Castle Howard

Yesterday we went to Castle Howard--their Christmas market started this weekend!

We bought some lovely white chocolate & lemon shortbread and locally made raspberry & sloe gin

In the rose garden

The carriage house

The fall leaves are fantastic

I love intricate garden gates

Castle Howard

It's so fun to see these stately homes all done up for Christmas!

Even the statues are decked out with garlands

The Christmas tree in the great hall is 17 feet tall and the guide said it took 6 people to bring it in!

Richard's grandfather collected bronzes, and he had a chariot just like this one

Their exhibition on the First & Second World Wars was good--I liked the propaganda posters and this comic from a WWII-era issue of Punch

We both had what was described on the menu as a "hot turkey roll with stuffing, cranberry sauce and gravy"--it tasted great, but looks terrible here! It was swimming in gravy, so you had to eat it open-faced with a knife and fork. After lunch, we had tea & cake--I had my first mince pie of the season and Richard had a slice of Christmas cake.

We look so happy, all full of gravy, lol!

We took a walk around the grounds--it was chilly, but I love the fall leaves!

The Temple of the Four Winds

The view is just amazing--I can see why they built a folly on this side of the estate!

It started getting dark around 3, so we made our way back to the shops in the carriage house

The walled gardens are out of season at the moment, but they still had a vegetable patch going and a few things were still in bloom. 

We'll definitely come back in the summer when it's in full swing!

Temple Newsam Farm and Christkindelmarkt

Last weekend we went to Temple Newsam for lunch & to see the farm. I wasn't sure if there would be any baby animals this time of year. All of the spring lambs are grown now, but the calves & piglets were still new and cute!

I love how the babies look like a mini version of their mothers--we saw a white pair and three brown/white pairs.

Turkeys--they've got a few weeks longer to live over here, since we don't have Thanksgiving

Sandra and her piglets--these little guys were born on 11 November, so they're just six days old here!

The fall colors look great!

Last night we went to the Christkindelmarkt after work & swimming

Enjoying my "XXL Bratwurst"!

I look a little giddy here, but this mulled wine was my first drink of the night! We also had some boozy hot chocolate--mine was spiked with Bailey's and Richard's was spiked with rum. It was delicious!

Leeds Industrial Museum, Bonfire Night and the Light Switch-On

We're officially on the run-up to Christmas now, so it's been very busy lately! On November 5th, we had Bonfire Night, then on the 7th we had the Light-Switch On, on the 8th we went down to Birmingham, then on the 9th we had the Otley Beer Festival. The Leeds International Film Festival started on the 6th, too, but we didn't go to the opening night--it was "Gravity", and neither of us were really into it (past years have had great premieres--The King's Speech, The Men Who Stare at Goats, Argo, etc.)

The first weekend in November, we went to the Leeds Industrial Museum at Armley Mills

It was once the world's largest woollen mill!

It was so cold! I can't imagine having to work in the unheated, stone mill buildings--although if the mill had been operating, the body heat from other workers & the heat from the machines would help.

I always like to walk through the park in the morning of Guy Fawkes to see them setting up the bonfire. They build it out of dozens of wooden pallets.

The Bonfire in action

Watching the fireworks--left to right, Carly, Richard, Jenn and Kristina

At the Leeds Light Switch-On a couple of nights later

The music was mostly pop acts we'd never heard of (as usual), but they did have Gabriella Cilmi. Nice to see somebody we actually know and like!

On the bus out to Otley for the Beer Festival at the Rugby Club

The festival was one of the smallest and nicest we'd ever been to--good atmosphere, good selection of real ales (and, left to right above, Cider & Perry) and great food (pork pie & peas, bacon sandwiches, sausage sandwiches, jacket potatoes, etc.). And all of the proceeds go to local churches and charities--local businesses/people sponsor barrels and all of the staff are volunteers.