A Surprise View and Murgatroyds for Fish and Chips and mushy peas with the family.

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With no onward travel for us today we managed a bit of a lie in and then were joined in our room for breakfast by Jean’s daughters,Stella and Janet

By mid morning we were ready to head for R & E’s home to follow them to a location called Surprise View where we had magnificent views out and over the lower end of the verdant Yorkshire Dales.At 280 metres above sea level there would be some great views out and over the Yorkshire Dales and also back towards Bradford and Leeds.In fact the views were 360 degrees.

The sky was just a bit too hazy to be able to see Yorkminster,the cathedral in the city of York about 40 kilometres away, although the elevation of the lookout point is usually high enough to do so.Below the viewpoint was the market town of Otley where we were going to head for a wander through the market and have lunch.

All around the car park and in the fields nearby were stone walls and such is the importance and interest in the reconstruction of the type of walls that they even have competitions to find the best builders and a guild you can belong to.

On the access road to the viewpoint was an inn that had closed down some time ago by the look of it and we joked that perhaps this could be’ our home and business in the sun’( or cloud) of Yorkshire to buy.The inn already had a family connection as Rhona’s late brother had a favourite stool in the bar and a plaque with his name on it from days gone by.

Back in the car we headed down the steep hill to the town of Otley where there has been a settlement since the Bronze Ages although the first recording of a market in the town was in 1222.Thomas Chippendale,the renowned cabinetmaker(not the Aussie male strippers!)was born in Otley in 1718 and he is remembered by way of a statue.The town even hosted the All Blacks back in 1979 when the AB's played and lost to the North of England here.

Rhona found a cafe and we enjoyed a tasty lunch before taking a wander through the market in the square where there stalls selling everything you might expect from fruit and vegetables to clothing plus a sweet stall which of course Gretchen couldn’t pass by and she topped up the lolly bag in the car with another purchase.

We returned home to the hotel for a bit of a rest before it was time to join the family again for the much awaited traditional Yorkshire fish and chip dinner at Murgatroyds Restaurant named after the owner of the Moorfield Mill from the late 1800's which was originally on the site of the restaurant.

We were joined by cousin Iain and his wife Chris who had travelled the 50 odd kilometres from their home in Long Preston.This made our group up to 9 and Rhona had organised seating for us in an alcove in the restaurant which gave us plenty of room and it was quieter than in the main part of the restaurant.Rhona had thought of everything such is her organisational abilities!

We even got in on the ‘senior’deal although at home in NZ of course we would have had to have been 65 while here 60 is the age you get the tick for being a ‘senior’.

For me the choice from the extensive mainly seafood menu was haddock with chips and mushy peas after the entree of Yorkshire Pudding with yummy onion gravy and then finishing off with ice cream,of course.Gretchen had the same entree,of course,and haddock with chips but green peas as her memory of the taste of mushy peas from the BBA V1 was not that great an experience for her.The temptation of sticky toffee pudding was too much for her even though she doesn’t usually have desert.

We spent a couple of thoroughly enjoyable hours socialising with family over dinner which will be one of our indelible memories of the BBA V2 and our short stay in Yorkshire.

With another full day arranged for tomorrow including a trip into Leeds and our first experience of a professional football match in the UK and then another dinner engagement with R&E and a small group of their close friends we drove back to the hotel for another good nights sleep.

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Comments

[KJ]

Lovely family photo!
Good to hear your visit with the rellies went well and thanks for posting such a lovely shot of the cousins!

[Whiskers]

It was a great evening out and in fact a fantastic here days with the rellies and all over too quickly.