It was just as well we woke refreshed again from another good night’s sleep as we had a busy day ahead of us.
Maria was waiting take our breakfast order (same as the day before) but today we ate alone in the dining room as the other guest we had spoken had left and probably taken in 4 more stadiums since yesterday.
The food and service were again excellent and we sadly said our goodbyes before packing our things into the car. This had been a good place to stay. The weather was cloudy and cooler today as we set off.
We drove through Thirsk and then a few miles the other side to Sutton Bank high on an escarpment overlooking the Vale below. It is now a National Park so cost another £3.50 to park. It was deemed as being the ‘Finest View in England’ by James Herriot whose ashes are scattered up here. It is indeed a fine view, but whether it is the finest is probably more in the eyes of the beholder. Personally, I preferred the view across the Dales yesterday.
It was good being here early as we had the place to ourselves. It was with a wry smile that I noted all the National Park building work had been funded by the EU.
From here we drove back to Thirsk and headed down to Ripon and onto Newby Hall, somewhere I had last visited over 40 years ago. We had pre booked our tickets through Historic Houses saving another £50. There was a queue to get in as we arrived just as it opened.
We headed first to ‘The Bear House’, a collection of famous bears. I had thought it would be had been in the Hall but instead was in a large wooden shed.
The collection was put together and owned by Giles Brandreth. I was in awe as the first cabinet had the first ever Paddington (designed and made by Jeremy Clarkson’s Mum) and the original animated Paddington. Then behind the door almost hiding out of sight was the very first Fozzie Bear – how amazing was that. I have always felt he was a kindred spirit.
My excitement went on as we saw the original SuperTed, Nookie Bear, Sooty and Mr Bean’s bear. Did you know that Sooty’s ears were originally yellow but then deliberately covered in Soot so that they could be seen on Black & White TV and hence his name.
At that point I was done for the day as everything else following would have been an anti-climax. Seeing so many of my childhood heroes in one day was almost too much.
Then we went to a collection of Doll’s Houses which I didn’t really take in as I my mind was still in a whirl about seeing Fozzie Bear. I am sure they were very nice and clever though.
Our timed tour of the hall was at 11.30am and we arrived just as it started. I thought it was going to be a self-guided tour but it wasn’t. I immediately decided I couldn’t face an hour being told things about the inside of a hall I had no interest in. I left Karen at the door and went and sat outside the café to wait for her. She returned having enjoyed it probably more by not having to put up with my bored face for a hour. Apparently, the hall and inhabitants are what inspired and what Downton Abbey is based upon although it was filmed elsewhere as they didn’t have enough room for the filming equipment here.
We had a snack and drink before hitting the road again for the first long journey of the day. We soon hit light rain as we left Yorkshire driving to the National Arboretum in Staffordshire. The roads and traffic were not great and we soon fell behind schedule. We knew the Arboretum closed at 5pm and were hoping for a wander and a drink before it did. After almost 3 hours driving, we pulled into an almost deserted car park at 4.10pm and hurried in to get directions to the FEPOW memorial.
We had been here before just after it opened but I couldn’t remember too much about it. Sadly, I didn’t think it lived up to my memories. Maybe because I now know much more about the FEPOW’s all with my research for my book, but I thought it was a bit superficial. It didn’t help that the projector was not working so I couldn’t display Dad’s details on the wall as I recall doing previously which I had remembered being quite poignant.
Given the time we quickly looked at the bits of track and the Royal Norfolk’s Memorial before heading back to the main building to get a hot drink before leaving. It was self-serve from a machine which dispensed boiling water and, in her haste, Karen managed to scald her hand which was quite painful.
And so, on the dot of 5pm we leave as they were closing and hit the road for the next 2 ½ drive to Cardiff for the night. We passed by places we hadn’t been to for donkey years like Malvern and Symonds Yat before eventually arriving at the Premier Inn Cardiff North for the night.
It was possibly the nicest one we had been to with a buzzing nice bar and restaurant. However Karen had been fancying a McDonalds so we headed out the 5 minute drive to get her one. After then Karen popped into the Asda next door to get some fruit which we took back to the room to eat.
I was by now quite tired. It’s a long way from Thirsk to Cardiff with stops in-between and it wasn’t long before I was fast asleep.
