Scootin' About in Northern England

After traveling over hill and dale, we arrived at our farm stay for two nights. A converted stone barn houses 6 units with a central courtyard and patios and decks on the back sides. A rooftop full of solar panels helps with the electricity.

I was happy to see chickens and ducks roaming around

and their cat who greeted everyone.

After settling into our delightful room, we took a little hike to the dale nearby.

In the early evening, I took my knitting and wine up this little hill behind the farm and 

sat on the picnic table, enjoying the beautiful scenery laid out before me.

Next day was a longer hike, past ancient churches...

…and a culinary stop at an awesome pub. That's what's great about England, you can hike or bike from pub to pub.

And then you can have toad in the hole or haggis with keeps & tatties, oh and pints of beer.

Since we're walking through sheep fields, there are various stiles to get over fences.

I particularly like the old stone ones.

Except some are a wee bit tight! My camera accidentally took this photo of me 

scootching through the stones.

It's hay season, so the smell of freshly cut hay was in the air. 

This is where scenes from Harry Potter were filmed.

After the hike, we stopped at another pub right across from this pond. Nice view to look at while drinking my pinot grigio.

Leaving our farm stay, we stopped in Malton, taking a walk around the village. There's a weekly sheep and cattle auction but unfortunately not the day we were there. I would have loved to have seen all the sheep in these pens with the farmers buying and selling and the hubbub all around.

These were the cattle pens.

Then on to Whitby, a coastal town that brings tourists and locals together in its tight little streets.

Of course I spotted the local wool shop.

Walking down one of the cobbled streets, I noticed this strange smokey smell, 

not unpleasant, just unique.

Followed our noses right to the kipper shop. Kippers are smoked herring. These fish measure about a foot high each and are hung from poles to smoke overnight.

I was curious about the smoking house attached to the shop. The shop keeper (kipper keeper) was pleased to show us the inside. He opened all the doors so we could peek into the dark interior. I couldn't believe how much black soot stuff was caked onto the inside of the doors and the walls.

At the end of the block and up the hill is a beautiful view of the sea.

With folk frolicking on the sand below. It was a beautiful, sunny day and this being Saturday, there were many folks out enjoying the weather and the famous fish and chips of Whitby.