Final week in England, travelling through Lancashire, Yorkshire & back to Hampshire

The past couple of months have literally flown by and before this year comes to an end I really want to share a last few highlights from my special visit to the UK with my youngest daughter, Alice.

I made a photograph book for my folks, which my Mum especially treasures, as sadly she has Alzheimer’s disease. Though she’s physically able, she lives ‘in the moment’, and has difficulty making new memories – so photograph books are at least a way we can all hold onto the memories, along with the cherished ones in our hearts.

Here’s some snapshots of our last week together…

Having left the Lake District, where we’d spent three wonderful nights and days exploring, walking, taking scenic boat cruises and visiting the home of Beatrix Potter, we travelled onto Lancashire, with a visit to the home of cheese making – the Wensleydale Creamery! It was a fun (and tasty!) place to visit. We really enjoyed the ‘Yorkshire Wensleydale Cheese Experience‘ which took us on a journey through the art of cheese-making with hands-on games and activities.

We then travelled on to Colne, where my parents-in-law and sister-in-law and family live. We went out for a lovely meal with them, to celebrate my Dad’s 70th, and they surprised him at the end of the evening with spectacular cup-cakes that literally exploded in front of him!

The next day we headed to Scarborough, where we’d spend the last two nights of our travels. We spent most of the day visiting the city of York, where we enjoyed a scrumptious lunch at the historic ‘Betty’s Tea-rooms‘.

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We arrived in Scarborough with plenty of the day left to take a stroll down to the beach. We arrived when the tide was out and Alice ran down onto the beach to enjoy the feeling of sand between her toes. Within about half an hour the tide started to come in and we were surprised by the size and speed of the incoming tide, taking up all the beach at full tide.

Later in the evening we visited another beach and enjoyed playing on the arcade games.

A particular highlight of Alice’s visit were the incredibly tame squirrels in the park near where we stayed.

On the second day of our visit to Scarborough we took Alice for a ride on a steam train, visiting the location where they filmed ‘Heartbeat’, Goathland. Alice was interested to learn that the Goathland train station was used in the first Harry Potter movie – represented in the film as the bewitching ‘Hogsmeade Station’.

Whilst in Scarborough we also enjoyed a final chance to see my sister and her friend Pam, before we drove back down to my parent’s home in Hampshire.