Detour to Ripley Castle.

 12th June. (no internet at the campsite, hence a day late)

 Instead of going directly to Settle today a slight detour was made. Destination Ripley Castle and Gardens. Well you know us and our historic places, this was in the English Heritage book so made sense to us to visit.

As we showed the Heritage cards at the desk, we were told to make our way hastily to the castle entrance as the next tour started in 2 minutes! It was but a short walk, thankfully, and the guide was patiently waiting at the door.

Inside was a typical Georgian entrance hall and looking directly at me, mentioned the 'no photography' rule. Apparently, this place is still lived in by the Ingilby family and has belonged to the same family for 26 generations over 700 years. Impressive or what? Anyway, plenty of the family paintings were on show and the three rooms shown downstairs were all nicely laid out with Georgian furniture. Ushered upstairs and a different story altogether. Here the rooms were all in the Tudor style, ceilings and floor typical of the era including some furniture. A Boar's head adorns the walls and is the family crest of the Ingilbys. There is a story as to how the first Ingilby came to have the boar head as their family crest. In 1357 Sir Thomas Ingilby saved Edward 111 from being gored by a boar on a hunting expedition in Knaresborough forest. For saving his life he was immediately awarded a knighthood and given the boar as the family crest. Several ghosts are also in residence. Click HERE for the story

This statue was outside the church

The grounds were impressive with several lakes leading from one to the other. The walled garden had huge glass-covered hothouse with an array of tropical plants inside. A very welcoming blast of hot air as we opened the door. I ask you, here we are nearly mid-June and the temperature outside was a disappointing 14 degrees!

We left after a coffee and refrained from having cake because waiting for us in MB was the Banana loaf Ian made before we left on Monday. It was too delicious to allow it to sit and not be eaten, unfortunately, we have a habit of buying lunch out and by the time dinner was eaten, the cake was forgotten. This time I put my foot down and gave him one of my looks before he had the chance to pick one out.

The trip to Settle was longer than expected. The A65 was closed on the approach to Skipton so we had to go via  Grassington along the narrow roads through the moors. Still, we made it unscathed reaching Cold Conniston and booked into Pot Haw Farm for two nights. 

Weather looks to be okay for the morning, tomorrow, although rain is forecast mid afternoon. This time I feel sure the Bird of Prey experience will go ahead.

And wildlife