Quite out of the Everyday

March is a month for having house guests for our family, which has been a delight in so many ways.  Here's a list of 5 out of the ordinary things having guests from home with us for the past two weeks has added to our lives.

1.  I went to Betty's twice!

If you come visit us and you want to do something very English, I'll probably take you to Betty's.  I took Seth and Lua, and then we had a girls' outing to celebrate their marriage and ostensibly to give some good advice on marriage to Lua.  All she walked away with was "to kiss a lot," but I think that should serve her well, right?

Your tea will come in a perfect pot with both white and brown sugar cubes, and you will feel very proper.  Ella highly recommends the Fondant Fancy.

2.  I visited York twice in one week.

This post is highlighting the things we like to do with guests.  If you go with me, as Seth and Lua did, you'll get the second-hand bookshop tour.

If you go with K.J., you'll get a little more focus on the York Minster and spend more time on the city walls.  I'm a fan of those places, too.

3.  I went out for dinner!

We very rarely, i.e. almost never go out to eat.  It's just never been something we do very often, and we've done it even less since moving to North Yorkshire.  We're slowly learning good places to go when the occasion arises.

4.  I photographed a bride.

I love this new friend.

5.  I went on a road trip to Wales.

This is the view from where we're staying.  Isn't it so peaceful?  It's been quite windy at times, but the sun has shone all day long today, and it's been so lovely.

I hope March has held some out of the ordinary events for you, too.

A Summer Afternoon in the Garden

It has been nearly two months since we went on this outing to Harlow Carr Gardens in nearby Harrogate, but we had such a lovely afternoon, and the flowers were so beautiful I still wanted to share the pictures.

Our friend Sue, whom we met at Grace Church, invited the kids and I to visit with her as she is a member of the Royal Horticultural Society who now operate Harlow Carr.  We enjoyed spending time with her and hearing more about her growing-up years in the area and then being sent to school in Wales.

I love how all the places we visit have activities for the kids.  It turns walking into an adventure, which it should be anyway.

June was the month of the buttercups.  One of the things I've learned about England this year is that every season, and sometimes every month, has the blooming of a particular flower associated with it, and depending on the season, those flowers are just EVERYWHERE.

The gardens had Adventure playgrounds scattered throughout, which the kids absolutely loved.  There were lots of balancing and climbing activities.  We've been to more exciting and well thought out playgrounds in the last few months than ever before in our lives.

A sunny day is always a good day.

James loved working on his balancing skills at the treehouse playground.

We were walking back to the tearoom for refreshments when the kids spotted another playground and couldn't pass it by without taking it for a spin.

I think they were racing through an obstacle course in the above picture.

I'm glad we stopped because I noticed some pretty light and a field of buttercups while we watched the kids play, so we took advantage of it for some silly photos.  At least, James was silly.

Sue treated us to Betty's, which was a treat indeed.

It was probably one of our nicest summer weather days; we just didn't know it!

Throwback Thursday: Betty's with T and Ella

I know it's been a month since they've left, but I've got to record these memories for our family!

All of my pictures from our Afternoon Tea were taken with my iPhone, because after being sick the first part of KJ's parents' visit, I was ready to relax and enjoy myself and not tote my heavy camera around. Betty's is one of those famous places in Yorkshire (and beyond, I'm sure!) that I hadn't been to yet, but I knew it would be the perfect place for the girls to do something traditionally and beautifully English.  In looking up that link for you I saw the home page said they delivered all of those beautiful treats right to your door.  I shouldn't have seen that.

Ella ordered this beautiful hot chocolate that she didn't end up loving because it was dark chocolate and being young she prefers milk chocolate, of course.  I helped her finish it off because I am a helpful mother.

Really, could it be any lovelier?  All of the tea accoutrements are real silver, and the little milk jug is chilled, and the sugar cubes are huge in comparison to the size of the teacups, so your tea is extra sweet if you choose to use one.

Happiness is being presented with pastries for lunch because your grandmother is visiting, and it's a special occasion.  I am really missing all of the different braids Ella wore while T was in town.

Both T and I ordered the afternoon tea, which we ate from the bottom up.  There was an egg salad sandwich, ham, chicken, and I can't quite remember the fourth.  Then that scone with bread and jam, which was divine.  It ended on a gorgeous high note with fruit tart, a macaron, and some sort of chocolate dessert.  When I reached up to take off the "Betty's" sign, I thought it would be a little plastic décor, but no, it was chocolate.  That was a fun surprise.

There are a few different locations you can visit Betty's, and the one we went to overlooks Harlow Carr Gardens.  After our repast we really enjoyed our time in the garden center, and T bought me some lovely flowers and plants, which so far I'm managing to keep alive.

I hope I manage to keep the hydrangea alive through the winter, because it was the most beautiful plant.  It was a girls' day out to remember.