Newcastle Upon Tyne

Why have I never been to Newcastle Upon Tyne before?  I honestly don't know, but I tell you what, I shall be going back for a better look pretty soon.  I have had reason to be in this utterly gorgeous northern city this weekend.  I didn't expect it to be so beautiful.

 Grey Street is an outstanding Georgian Street.  I was awestruck by its magnificence and also the steepness of it as it curves and sweeps down towards the river Tyne.

 The architecture is breathtaking.

 The statue of Earl Grey stands at the top of this magnificent street.

 They had a big screen at the head of Grey Street - look who I snapped !

 As well as the normal High Street shops, the "Toon" has some pretty arcades,

 and fabulous markets.

 People were paying 30p to be weighed in here.  I believe the Hairy Bikers have features this on their TV series recently.

 I also loved the river and Quayside, but I didn't get very long to explore much.

 After a delicious meal, I was whisked to the Theatre Royal to see Sister Act - which I can highly recommend.  It had us dancing in the aisles.

 Then it was back to our hotel to freshen up, doll up and gad about.  The purpose of my visit was to attend my god son's girlfriends hen night!! Seven of us aged from 24 years -65 years (3 oldies (the nanan's), 3 young ones(the hotties) and me (the inbetweener) danced and drank and ate cheesy chips in the street till the wee hours. In fairness I have to say that the nanan's and the inbetweener had far more stamina and staying power than the hotties!!

But Newcastle has charmed me and I am planning a return visit to take a better look at this gorgeous, historical, ultra friendly and up beat city.  

Our Sunday Stroll

On Sunday, I took one look at the ironing pile and decided it could wait.  We went on a stroll from Bakewell around the Haddon Estate instead.

It was a lovely walk, boiling hot but very muggy and hazy.

I hate walking through fields of cows - especially when they all have enormous horns like these.

Hubby hadn't spotted "the obvious" here and got a nasty shock when it turned around and had a ring through its nose.

When the railway was built, it had to go through a tunnel under the Haddon Estate and Haddon Hall.  The tunnel is bricked up now, but some mad fool looks as if they have losend a few bricks to go inside exploring.

After our walk, we called back at the gorgeous little village of Beeley for a swift half - we deserved it.

I found this for you.

The village is part of the Chatsworth Estate and very pretty.  Some of the cottages are holiday lets.

A wedding was being held in the village hall and I was trying to get a glimpse of the wedding party, but I only managed to see these locals.

Wandering through meadows

Did we wander through wild flower meadows?

 No.  For some years now Sheffield council have been sowing wildflowers on grass verges and where they have pulled down houses on estates etc.  I notice now that it is catching on around the country - its a brilliant idea, and generally re plants itself for the year after too.  This patch was buzzing with bees which is no bad thing either.

A message from my friends at Yorkshire Water

I received this in my in box yesterday:
With the support of the Environment Agency and local authorities, we
(Yorkshire Water) are spending £110million along Yorkshire’s East Coast to
help improve the quality of the bathing water.  In fact, we think with this
investment and working with others we’ll have the best beaches in Europe –
move over Mallorca!
Why are we doing this?

The quality of our water is measured against the European Bathing Water
Directive. The current directive sets standards  of bathing waters which
will be classed as Excellent, Good or Sufficient if they meet the new
standards and Poor if they do not. These more stringent standards mean that
we need to ensure that bathing waters are even cleaner in future.  We’re
the only water company going for the elite Excellent standard.
Yes we can…

To kick this campaign off we’re holding a Guinness World Record attempt on
Scarborough beach, with our sole aim to build 1,000 sandcastles in an hour,
each 2 ft high.

Date: Friday 17th August 2012

Time: Arrive between 10.15am and 10.30am. The record attempt will begin at
11am and we have 1 hour to do it.

Location: Towards the right-hand side of South Beach (look for the blue
flags).

So slip on your flip flops, knot your hanky and bring all your friends and
family for a whole host of good old traditional British seaside fun...

It’s not just about the world record

We’ll also be giving away fish & chips and people will have the chance to
visit a beach hut video booth to tell us what they like most about the
coast.  QR codes will also be dotted around directing people to our website
page where they will be able to see videos, pics and posts from the day.

How you can help us

We’d love you to be part of our world record attempt, so why not join us on
Scarborough beach?  If you can’t make it, you could help us recruit some
builders for the day or just spread the word about what we’re doing to help
make Yorkshire’s beaches the best in Europe.  No heart shaped buckets I'm
afraid though...
For more information please visit –

www.yorkshirewater.com/coast

http://www.facebook.com/yorkshirewater

Many thanks
I can't make it I'm afraid, but if you can, make sure you take photos and let me see them.  If you can spread the word - please do.

Hugh Fearnley Whittingstall - and the demon drink

Apologies to HFW if you just Googled your own name and came across my title! and apologies to vegetarians - you may wish to skip this post.

So a while ago, I was at a neighbours party partaking in a few too many glasses of vino collapso and I  had a bit of a drunken conversation with another neighbour who partakes in a bit of "hunting, shooting and a fishing".  I had watched with interest a few nights previously good old HFW showing us how to pop the breasts out of a couple of pigeons - it looked easy and I thought I might like like to have a go (I may have had a glass of wine that night too!).  And so I mentioned this to my neighbour - then moved onto some other drivel topic of drunken conversation - as you do.

 The next evening - my neighbour shouted me across to his car.  He had indeed been shooting and had bagged me a couple of pigeons - as per my request. Quel Horreur!!!  I was supposed to carry them back to my house! Still warm!! Me and my mouth!!!

Hubby looked across at me, with that look on his face that says "Now what mess have you gotten yourself into?".

What could I do?  The kids were horrified - yet curios at the same time.  Hubby was just horrified and declared he couldn't start butchering them - I was on my own.  So I "manned up" (my son's phrase) and dove in - following Hugh's instruction.  It was surprisingly easy to extract the pigeon breasts once I got going and so I marinated them overnight in red wine (what else!) and garlic and a few herbs from the garden.

 The next day I flash fried them and served them with Ravioli (which is what we were going to have any way) and green beans - with a red wine reduction.  I'd never tried pigeon before and it tasted like a cross between really tender steak and pate - I liked it.

He now brings me a couple on a regular basis, and hubby even has a go at the butchery!  The kids are also impressed and feel that we are now better prepared to survive an apocalypse should one happen.

Until next year

Although we have visited St Ives at least once each year for the last 16years, we always find plenty of different places to visit and things to do.  Every where is so beautiful and colourful.

 Living with a sports mad teenager, we had to find a TV at strategic times over the fortnight.  We became "regulars" at the Lifeboat Inn in St Ives - the sacrifices a mother makes for her child!  The atmosphere in the pub when lovely Jess Ennis won was superb.  We all went a bit mental!

 We had some good weather,

 And one day of bad weather,

 It was no better on the other coast on that day either - you can just make out St Michaels Mount in the middle of the mizzle.

 But we also had some very very good weather which saw us lolling around on the beach a great deal of the time.

 So, hopefully see you again next year St Ives - you are certainly under my skin.

Sennen Cove

We have found over the years, that if it is a bit cloudy or mizzly in St Ives, a short trip to Sennen Cove - nearer Lands End - can sometimes produce better weather.  

I love Sennen Cove .  It feels as if nothing has changed since the 1950's.  I think you can get here on the open top bus from St Ives too.

Look what I found for you in the sea.

It is a great place for surfers and when the tide is out the beach is huge.  The colours are so vivid and truly beautiful.

Hubby and I enjoyed a lovely stroll along the waters edge.

And this little fella had a go at nipping my toes.

And especially for Jake - my cousins boy in Texas, I went to see if the shipwreck was still there.  And it is - just.  The SS Mulheim ran aground here in March 2003.