curiouswombat | Sunday Pics - mainly involving buildings, gardens and food... and a rabbit.

This week's pictures were taken before we came home from York. D-d having lived there for 5 academic years has a good working knowledge of the city that the visitor just doesn't have. So she knows some of the 'hidden gems'. We took breaks to eat in two of them - and I remembered to get out the camera. So under the cut are pictures of two historic buildings - with food!

We began to pack D-d's belongings in deadly earnest on the Saturday morning - I leave the array of boxes, bags, suitcases etc. to your imagination. By about 12.30 we decided we needed a break and D-d promised me an unusual, and restful, lunch break. We left the chaos of her room, got into her car, and drove towards the College of Law - but then turned off into Bishopthorpe and to Middlethorpe Hall. There is very little to indicate that this is anything but a beautiful historical building owned by the National Trust. You have to be in the know to realise it runs as a small hotel and spa!

It doesn't feel like a hotel even when inside - but we were shown to the Drawing Room where two or three other groups of people sat around in conversation, enjoying their lunch. We sat in comfortable armchairs at a large coffee table, and then a young lady arrived and gave us a linen tablecloth, tea for D-d, and an alcoholic tipple for me as she was driving...

All very civilised. We had a chicken and bacon salad and a bacon and brie baguette - not quite as Jane Austen-ish as the surroundings!

We had a walk around afterwards - this is the Hall from the end of the 'vista' at the front -

There is an urn where I stood to take that, as a focal point for those admiring the vista from the Hall. But it was empty - and the matching one near the hall was prettier -

We were not alone in admiring that view, either -

It certainly made for a very pleasant interlude in the packing!

On an earlier trip to York, d-d and I went around The Treasurer's House, and I commented to her that, on the Friday, when she was doing exams and I was waiting for the car to be mended, I had almost popped into the tearoom for my lunch, except that it was shut on Fridays. "Oh - next door is even better!' she said. And so on Monday afternoon, after our visit to Barley Hall, and our fishy pedicure, she showed me what she meant by taking me to Gray's Court.

The guide in the Treasurer's House said that the National Trust did not own all of the original site as it had been split up in the eighteenth century. What he didn't say is that the bit of the complex they don't own is now a small hotel and one of the real hidden gems of York for lazing in and enjoying a leisurely coffee, afternoon tea, or whatever. This is, clearly, known to some of the young people who either live or study in the area, as over half the others there were about D-d's age!

It is quite possible to hang out in any one of three or four rooms on the main floor - which is, in a building of this style and age, the first floor not the ground floor. But on a nice day it is a real pleasure to sit out in the garden.

This is the way down to the garden from the main building -

If you look closely you can see that the lower left side of the building is made out of large pale stone blocks - sort of the same ones as the city walls... as the first building on the site was actually Roman, and it has has been occupied continuously for over 1,000 years it is very likely that those blocks are contemporary with the city walls, or even older. The bricks even show clear evidence of three building phases we realised when we looked closely - but I didn't photograph them in close up - for which you are probably grateful. Oh - the wooden structure in the foreground? That is the Guinea Pig's hutch - but he was sleeping in the shadows in his main living accommodation.

As you can see, the gardens are beautiful -

You can see some more of the old stone used to build that terracing - look closely and there is a table and chairs up there - which just makes life even more interesting for the waiting on staff! Just behind those trees actually is the City Wall - D-d and I feature in the photographs of a group of tourists who stopped to take pictures of the people eating and drinking in the garden of what looks just like a large private house. They probably thought we were all the idle rich, film stars, or whatever. Some of us looked the part -

You can see what I mean about the clientèle being quite young by the others in the background. Actually there were about seven or eight young people in that group and as two got up to leave one of the others said "It's nothing that a couple of articles in 'Hello' magazine couldn't cope with..."

To which another young man replied, "I'm more of a New Scientist person myself."

And the original speaker came back, in a beautifully languid upper class drawl with only slight Yorkshire undertones, "Well - each to his own, I suppose. Perhaps an article or two in that..."

Which left me fascinated at what might easily feature in both publications!

If you want to know more about Gray's Court, click here - and for what we ate - well just look here -

We'd started before I remembered to take a picture! That was a cheese platter and an antipasti platter - each one person sized! We shared the whole thing - and very, very good it all was too. In fact it kept us both going until about 11pm, when we sat in my car, at Heysham, and ate the salad and things we had bought ourselves in M&S.

So - anyone wanting to eat in great style in a York hidden gem (you'd need a car for Middlethorpe) we'd recommend either, and happily explain how to find them if needs be!

Tomorrow D-d sets off to travel all summer. I will try to distract myself with writing. I'll have to - I still haven't finished the Tolkien BigBang story and it's due in a couple of weeks or so! Still, it's at almost 16,000... I'm sure I'll make it. Well, pretty sure!

Current Mood: busy

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

From:

cairistiona7.livejournal.com

What fascinating places... I love that the 2nd place has part of the Roman Road in its cellar, according to the website. I think the food from the first place would suit me better than the food from the second--bacon and brie sound a wonderful combination.

Love the rabbit!

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Sunday Pics - mainly involving buildings, gardens and food... and a rabbit.

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