Day 6-July 7

Off to see my relatives in South Yorkshire today.  This morning we headed 50+ miles south to Barnsley to spend the afternoon with my cousins Margaret, Ian, & Anne.  Ian & Anne have visited us in NH, but we haven't seen Margaret for 35 years.

We didn't need to leave for Barnsley until 11 AM, so we spent the morning walking around Knaresborough, doing some souvenir hunting and check out the shops.  Knaresborough is a charming little town with a lot of pride.  They really went all out for the Tour with their decorations, and I think I mentioned earlier that they received the award for best Tour decorated village in Yorkshire.

The photos above have nothing to do with the Tour, but they illustrate Knaresborough's window project  which was a series of trompe d'euil paitiings found throughout the town.

    

   

   

Our drive to Barnsley was an easy one, all highway, and the pub where we were meeting everyone was just off the highway.  All of us arrived in the parking lot at exactly the same time.  Anne's sister,Valerie, joined us. Neither Joni, nor Valerie, not I could remember if we'd met 35 years ago.  No matter, the five of thoroughly enjoyed each other's company and quickly got reacquainted over a wonderful "carvery" buffet of roast beef,turkey, ham, and all the fixin's including Yorkshire pudding...a delicious meal that I enjoyed even more than my dinner the previous night.

After lunch we stopped at Ian and Anne's home to checkout their garden. Very impressive.  Then we drove to Margaret's home in nearby Cawthorne, which we had visited 35 years ago.  Margaret served us a delicious dessert of strawberries, raspberries,and clotted cream as he continued to discuss our family connections.  

Margaret remained at her home, while we drove to the nearby Wentworth Woodhouse estate for a walk into the past.  This estate was incredibly huge, "its East Front is 606 feet long, making it the longest country house façade in Europe.  It is also the largest private house in the United Kingdom,with 250,000 square feet of floorspace.  The house comprises 365 rooms (one for every day of the year) and covers an area of over 2.5 acres. It is surrounded by a 180-acre park and by an estate of 15000 acres which is now separately owned."  Sadly the estate has fallen into serious disrepair...only hinting to a bygone era.  This place was on the scale of Versailles; if not bigger.  Deer roamed the estate, and we could seem quite a few in the distance as we walked the grounds.  This reminded me of the palace owned by the villain played by Christoper Walken in the James Bond movie, "A View to a Kill",

We returned to Margaret's home for tea...which is really a serious meal.  Valerie made fresh scones, merringues, and a lemon cake just for our visit, so we gorged ourselves with these sweats, and washed it all done with tea.  A full tea would have included sandwiches...

After a wonderful afternoon reliving family history, we said our goodbyes and headed north around 6:30 PM.  We had an 8:00 PM dinner reservation at a 14th century pub in Roecliffe, a tiny village 15 miles north of Knaresborough.  We seriously considering canceling our reservation, but since it was our last dinner in England we decided, wisely, to keep it. 

The Crown Inn, was a quintessential British inn that combined a 21st century "gastro pub" with overnight guest accommodations for travelers.  I had never heard the term "gastro pub", but apparently it's used to describe a pub that services gourmet food.  Our meal was fabulous; and we didnt eat light even though we should have.    Joni had Yorkshire lamb, I had fish and chips, and we both had stick toffee pudding for dessert.   A wonderful last supper in Yorkshire.