Today my Mum, my Nana, my brother Tom and I all set off to view the amazing views on Bolton Abbey in the Yorkshire Dales along with Skipton Markets for a bit of shopping afterwards!
Bolton Abbey is around 30,000 acres of stunning countryside, over 80 miles of footpaths and oodles of fresh air to be inhaled! There are plenty of interesting things to view and explore such as the ruins of the beautiful priory, the vast ground space, great for kids of all ages to run around, a lovely riverside, woodland and moorland paths to stroll along. Restaurants, tea rooms and café's galore!
Setting off on our travels armed with sweeties and chocolates in our bags, music in our ears and spring lambs in the fields as we passed by!
Golden, morning sunlight pouring through my windows as I start my day, excited to go to Bolton Abbey in the Yorkshire Dales with my wonderful Mummy, my adorable little Nana and my stinky 13 year old brother Tom! (Just kidding I love him too!) ....One word to describe this morning...Perfect!
We head off with the sat nav making our every move and Nana proudly sat front passenger enjoying the warm early morning sunlight creeping over the country hills and fields. Of course our first objective when we got there was...'Coffee and Cake'. We found the nearest little café called the 'Blueberry Kitchen' and admired the beautiful homemade jam and honey jars sitting wholesomely on the shelves as we awaited our first bites of the day looking over the little paper map we were handed on arrival!
We enjoyed homemade scones, sausage rolls, HUGE sandwiches lavished with salad and mayonnaise on a scrumptious soft seeded bun! Washed down with lattes, bottles of diet coke and fresh mineral water. After our early lunch we head out of the little café and make our way up the road to explore the Abbey! The sun was shining, blue skies were above us and the day had started!
This was the marvelous view from the top of the walkway, bright blue skies, white fluffy clouds here and there and lush green grass all around!
My Mum and I fell in love with the leading lines of the footpaths in these photographs and the views got better as the day went on...
We head down hill to explore some more taking in all of the natural beauty as we went along. My little Nana was thrilled to be out of the house and able to stretch her legs on such a glorious day. My brother Tom was also just as happy to be in the fresh air, enjoying his Easter holidays off from high school! My Mum and I were MORE than happy strolling around clicking away with our camera's too!
Most of the Priory is still intact and standing however there are eerie gaps in the beautiful structure which my Mum and I were able to capture!
Stopping every so often for a few family portraits for the ever growing album of our days out!
My brother Tom also got in on the action, borrowing mums camera along the way showing off his newly developed photography skills of the landscapes! He became quite the natural, even telling me what kind of shots to get! Cheeky!
A visit to Bolton Abbey just wouldn't be the same without a trip to the see the stepping stones and of course look who had to show off and go all the way across!
A little too close to taking a tumble there Tom, remember you have to walk around soaking wet all day if you fall in!
I on the other hand was far too interested in taking pictures of the spectacular ripple effects created in the shallow waters colourful landscapes than what my little brother was up to.
A very excited Nana homing in on the ice cream truck and the perfect spot to enjoy some of the Dale's finest Vanilla cones!
Who could better delicious ice cream in front of a view as wonderful as this?!
This has to be one of my most favourite shots of the day, the sheer love and happiness of both my brother Tom's face and my Mum's just really pulls on my heart strings!
Having Tom join us on our day out really made a huge difference to the atmosphere, he brought laughter, smiles and love all around just like he always does and I have never seen him more happy and relaxed in all his life, enjoying his ice cream, running round the fields and being the humorous joker he is! My Mum has been my brother's, my sister's and my whole world, our rock and best friend... This day has been perfect up to now but it's time to see what other wonderful scenes and events this day has in store for us all! Starting with admiring these intriguing Gothic style window arches!
The images we captured above and below show how a simple style change in the developing process can turn the Abbey into an imaginative minds playground!
The eerie tombstones on the right were a stark contrast to the natural beauty of the riverside that ran to our left...
However, the dramatic changes of natural sunlight and cloud formation transformed the atmosphere into a fantasy setting from a romantic novel.
Looking back over our shoulder for our last glimpse of the Abbey we couldn't help noticing the drastic change in the clouds as if the Abbey was sad to see us leave. We were soon stopped in our tracks on the way back to the car when a stubborn chicken stopped traffic along the country lanes right outside of the 'Blueberry Kitchen' where we had eaten earlier! Customers of the café were shooing the enormous hen out of the road where it had been happily strolling and picking up the crumbs of passers by!
Next stop...Skipton markets!
A spot of light shopping just wouldn't be the same without a few cheeky 'selfies' with the hats on sale! It was treats all around, sunglasses for Tom, Nana yet another cardigan, as she just can't seem to get enough of them, (even though they're bursting from her wardrobes!) Mum added to her colourful collection of garden toys, with pretty butterflies, and silly characters including a blue moo cow, a bright red lady bug and a vibrant sunflower!
Myself personally couldn't stay away from the market stalls with crisp cotton scarves blowing gently in the breeze practically calling my name and naturally I had to buy two so the other wasn't lonely!
No trip out with Mum and Nana is complete without a final pit stop for more coffee's and homemade cakes! We stopped at a lovely and unusual themed café, called 'Coffee and Clay', where you are able to make pottery from clay and paint your masterpiece whilst enjoying a pleasant snack!
Being the true photographer that I am, I just couldn't resist a sneaky snapshot of this wall mural inside the café, framed with handmade pottery tiles from previous school visitors! This image is of Skipton High Street in 1900 prior to the industrial revolution, where live stock was on sale instead of the stylish scarves we see hung out for sale today! Cars in the photo are replaced by horse and carriage and suits and top hats were the jeans and leggings of today!
Like all good things it was time to say goodbye to the Yorkshire Dales and head back home with full bellies and silly faces!
