Catsitting and Beyond

No sooner was Mrs. No Name back from a four day catsitting whilst son and girlfriend attended Latitude than we were scheduled back up in Sunderland for the longer holiday vigil. So we bookended the visit to make it a little more of a holiday break, blessed by lovely weather throughout.

Took a two nighter at Wentbridge House hotel, fast becoming the customary stopover on the way up. Took two nights so we could sample a couple of National Trust / English Heritage properties:-

On the first day we travelled the short eight miles to Nostell Priory which, ironically, turned out to be nothing to do with a priory at all. Nostell is one of the great houses of the north of England. It was created not simply as a home, but also to send out an important message about the Winn family who owned it. Lovely house, very pleasant ground and gardens, as you can hopefully see from the pictures below this blog post. The Winns originally made money from the London textile trade during the Tudor period. During the following century the family used their wealth to invest in property and land. This included the Nostell estate in Yorkshire, which was bought in 1654. Owning land brought the family new and regular income. In a society that valued land ownership above all else, it also brought status. Most of Nostell was designed and built by two generations of Winns between c.1727 and 1785 but sadly, it proved hugely expensive and was never quite finished (sadly). A quick drink at the Rogerthorpe Manor Hotel to check out Wentbridge House’s competition and then back for another lovely evening meal.

On our way up to Sunderland, we deviated from the A1, our preferred route, and went up the A19 to visit Mount Grace Priory, which very clearly had religion as its core theme. Reputed to be the best preserved Carthusian priory in England, you are free to roam the ruins of this unusual medieval monastery and find out what makes the priory so unique in the reconstructed monk’s cell. We also had a look around the rooms, hallways and attics of the Arts and Crafts manor house, complete eclectic interiors where William Morris’ designs complement original medieval and restored 17th century features. Stop by the drawing room to see an original Morris carpet. Apparently, the house was originally the priory guest house. The gardens were also quite appealing, having been recently renovated by award winning gardener Chris Beardshaw. It was very pleasant, but the heat enforced two separate stops for drinks and lovely but quite pricey ice creams.

We stayed in Sunderland for ten days from Saturday to Monday morning. The cats were fine, including twenty year old Button, who is clearly suffering but comes miraculously to life at ‘treat time’. By the end of the week, she had relaxed enough to venture into the lounge and traipse around on to my lap a couple of times. Whilst there, we focused on relatively local areas, which included:-

Souter Lighthouse – where we climbed the 76 steps to the top of the tower and took in the amazing views. A lighthouse visit is by its nature limited in scope but the history and of course its positioning were excellent and well worth the trip. Quite pleased we weren’t there to hear the foghorn go off though 🙂

National Glass Centre – obviously been many times before, but always interesting and on this occasion, in addition to the exhibitions, we managed to entice Mrs. No Name with two pairs of locally sourced and made earrings; keenly priced and lovely to boot. Also pleasant to see a local pub haunt (albeit thirty years since last seen) and discover it largely unchanged.

Said our (briefish) goodbyes on Sunday lunchtime and headed off to what was the unknown Wrea Head Hall Country House Hotel in the unknown village of Scalby (close to Scarborough). We couldn’t get in the main house, so we were booked into the fairly newly created rooms in the converted Carriage House. Lovely room but the ‘in-room’ bath was a little perplexing to those of a certain vintage. Whilst there we managed to visit:

The surprisingly pretty village of Scalby – seems to have a clear identity, despite being just 2-3 miles from Scarborough. Lovely architecture, local pub, interesting church and at least two cafes; and Max Jaffa anyone? Advised by a friendly local, we took the bus into town to have a saunter around the seafront and town centre. Visited the interior of the Grand Hotel and you could see the faded grandeur of the once elegant institution. Emphasis now on the faded and another ironic advert for the Britannia Hotel chain.

Next day, drove off to see the sights of Flamborough Head. However, thanks to what some described rather harshly as a navigation error, we first arrived at Danes Dyke Nature Reserve, sporting pleasant (and not so pleasant) walks and a lovely, relatively unpopulated beach – car park, toilets and café included. Then on to the intended Head, with associated lighthouse and absolutely superb North Yorkshire coastline – hopefully the pictures go some way to explaining its popularity.

Then on to Bempton Cliffs, which the blog writer had never heard of but which proved to be a well run RSPB reserve. As the guide said on introduction, it boasts a coastline that can’t be bettered by many, if any, other RSPB wildlife centres. With a coffee interlude, we managed to visit breath taking lookout points in both directions before everything closed down around five. A trip back via Filey (another childhood haunt) to another very fine evening meal at the Wrea Head.

The day before, we checked out at the Wrea, I managed to get a good late deal at the Belton Woods Hotel, Golf and Spa Resort to break up the return journey. Couldn’t go, as planned, to the National Trust Belton House as the latter was closed for film work, but we did manage too book in to Woolsthorpe Manor, where Isaac Newton changed the world; we had arranged a visit a year or so go, but we had to cancel then owing to one of Mrs. No Name’s infamous ‘incidents’.

The Manor House is quite small, so can fully understand the timed entry system, but the layout is such that once inside no direction of travel can really be enforced; accompanied by the muppet mentality of a significant number of the general intelligentsia, it was tricky to get any real sense of Newton’s era. Definitely worth a trip though and the NT has made much of making Newton ‘entertaining’ for the kids, which I think was successful, based on those there. For those interested, the infamous tree was blown down in a storm, but it was re-rooted and it still grows today, 350 years later! The apple tree, head and tree shenanigans is largely believed to be apocryphal……..even so, a lovely end to a very pleasant trip, blessed with sun, historical locations and fine hotels. Now, if only I can lose a few pounds in weight before the next one!!