Wensleydale & Tan the Lamb

Our day trips through North Yorkshire continued today as we went as far north as the border to Durham, the neighboring county to Yorkshire. Fear not, we did not pass into dirty Geordie land.

We had a slow start this morning having stayed out last night for a few drinks in the pub two doors down the road to the left, The King William. Funny thing about pubs in the countryside is they don’t really have closing times. They close when they want to, or when the final punter has left. Unlike pubs we’ve been to so far in Sheffield that close at 11pm.

There are three pubs in Brompton-on-Swale. The other two are The Farmers Arms, 10-15 minutes walk down the road, and The Crown which is two doors to the right. Two of those three are, quite literally, within a stones throw!

We stopped briefly in the village of Bainbridge and at the River Bain – the shortest river in the country.

Then it was onto Hawes (as in ‘Whores’) which was a busy little town. It is in the area of Wensleydale and the home of Wensleydale Cheese! Any Wallace & Grommit fans reading this will appreciate the offer of being able to sample Wensleydale cheese for lunch was too good to turn down. As you can see; Sheryl was over the moon about it.



Actually the picture above was taken at the Buttertubs which is an odd little drop off sort of cliff created by streaming water. At this stage we were out of the villages and into the rugged countryside terrain of North Yorkshire – populated by many a stray lamb.

It was here that we came across the Tan Hill Inn – the highest pub in England at 1732 feet above sea level. We popped in for a drink and despite the fact it appears to be in the middle of nowhere it was really busy. Not only were the views quite spectacular but we were also able to buy a packet of Mature Cheddar & Onion flavoured crisps to feed to the Tan Hill Inn lamb - the friendly wooly creature that loiters frequently about the car-park.



We stopped off in Reeth for an ice-cream (see below) before heading home again. As you can probably tell by the pictures it was another great day for the weather – clear blue skies and temperatures rising each day.

My Grand-dad cooked up some fresh fish n chips for dinner. Another item off the check list today for Sheryl was mushy peas! My Grand-dad worked in a fish n chip shop from the age of 14 until he retired at 60 – he knows what he’s doing when it comes to this fine English delicacy!