Heading home from Yorkshire - Day 5

Cricket at Richmondshire Cricket Club

We left Hawes, reluctantly and already looking forward to our return, early in the morning.  We asked the office at Hawes campsite to book us a place in Barnard Castle campsite. There was space for us and it was explained it is about a mile and a half walk into the actual Barnard Castle town. We have done so much walking, this did not sound like a problem, and when we got there, it was a really nice walk.

On the way north, we drove through Richmond and, since we had never been there before, we decided to stop and spend some time. The car park choices were 1, 2 or all day.  We chose 2 hours at £2.50.  And headed into the most beautiful, scenic, traditional Yorkshire town you can imagine.  Everything about it was just right, including Market Day in the town centre in front of the main church.

Richmond also has a huge castle!  In ruins of course, but it certainly covers a lot of land.  This is also owned by English Heritage, and that meant we did not have to wonder if it was "worth" paying to get into since we are members of Scottish Heritage and have free entry.  I cannot stress how much we enjoy being members of both Scottish Heritage and the National Trust. Those cards open doors to so many places we might not have visited due to the cost of entry and/or lack of time to justify the cost.

We really enjoyed wandering aimlessly, until suddenly the sky fell in and it began bucketing rain. Luckily, there was an interesting looking tea shop, Duncan's Tea Room, right where we realised we were in danger of drowning in the rain, so in we went!  I would have preferred getting tea and scones, but it was lunchtime so, for once, I was sensible for once.  We both got soup of the day, which was broccoli and Wensleydale cheese soup. Alan got a ham sandwich with his soup and I only ordered soup and was offered a choice of a cheese scone or a brown roll. So, yippee!  I got my scone anyway!

Butcher shop under Duncan's Tea Room

The rain stopped and it looked like it had never rained.  But we were running out of time, thanks to only paying for 2 hours.

We had 10 minutes to go before the parking ran out and realised we were right next to the Mackenzie Thorpe Arthaus Gallery!  Wow, we had been admiring his work the whole time we have been in Yorkshire.  (not the first time we have seen it though, but it was everywhere this trip.)  We squeezed in time there and virtually ran to the car park.

Looking across the pitch, you can just see Alan sitting in
front of that white care on the left.  He loved being there.

Halt!  There is a cricket game going on in sunny Richmond and we have to walk right past the grounds.......oh no.  Solution, Alan went straight to the game and I paid an extra £2.50 for another 2 hours, only to realise £5 would have bought us all day!  The deal was, both of us got to do what we enjoyed in Richmond, Alan photographing cricket and me?  Shopping and taking photos.

Looking up to the entrance or exit as it
would be now, since I was on my way out.
It was a very steep garden!

I even managed to find Millgate House Gardens, which is a fabulous award winning garden hidden in the middle of Richmond where it looks as if nothing would be big enough to be defined as a "garden".    I love places where there are honesty boxes and this is one. It costs £2 to enter and you put your money in a little metal box in the wall.  Then, if you are like me, you fall down a few steps!  I had no idea the door was right on a step.  I was ok and more aware of  just how steep this garden is and watched my steps the rest of the time.

For most of the time I was alone in this wonderful maze of gorgeous garden plants.  Maybe a few weeks late to be totally blown away with the beauty, but the peace and tranquility of simply being there made it a special time.  If you are ever in Richmond, you really need to look up this garden and factor in at least 45 minutes to take it all in.

We had been directed to this by a wonderful lady who runs Stables Cottage B&B just off the carpark. But when she saw me returning to pay more money for parking she asked if I had found it and I said no.  I think she was disappointed and I was never able to thank her very much for suggesting visiting this garden.  In addition to this suggestion, she was also very easy to talk to and we would love to return to Richmond and book a room with her.  (the Stables is also dog friendly!)

The cricket team Alan had the pleasure to watch is a really good team at Richmondshire Cricket Club. It is one of the bigger clubs in England and Alan was delighted to be able to sit in the sunshine and take a few photos.

Time finally ran out in more ways than one, since we were expected at Barnard Castle campsite between 2 and 5 and it was already 4 when we left!  No matter, the office was open until 6 or so and they were happy to see us.

Barnard Castle

Walk along the River Tees
The concrete things in the middle are "weirs" to
assist salmon to travel this river.

We had also never been to Barnard Castle but have heard of it.  After checking in, we did the mile and a half walk, along the River Tees and arrived at another huge castle ruin.  There was only about 30 minutes left to enter, and even though we had the cards to enter free, we just didn't have the energy to visit at this time. We wanted to see the town on a Saturday since things tend to be closed on Sundays quite often. As it turned out, we simply walked around and it wouldn't have mattered what day of the week it was. But like I said, we were tired and hungry and ready to settle in for the night.

In centre of Barnard Castle town,
Probably for the sheep market days.
Built in the 1700s.

Blagrave's House
Oldest house in Barnard Castle,
now a restaurant.  It has ties to
Cromwell and
Elizabeth the First!

 

A welcome sight!

Our last dinner before heading home. Note the lovely
Tervis' we enjoy using. My drink is garnished with
Juniper berries since it is a gin & tonic! 

And we knew there was a "chip van" waiting for us to cook our dinner!  I wanted fish and chips and Alan wanted sausage and chips.  This van is at the campsite on Wednesdays and Saturdays and it was great not to cook and also the food was delicious!

After this, we just relaxed and looked forward to going home the next day.
 And that is what we did.