Tour of North Yorkshire and Northumberland - day 1

Wolds Village

It's funny how you can live close to somewhere for years but never go there. This is one of those places. We must pass it every time we go to Scarborough but I've never been inside until yesterday.

I wanted to have a look at the gallery (trying to become more interested in visual art) and obviously we planned on having afternoon tea. I later found out it was #NationalCreamTeaDay.

The car park isn't huge but plenty big enough that we could park Zerubbabel (our motorhome) in it. After a quick look around, we decided it was a normal wheelchair venue, as surfaces looked good. Neil took Liggy for a quick woodland walk, which I could have done in my mountain trike but it was too nettley for me and what's the point in getting stressed on holiday?!!

There were pretty flowers everywhere and associated bees and butterflies doing their thing. Liggy obviously really liked the smells as she was trying to get to the flowers as we went in. Some of the paths were a little narrow for me with Liggy attached but she's pretty good now at turning round and walking backwards. 

The gallery and tea rooms were quaint and pretty quiet. My parents joined us for a cup of coffee and a scone with jam and cream. We sat in the gallery area and talked about the different styles of picture. At some point we will go back and buy some pictures. They are all beautifully framed and there was a series of prints depicting vehicles in the 1980s(ish). I liked one with a Mr Whippy van and Neil liked one with a Chopper (bike).

Across the courtyard, there was an accessible toilet which was a good size and well laid out. It was clean and really easy for me to use with Liggy attached to my chair. It's the little things like this that make visits work.

What made it a little more difficult (again it's the little things) was that there were loads of crumbs on the floor. Liggy doesn't understand about allergies and it's difficult to stop her eating them when they are absolutely everywhere. The liquid poo that followed later in the afternoon was inevitable but I find it frustrating. Trouble is, when it's sofa style seating and low tables, people are going to drop bits. It would help us, if there was a broom available so we could clear a Liggy space.

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Arrival at our first stopover was very straightforward. Neil went in with the BritStops book and let them know we were here. We had booked a space with electric hook up (£10) plus a meal to eat in the motorhome. I had spoken several times to a lovely lady called Verity, who had gone way above and beyond to ensure I could have a pie of my choice minus carotenes. Whilst it's not one of the well known allergies, it's a real pain trying to avoid carotenes because they sneak into all kinds of foods.

Dinner was delicious! We set the table in the motorhome and Verity brought it out, all nicely plated up. There was no less sense of good service just because we didn't eat in the restaurant!

After a little walk, allowing Liggy to get rid of the rest of the afternoon's crumb lickings, we decided the pub looked safe enough to enjoy a drink. It was quiet, well ventilated and clean. My only little niggle - why do they do this??? - is that the accessible toilet was down some stairs. To be honest, it was easier to just pop back to the motorhome, rather than them get the ramp out, which would have had to be too steep anyways.

It's funny, it sounds like sleeping over in a pub car park should be an unsafe thing to do, but it's actually really nice. There were quite a few others doing the same. It was quiet and I got a good night's sleep until about 4am. At that point the dawn chorus woke me and the crows especially, were having a right old screech. To be fair though, I only sleep very lightly at that time of the night so anything wakes me. The best sleep is always before midnight!

So this morning, while I type and Neil sleeps, some of our fellow motorhomers have moved off. I've had the hot water on for half an hour or so, and I think I'm going to shower and get dressed and ready to walk Liggy. Then we can head off and start day 2.