We had a day off from walking here in Kettlewell, time to roam around this small hamlet on the River Wharfe, in Wharfedale, in Yorkshire National Park. We enjoyed a very civilized and relaxing day, exploring the old stone buildings and church, having a simple lunch in Zarina’s Tea Room, and waiting for that time when our hotel internet connection might actually work. The owner shuts it off in the evening until 2PM the following day because his workers would otherwise be taking all of his bandwidth…. A likely story, there isn’t much bandwidth in the best of times, and what about the guest’s access? Our hotel room has a nice view down to the junction of the small roads in the center of the village, we can see the peaceful setting under a stormy sky with clouds flying by over the hills.
She said:
May 24, 2011
A wonderful relaxing day of rest at Racehorses Hotel in Kettlewell. Rain and a bit of hail this morning, but we were (and are) happily warm and dry in our nice room overlooking a stone bridge and the quaint stone houses of Kettlewell village.
Breakfast this morning was served by our young, Peruvian (!) waitress.
We poked around the village and found the shop we’ll stop at tomorrow morning on our way out of town (for our sandwiches), the Post Office, and an excellent Tea Shop that had a fire going so we sat down and had lunch and tea (R had cappuccino.) Especially delicious is a cake called a Bakewell Cake that I’d seen in many shops before but had never tried. It has a dense, buttery crust and is filled with moist cake, some jam and pineapples – all topped off with a thick, sugar icing. With a pot of tea next to a warm fire – doesn’t get much better than that (except for the foot rub R gave me the other night after our 15 mile trek.)
To Murry, John and Linny:
Many things here in Yorkshire are reminding me of our childhood home in CT –
- Horse Chestnut trees in beautiful, full bloom. The flowers are large and fragrant. The trees are huge and majestic. I think our tree on Workman Ave. had an owl living in it.
- Rhubarb grows wild in places here. I remember taking a Dixie cup with sugar out to the back yard, yanking out a stalk of rhubarb from our plant, dunking it in the sugar and taking a bite. Do you? The thought of it makes me salivate, even now. Sweet and tart together.
- Peonies. This morning, in the local village churchyard garden, I came upon red peonies (I took a picture.) I remember Mommy’s pink peonies along the side of the house.
The church had some interesting stained glass windows. Two were dedicated to local sons who had died in WWII. One window had St. George and one soldier, in uniform, beside him. Another window showed Jesus in the middle, two soldier friends of the deceased on either side, and a folded pile of the dead soldier’s uniform at Jesus’ feet. All in stained glass. Weird but moving. The church graveyards are also always full of the dead from WWI and WWII – those wars must have devastated small villages like these.
We also found a “Thompson Mouse” carved into a wood frame up and away near the front alter. A guy in the Tea Room (on holiday w/his wife, renting a cottage in the village) was a stone mason who has worked on many of the small village churches in the Dales. We told him about the mouse and he told us the “Thompson Mouse” legend. The original Thompson carpenters started carving the mice as a bit of a sweet joke, but the mice are now searched for by many. This guy had a book on where to find them! He was thrilled to find others who were interested. He said the Thompson Furniture Makers still exist, with a huge backlog of ordered furniture as they are known for their fine workmanship, as well as their historic mice. Now, every church in the Dales we go into, I’ll join those searching for hidden Thompson mice.
Tomorrow we’re off to Nethergill Farm, 11 miles away through the beautiful Yorkshire Dales. Weather prospects are sunny and clear!
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