Yorkshire Birthday: Part 1

The warmth of yesterday has disappeared and we wake to a chill that feels more like November than late March. Still, it’s my birthday and the threat of rain is not going to stop us doing a little exploring. 

First it’s Malton for a little retail therapy. In all honesty, I get little pleasure from shopping these days, but these little Yorkshire towns are so well kept and just so pretty that temptation’s never far away. Of course it is Sunday, and few shops are open - though we find a wonderful little bookshop full of temptation where I purchase yet another art book in the hope that it will inspire me to actually do something creative. 

Then it’s off to Nunnington Hall, a National Trust property that we don’t think we’ve been to previously - much as we love these places, there’s a tendency for them to merge together in my memory. It’s warm and welcoming - quite literally, with a roaring log fire in the entrance hall - and well worthy of a wander round. For me, the highlight is the attic housing two fascinating exhibitions. First the Carlisle Collection of miniature rooms filled with perfect Lilliputian reproductions of everything imaginable - down to photographs, portraits, books and letters as well as furniture and needlework.  Then there’s ‘Nunnington through the Seasons’, a gallery displaying Rachael Dein’s plaster castings of plants and flowers from the gardens across the seasons - such beautiful work.  

Then it’s back to our cozy home in the forest to enjoy a delicious bottle of English sparking wine in the jacuzzi, listening to bird song as the skies darken above the skeletons of trees above us. Blissful. 

My birthday meal’s delicious - roasted asparagus with poached egg, Asian salmon with broccoli, birthday cake for desert, and cheese with figs to finish. 

It’s been a pretty perfect day - though very different from the sunset paddle boarders of a year ago! 

My main’s a peacock strutting round the grounds of Nunnington, with collage extras of the exhibitions and birthday celebrations round the lodge.  

(Apologies for the very late posting of Sunday’s blip, but the internet gave up on us last night, and I’ve had no time until arriving home; equally, I’ll be catching up on journals tomorrow)