High summer at Bolton Abbey

After a busy few weeks, it was lovely to escape for an afternoon with a friend to Bolton Abbey.  A weekend in high summer (pleasant and dry, though not sunny) meant it was very busy with families enjoying the green space. It's a large enough estate to absorb the crowds, and families with small children tend to congregate near the Cavendish Pavilion, where there is a play area, ducks, refreshments and ice creams. Walking through the woodland is still relatively peaceful. 

With all the rain we've had, the foliage is lush, the wildflowers prolific and the grass very bright green. (I think this time last year everything was brown and parched.) I was surprised that the river water level seemed very low but it is probably very responsive to the most recent few days. 

The pirate ship was attracting many would-be buccaneers. It sits in a sand pit, so that's another attraction. 

Pretty pastels

I'm really enjoying not only my new flat's interior but also its surroundings and its convenient location so close to many of my friends, my church, local shops and most things I need. I'm delighting, too, in being able to see the evening sky and sunsets. Of course, they are never the same from one evening to the next - and even from one minute to the next. I am treated to my very own light show to end each day. 😊  These two shots were taken within about ten minutes of each other, yesterday evening.  

Before and after: bedroom

Another room more or less finished. I still need a couple of throw cushions to replace the old ones that don't really tone in, but there is no hurry and I shall know them when I see them. I'm particularly pleased with the way I've been able to update the existing wardrobes, which are good quality and spacious. New handles (see below), removing the upper cupboards (I hated looking up at wood, I felt like I was sleeping in a coffin!), remodelling the dresser to make it a bit smaller and changing the lighting have all 'modernised' the look, I hope. 

😂 I'm now on a quest to make the bed look layered and crisp like they style them in the home magazines but it's easier said than done. I can't figure out how you stop them looking all crumpled and creased after one night! 😂

This (below) is the wallpaper, which I love. I've never been so bold with colour and pattern before; always been a neutrals kinda girl. Unfortunately one of the two rolls of paper turned out to be a totally different shade from the other (both same batch no) and had to be replaced but, thankfully, I did eventually get a match. 

The large mirror on the wall has travelled with me through three different homes now, in different rooms. Here in the bedroom it gives that area the feel of a gym when I get my yoga mat unrolled, so it's spurring me on to do the stretches I need to do regularly to keep my back in good nick.

These are the handles (new at top, old at bottom) :

And this is the 'before', when I initially viewed the flat. (The black oval hides some personal stuff that had been left on the bed.)

Apologies for the 'house p*rn'. I'm just so delighted with the way it's all turning out. It's been such a privilege to be able, for the first time in my life, to get my home exactly how I want it in a very short time, instead of piecemeal over the years. At this stage in life, there's no point in waiting! 

Sunday meditation: Refreshed

'He refreshes my soul.' Psalm 23:3

I've been skimming back through some older photos and I found a few that I overlooked at the time but that, with further scrutiny, seemed worth a bit of playing with. This is a composite of a few images I took in Bradford's City Park one summer. The Park has those variable water jets that the young people just love leaping about in. On a hot day, it's a refreshing pastime. Obviously this type of image isn't everybody's cup of tea (a good old English saying!) but I enjoy being a bit looser and more creative sometimes.

Hard work!

I've been working really hard to get my flat into shape, so hard that I have callouses on my hand from the paint roller I've been using! It is slowly but surely rising from the ashes, as it were, and becoming the home I hoped for. I'm building in some breaks, of course. Normal life has to go on. There are everyday chores to do, and exercise is necessary. I walked into Saltaire to stretch my legs and all I encountered were other people also working hard. 

There was the groundsman mowing the cricket pitch. 

There were contractors removing all the pontoons and temporary buildings that had been erected in the park for last weekend's Dragon Boat Racing. (I didn't go down this year; I was too busy with other things. It's more or less the same format every year and, whilst fun for those who participate and a great way to raise money for charity, photographically there's not much new.)

Such large scale events produce a lot of rubbish! 

In Saltaire village, I found scaffolders just finishing a structure around the Dining Hall, now part of Shipley College... and another up at the College's old school building...

and another at the almshouses. It must be the time for roof and stonework repairs. 

Finally, at Hirst Weir, there are big diggers doing some work to rearrange the boulders that have over the years broken down and spread the weir into a rocky cascade. I think they are trying to smooth out some of the slope so that fish can more easily make their way upstream to their spawning grounds. It happened to be the lunch break as I walked past. The machines were idle and the workmen were chatting and eating their sandwiches. 

After seeing all that hard work going on, I came home exhausted! 

Alphabet

This was another exercise from the 'Mindful Photography' workshop: to find letters of the alphabet in non textual form. It was easier said than done but I think I managed quite well. It was a good project to focus on (pun intended!) on a very wet day as it could be undertaken largely inside.

The Scargill Estate

Before it became a Christian community in the 1950s, Scargill House was a country house owned by the Holdsworth family. It sits in its own, fairly large, estate with gardens and woodland extending up the side of the valley to the moor. 

It has, of course, been enlarged, with accommodation for guests and community members. Notably, its rather wonderful chapel was designed by George Pace (one of the leading ecclesiastical architects of his day) and built in 1958-61. It's now a Grade-II* listed building. It's a lovely place in which to worship, with the huge windows giving views over the dale. The octagonal building you see beyond it is the main meeting room, recently reroofed and refurbished - and again offering glorious views across the valley. 

Sheep farming is still the mainstay of the dales (and tourism of course). Something (not me!) spooked the sheep and they all went dashing off down the hill, ewes and lambs bleating loudly. 

There are a few strategically placed benches, this one having a lovely outlook up towards Kettlewell. 

In the woods there is a labyrinth, a sacred space used for walking meditation. 

The limestone pavement

The Dalesway footpath between Kettlewell and Grassington climbs high up the valley side, mostly tracing the boundary between the sheep pastures on the steep fellside and the rough moorland above. Before you reach Conistone Pie (not a pie, sadly, but a dominant outcrop of rocks) there is a small patch of limestone pavement: a flat expanse of limestone with deep, undulating fissures (grykes) carved out by water, and forming an unusual habitat for plants. 

It was a good place to stop and take photos, though the gale force winds and squally, driving rain made it a rather challenging endeavour. 

We were supposed to be taking black and white photos but the green plants, which I think are hart's-tongue ferns, looked so vibrant against the greyish rock and seemed to me to be the stand-out feature. Perhaps they would look good in mono but I like the colour versions. 

It's amazing how little plants hang on and thrive in such an apparently inhospitable environment. 

You could climb much higher up the moor but, given the inclement weather, we opted out of that and soon returned to Scargill House for afternoon tea and more cake! The walk was worth it for the wonderful views though we did get very wet. 

 

Kettlewell village

Kettlewell is a quintessential Yorkshire Dales village, sleepy during the week but a magnet for visitors at weekends and in the school holidays. It's bisected by Kettlewell Beck, which meets the River Wharfe at the west end of the village. Many of the properties are quite old - 17th and 18th century - and the area boomed in the late 18th/early 19th centuries when lead was mined in the surrounding hills. 

It's attractive in a solid, Dales kind of way, with well-kept cottage gardens overflowing with roses at this time of year.

Keep your eyes open and there are hints of its history - though I do not know how old this engraving in a barn wall is. 

There has been a church, St Mary's, here since Norman times though the present structure dates only to the 19th century. 

Surrounded by the meadows and fells of Upper Wharfedale, its churchyard is a haven of peace, and has been developed as a wildflower and wildlife sanctuary. At the entrance is a beautifully carved lych gate, erected in 1921 by George and Mabel Holdsworth in thanksgiving for their marriage. The Holdsworths lived at Scargill House until they sold it in the 1950s to the Church of England to become the Christian community that it is now. 

I took some photos inside the church on a previous visit - see HERE if you're interested. It has some lovely stained glass. 

 

In the dale

The route from Scargill House to Kettlewell village is a pleasant stroll, part of the Dalesway long-distance footpath. It meanders down a quiet lane and through grassy meadows, full of wildflowers at this time of year. The fields are separated by the Dales' typical drystone walls and punctuated by stone barns. 

I'm not that good at identifying wild flowers, but searching online has revealed that the prolific mauve/blue flowers on the roadside verge were meadow cranesbill, a type of geranium. 

There were patches of thistles:

and herb robert created a tapestry-like effect, with its pinkish flowers against leaves that had turned red, as they sometimes do.