Deb's Digest
Debbie Atkinson’s family life column, as featured in the Southport Visiter.

Saturday 8 November 2008

THE DALES



 

Even in the misty drizzle, the Yorkshire Dales are majestic and I've never seen such beautiful autumnal colours as I saw this week. We drove down windy lanes of burnished golds and deep shades of orange and the hills were an absolute delight - a patchwork of deep, rich hues. And thanks to the credit crunch, this time, when we looked in estate agents' windows we worked out that we could even afford a little cottage by a stream - if we sold all our worldly goods that is.

I've always wanted a piece of furniture made in the Mouseman workshop at Kilburn. We've visited many times and I've admired the workmanship. This time we saw the men in the old workshop, handcrafting the beautiful tables and chairs and carefully carving the little mouse on each one and I got my piece of - well, I can hardly call it furniture - it's a pin tray but it has the very same mouse that the grander bits have.



We enjoyed some fantastic bar meals in front of roaring log fires and went to all the places we love - Helmsley, Ripon and Thirsk. It's a real tonic at this time of year and it was not so nice to return home to our bitterly cold house with a broken boiler! Roll on tomorrow and the gas man.

3 comments:

  1. is that a photograph or painting? looks absolutely beautiful..

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  2. Hi Magdelin, it's a photo - and yes, it is really beautiful - even lovlier than the photo can show.

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  3. That photograph is marvellous. Glad you had a good time.

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