On Friday we headed to Reeth in Swaledale for a weekend with Gaye's long time friends Sandra and Bob and also Margaret who we met in Gretna to take down with us for the weekend. The 3 Girls have been friends for over 50 years since their days at Glasgow College of Domestic Science commonly known as Dough School. They live near Middlesborough but have a holiday home in Reeth.
This is Ruby the 2 year old dog owned by Sandra and she was very well behaved all weekend.
After a lovely lunch at Sandras we all had a walk through the village of Reeth. It is spoiled by the number of cars that park on the village green in the summer. This was fairly quiet but at the weekend it is like a huge car park and spoils the look of the lovely village centre.
This is the girls at a lovely walled garden in the centre of the village
Reeth before all the cars arrive
Gaye and I went to visit my cousin Hilary who lives in the centre of Reeth. The cat is called Boris after a certain politician who resigned that very day. Hilary says the cat is as big a rogue as its namesake.
Village Green filling up with cars.
On Saturday morning Bob took the girls to Richmond to explore the shops while I drove up Swaledale to Muker and Keld. This is a typical Yorkshire Dales Dyke and much more elaborate than our dykes in the Borders.
Almost every large field in Swaledale has one of these barns. They store feed and are used as protection from the bad weather in the winter
Swaledale fields and a Barn
A flower meadow in Swaledale
A river Swale waterfall near Keld. There were a few people swimming in the pool below the waterfall but I managed to avoid taking a photo of the blonde in her bikini.
The river Swale
This is the village of Gunnerside
There are hundreds of miles of these drystone dykes in Swaledale and many of them have these little gates instead of stiles. They stop the sheep getting through the dyke. Many of them don't even have the wooden gate just the very narrow gap in the dyke. On my drive up Swaledale there were many walkers and I enjoyed a refreshment and Bacon Roll at a little farm cottage and sat in the garden with a young Dutch couple who were walking from Tan Hill. We had a lovely conversation and I told them about my granddaughter Hannah who is hoping to go to university in The Netherlands in 2024.
On Sunday morning we drove to Leyburn for lunch in Tennants Garden Rooms which is a beautiful building and a popular venue for wedding receptions. There happened to be a wedding later in the day so the girls took the opportunity to pose in the entrance hall. Tenants is also a very posh Auction House and we viewed lots of lovely items due to be auctioned soon, including several Lowry paintings.
Before we went to lunch Gaye and I were picked up by my Cousin Hilary and her daughter Meg to be taken up to The White House on Fremington Edge overlooking Reeth. This is the zoomed view of Reeth from The White House. The road to the cottage is terrible and you need a high wheel base vehicle but that is due to improve next week when it is being resurfaced right to within a few yards of The White House
The White House which sits at about 1000ft.
Megs Husband Trevor and their son Tom sitting next to the lovely pond which was full of fish.
Hilary, Meg and Gaye outside Meg's lovely greenhouse that has a Grape Vine in it.
A more realistic view of Reeth without zooming in. It has been a wonderful weekend in glorious weather and with such brilliant hospitality from everybody.
