Some more holiday photos

Before I get to the photo content of this post, a quick update on Tulip. I finished the back last night, seamed the shoulders (using backstitch in the end, although I had had notions of grafting) and tried it on, and it fits very well. I'm glad I added a little to the overall length (a bit less than an inch I think), I'm not a fan of tops ending too high up and me always feeling like I need to pull them down! I'm currently adding a crochet edging which is a lot easier than I thought (helped by the clear diagrams in Vogue Knitting), although I don't know how I would do 2 rounds. That seems like rather more advanced crochet than I am ready for at present :-) I am most definitely going to invest in some wooden crochet hooks, most likely Brittany. I only have plastic and metal (and about 4 in total!) at the moment, and I am finding it very difficult to control the yarn and loops with a metal hook.

On to the photos. Firstly here is the lovely bangle DH bought me in Whitby (and apologies for the fingermark, it was highly polished a moment before the photo!). It is sterling silver with a lovely oval piece of Whitby Jet. It came from a small shop called Robinsons, which has a workshop at the back of the shop. It reminded me somewhat of Bruce Crantock's shop/workshop at St Agnes in Cornwall, where we have bought silver bangles for the past 2 years :-)



I really love this piece, we looked in so many shops and nothing else really leapt out at me. Interestingly the shop states that all jet used is from Whitby - it can be found in other parts of the world too but apparently the best is found at Whitby.

Next are a couple of photos taken from outside our hotel room. The first is looking across the road to the main hotel building, then the next is the cottages across from the hotel which had beautiful gardens full of roses and other "cottage garden" plants.





The only other place where we really took any photos was Newby Hall and Gardens, near Ripon, which we visited on the way up to Hawnby. I'd found it on the map as we were travelling along the A59, and by happy chance it was also one of the places we could use the 2 for 1 card from Gardener's World magazine we had picked up a couple of months ago. The gardens are absolutely beautiful, the following photos were taken on the main herbaceous border walk that runs from the house down to the river Ure.

I have one or two other photos to share from Newby Hall but I'll save them for a future post :-)

We are off to Haworth tomorrow, all being well. This was DH's suggestion, despite me (a) currently reading Jane Eyre, and (b) having seen the first UK staging of "Jane Eyre - The Musical" 2 weeks ago :-) (and it was fabulous, I hope it is picked up for the West End).