Day 7: Swaledale and Wensleydale

Heather took me on a wonderful road trip yesterday. I can't remember all of the names of the various villages and hamlets we drove through....but it was all very interesting and picturesque.

We stopped to see several James Herriot landmarks - including this one, called "the Splash". We visited Swaledale Woollens (and I must confess that I bought a lovely pair of sheepskin gloves--so it will be all my fault if it snows early this year!) and had a tasty lunch in a local pub. I love the pubs (and the sticky toffee pudding! Mmmmmm.....)


Since we are in the middle of a National Park, all of the new buildings need to be made of stone, and in a similar style to the old. So for the newbie, everything looks very old (and most of it is...), and of course, it's all very lovely. I did notice some differences when we drove further away -- more bricks, siding, etc. in the buildings.

In the afternoon, we drove over to Bolton Castle....and explored around a bit there. It is HUGE! (although not quite as large as the Minster Cathederal in York - where we went today). It is so amazing to be around buildings so old. We have absolutely nothing to compare it to in Canada....















After the Castle, we continued on to the Wensleydale Longwool Sheep Shop to visit friends of Heather's and do a little bit of shopping. Afterwards, the owner's husband took us to see the sheep. They are soooo cute...and even without the super-long fleece, they are still very curly and silky looking. I just wanted to reach out to pet them (but of course every time my hand snaked out, they skittered away....)

Today we went to the historic town of York -- another fabulous day! I will hopefully be able to blog about it tomorrow from the train (I'm leaving here and heading south to London).