Having a.......

.... Cow !

One day the Blip lands in your lap, the next you spend four hours ambling around some of the most beautiful countryside in the land and nothing, zilch, not a sausage, nowt.

Ok, so maybe I'm exaggerating a bit. I've had a lovely day out and taken some ok'ish phone snaps. Faff over, back to the blip propper now.....

Yesterday I had an invite from my friend Luke to have a look around Denton Hall, where both he and his wife Jane work. I've lived in Ilkley for over a decade and Denton Hall is one of the few local landmaks I'd yet to visit, so without any hesitation I said ' Yes please'.

This morning, bright and early I set off from Ilkley to Denton. I now know that walking along Denton road at rush hour isn't the best idea. I wouldn't advise anyone else to do it unless they have a death wish. The road is basically a country lane with the river Wharfe to one side and fields the other, with no footpaths and driven on by motorists who think they are on an F1 racetrack . I was pleased to make it to Denton village in one piece.

Luke showed me around the hall ( now the head office of N G Bailey ) with it's grand staircase with impressive chandelier, the library with a reclaimed 17th century stone fireplace commanding the room and the dining room furnished entirely with Robert Thompson ( Mouseman ) furniture. After the grandeur of the rooms downstairs, we went to visit Jane in her office on the first floor, still a grand room but with some of the grandeur slighly tarnished by the adding and removing of partition walls and a coffee stain on the wallpaper, which has apparently been there since the 70's.

The hall viewed, I had a wander around the grounds of the estate. Luke showed me the spooky old abandoned gate house, which in olden days would have had the gate keppers family living in it, but was now just home to a few spiders and the occasional nesting bird. Next I was shown the mole fence which Luke blipped yesterday ( grrrr, wish I'd seen it first ;-) ). The estate has lots of ewes with lambs roaming the grounds, I tried taking some nice photos of them, but the problem with having an iphone instead of a proper camera is without a decent zoom you have to get quiet close. As soon as I would start to approach any lambs their mother would call them and off they'd run. consequently I ended up with lots of photos of lambs bottoms.

Once I'd finished my tour of Denton hall and its grounds I headed back to Ilkley ( avoiding Denton road ) via Stubbs' wood and West park wood, both of which were looking beautiful with carpets of bluebells. crossing more fields full of camera shy lambs I ended up in Middleton where I took some photos of an over inquisitive cow. The weather had been lovely all morning but on the last stretch home whilst walking down to town, the heavens opened and down came a heavy hail storm. My planned icecream from the Riverside hotel was replaced by a tray of chips instead :-).

When I eventualy arrived home I reviewed the mornings photos, was my usual indecisive self, asked a few friends which ones they liked and narrowed it down to either the one good photo of a ewe and her lambs that I had taken, or the out of focus cow. in the end I tossed a coin and it landed heads side up.

So, for todays Blip I am having a.......

... Cow.

Post script.

I have somehow aquired a little yellow crown for yesterdays Blip. Thank you for all the views, lovely comments and the shiny new headwear.....
.... It's all downhill from here.