Yorkshire - varying landscapes and so much to do

Yorkshire has so much to do and see and is definately an area I would love to return to. Our cottage was lovely with rural views and you could see the church spire from the local village accrues the fields. We enjoyed an awesome Indian dinner at one of the local pubs ..they pub owners lease out the kitchen so they don't have to operate it - and after our bad Indian meal experience in the Cotwolds this was a delight. The range to order is different here and they bring dips for the poppodoms but watch out -we've found this with Thai as well - they charge you for the rice! So we did end up spending much more than when we go to the Indian Kitchen at home but it was an awesome meal.

One of the things I really wanted to see in the area was at least one of the abbey ruins so we went to Fountains abbey which was near where we were staying. It is absolutely magnificent and worth much more time than we were able to give it. We joined a free tour at the beginning which I found fascinating but Michael was bored ( understandably so) so we dropped off and just explored. We didn't have time to even look at the water gardens - these are a more recent addition to the property - so - I hope- another time! But of course Michael got a play on the play ground. Then it was off to Harrogate with two objectives in mind.
1. jennings Photo store for a spare battery and sd card for me and a camera strap for Bruce (his broke and in a lucky moment he saved his camera)
2. bettys tea rooms for an elegant lunch.

ell we achieved the second first and it was well worth it. I knew about Bettys from
both guides and recommendations and as there are a few I wanted to go to the original rather than the more well known York one. Having now seen the York one that was an good choice as the harrogate looks out to a lovely park. Bettys founder was Swiss and as they say combination of his Swiss attitude to food and Yorkshire warmth really works. The food is great as is the coffee and wine. By now I've given up on flat whites and decided to go for a pot of filter coffee and as it was very good my caffeine needs were sorted for the day. Our cottage was nice but simple therefore no coffee plunger so it was tea at the house.

We ended up spending the rest of the afternoon shopping which was nice and pleasant then back to another local pub for dinner.