Easter weekend

I’m afraid I just haven’t felt like blogging for a while.  I suppose editing all the photos, and laying out the page has started to take so long that I’ve spent far too much time setting it all up and it has come to be a bit of a chore.  However, I have decided to try and use fewer photos and not be so fussy about the layouts!

So , let’s go back to the Easter weekend which I spent at Colin’s, in Yorkshire.  He was working over the weekend.   It’s not everyone who gets to be the Easter Bunny!  So while he was being the Easter Bunny I went off on a couple of jaunts, into Darlington one day and Richmond another.

 

 

 

The crocuses were in full bloom along the approach to the town centre.

and this is the old covered market  in Darlington, built 150 years ago to house an indoor market.  The clock tower was added in the following year. 

 

When I lived in Swaledale the High Row and the road below the steps were still used by traffic.  I love the old Georgian buildings along High Row.

 

 

In Richmond,  Frenchgate, left, used to be a main road into the town.  We used to visit friends of my mother’s who lived down here on the right, quite far down the hill.  It was sad this time to see the house  all closed up  and shuttered.  I would love to see round it again.  If you look carefully in the distance, you should see the castle in the town centre.  I spent most of my visit to Richmond in the old railway station down by the river Swale.  It has become a really lively interesting social venue, but I can remember when there were still trains there.  My dad occasionally used to go off on business to Darlington, and I would be allowed to walk down from Frenchgate with him, through the churchyard of St Mary’s and down the hill to the station, where I would wave him goodbye before returning to Frenchgate.  Luckily, after the station closed in 1969, it wasn’t demolished, and now it is a great place to visit.

On Easter Sunday the Garden Centre was closed so the Easter Bunny became Colin again and we had an afternoon out to Barnard Castle after a detour to see an old church not far from Colin’s. It was really interesting  with its wooden ceiling and ancient stained glass in the faraway window.  In the churchyard there were gravestones dating back well into the 1700s.

Before we reached Barnard Castle we took a look at another old abbey, Egglestone Abbey, once home to the White Canons or Monks, who chose this spot because it is fairly isolated, had a good supply of stone to build the abbey with, and was beside the river.  It was dissolved in 1540 by Henry VIII and a lot of the stone went into building nearby houses.

And so to Barnard Castle, originally Bernard’s Castle.  The town that grew up round it took the name of the castle, and although it looks to have been some size, there’s not really a lot of it left.  The tower, right, and a small section of wall seem to be the best preserved bits.

The Butter Mart, left, was actually the Market Cross but was extended to allow traders cover for their goods, and dominates this end of the main street. 

J Just  past it going downhill towards the river is probably the oldest surviving building in “Barney”.  It is Blagraves House, now a restaurant, dating back to the 15th century.  I’d like to know more about the figures on ledges on the front wall.

We found a lovely little cafe for tea and cake opposite the Butter Mart, then after a walk round the town and the castle walls, we headed back to the car for our return home. 

One last photo just before we left Barney is  of the magnificent Bowes Museum, built by businessman John Bowes and his French wife, Josephine, in the 19th century.  Sadly neither saw the building finished, but their collection went on show nevertheless.  It’s stunning both outside and in.

So that was the Easter weekend!  I stayed on at Colin’s for another day, and came home on the Tuesday. 

Talk again soon.