A surprise visit by Jon and Kylie from Manchester meant that we had a chance to go for a nice long walk in the country and fields of Wetherby. (the Leeds music festival was on near Wetherby at the time and they didn't go... http://www.leedsfestival.com/ )
It was decided that a stroll from home to the Windmill pub http://www.yorkshire-escapes.com/yorkshire/restaurant-reviews/123-windmill-linton for a fruit juice would be an achievable task following the excesses of the previous night and it proved so doable that after a refreshing OJ or cola we decided to stroll further to our nearby (2mile walk) grand country home. Now a hotel and spa, Woodhall at Wetherby http://www.handpickedhotels.co.uk/hotels/wood-hall-hotel/ is typical of the grande residences of days long gone.. The walk there is down a lovely long country lane and that day was harvest day with the headers and tractors buzzing and humming in the country side. The weather was kind and the walk beautiful through typical Yorkshire fields ending with our arrival at the same time as a bride in full gentry style . Guests arrived in their Bentleys, Rolls and Astons and paraded in their top hats and tails and fancy gowns.... All very classy, these Wetherby family folk were the real deal, none of your wannabe nouveau riche footballer muck here.
. The Woodhall staff, being as this is a true class establishment, spotted the four of us in our sweaty and casual attire wondering if we could get into the hotel, and welcomed us in graciously through the grand front doors swiftly ahead of the bridal party.. Gail and I have been to Woodhall before as you may recall from these blogs and each time have been made to feel equally at home. As the whole hotel was booked out for the rather swanky wedding we found a table in the corner of the private bar area
and shared some champagne or personal preferences before heading out into the newly rain- washed countryside for a delightful walk home through the woods, across the golf course and over a field where Gail was distracted by a friendly little bull calf . We returned home in plenty of time for a Pimms on the lawn which by popular request was swapped for a champagne cocktail in the cooling afternoon sunshine. 
Quite a delightful day all-in all I am sure you would agree.
The next day , a Sunday , I had said I would met up with some of the other Leeds savages http://www.leedssavage.com/ for a few hours sketching in a little park in the centre of Leeds. My sketching skills are exceeded only by my competency in brain surgery so I will not include the suspect product of my attempts to capture the scene but the photo here gives you an idea of what I thought I'd try my hand at getting onto paper. I didn't. Probably set my sights too high for a beginner but I thought it just looked like lots of straight lines. It isn't. Anyway, good to try and we all met up for a nice chat and an ale in a nearby pub after and I got to look at what the others had drawn that day, and on other days, so that was rather a pleasant experience too.
One of the things Gail and I do when we have a couple of days together, and when work doesn't interfere, is to look at a local map and see places close to Wetherby where we have yet to go. Last Sunday we found Newby Hall http://www.newbyhall.com/ which was a rare find really. It is a wealthy merchant's home dating back over 400 years which has remained family occupied until this very day. It is rare indeed that you can find such a place with furniture and decorations from Adams and Chippendale designed specifically for the rooms in which they still reside, regency extensions to the home, in fact all the wonders of the landed rich.... Including the impossibly rare Pompeii and Herculaneum marble sculpture gallery.... Some of those stone folk are more than a couple of thousand years old. The following photos give a sample of the place, and it's grounds. No photos allowed of the inside of the home unfortunately, have to rely on the website above... All you can see from whereever you roam in the estate, off into the horizon, is part of the place..... I am only sorry we didn't know about this place earlier, as past visitors to our home in Wetherby have missed out on us taking them there... A truly wonderous day. If you like that sort of thing.
For those of you who have come to expect an animal shot at the end of these updates I will not disappoint. Gail found two furry animals at Newby. Well, neither terribly furry or soft to the touch, one in the sculpture park at Newby and the other doing whatever they do in the grass in the gardens surrounding the Newby Lime tree walk.
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| baby hedgehog in clover |
As I write this the temperature is 17.5 degrees and the first tinge of autumn is on the breeze. In fact the breeze has been rather more of a gale and heavy rain is predicted. This is hopefully all going to have passed for our long weekend aquatic adventure. But either way I am sure we will all have a great time. I'll post the snaps of the canal boat discovery tour early next month I suppose.
