side of the road and made our way up the heather covered hill. When we reached the top of the hill the wind had really picked up and it was absolutely freezing, but the views were amazing.  What looked like  sheep wool had caught on to the heather and made for a good picture.

Ripon

It was a warm summer day and we’d decided to visit Ripon in North Yorkshire.  Ripon is a cathedral city, the third smallest city in England and the smallest in Yorkshire. We parked up and walked to the cathedral where we went inside for a look around.  The current church is grade I listed and was built between the 13^th and 16^th centuries, though was first founded as a monastery way back in the 660s. You can also go underground into the Saxon Crypt.  As we were leaving there was an orchestra rehearsing for the evening, so we stayed and listened to them play for a while. 

We had dinner in a little café just near the cathedral and finished the day by strolling along by the river Skell.

Kiplin Hall

We’d been out for breakfast in Northallerton and had a quick search online for places to visit nearby.  We decided to head to Kiplin Hall, a Jacobean house built in 1619;  it was about 20 minutes away, and neither of us had been before.  We paid £10 to look round, which included the gardens, lake as well as the hall itself.  Despite it being the middle of summer, the weather wasn’t looking too good so we decided we would walk around the lake first, after first taking a few photos of hedges that were shaped like peacocks.

The walk takes about half an hour; there were lots of geese (who all made their way into the water when we wandered past – good job because I’m scared of them!), a couple of swans and a heron perched on an island in the middle of the lake.  There’s a lovely view of the hall from across the lake which I posed in front of.

Returning from the walk, we looked round the hall. There are 3 floors to look round – my favourite room was the library.  I was convinced I was somehow related to the original owners from the 1600’s because of a same surname and my ancestors being from the area – spoiler: I’m not!

Before we left we made sure to visit the gardens.  There was a new garden museum showing the history of the gardens since the hall was first built.  I love walled gardens and it was filled with roses and beautiful wild flowers.

Seaham

Seaham is a little seaside town in County Durham. There was a fair on when we visited so instead we walked a little further and ended up at a beach, looking down across a beautiful stretch of the Durham coast. The descent to the beach is quite steep the way we came, but once we had walked along the beach a bit, we saw some steps leading back to the top.

The tide was out while we were there, so there were lots of little rock pools to look at, and, for the height of summer, the beach was lovely and quiet. A sharp contrast to the busyness of the town fair.