Rievaulx

Even in the rain, Rievaulx Abbey is still a lovely place to visit. There's atmospheric ruins to scramble about over (our favourite game was 'spot the fireplace'), a small exhibition about the lives of the monks (M was fascinated by the information about all the animals they kept) and a pretty good tea shop. It's all very low key, which together with the drizzle, made for a very English day out.

Derwent valley explorations

Stage 2: Rowlands Gill to Hamsterley Mill and back (about 4.5 miles), still on the path of the old railway. We crossed two amazing viaducts, met some very nice, inquisitive horses, saw lots of butterflies, and generally had a lovely time. No garlic in this section (the bit between Swalwell and Rowlands Gill is plastered with the wild stuff), which M was very pleased about.

Book review: Annabel's Kitchen

I was sent an Annabel Karmel cookbook to review a couple of weeks ago by the lovely people at Random House. It's the newest in her extensive series (you might remember I went to the launch of the Top 100 Pasta Dishes last year, which turned out to be a really useful compendium of family recipes).

Annabel's Kitchen: My first cookbook ties in with a TV series of the same name, currently running on ITV. We aren't big TV watchers, so I must confess we've not seen the programme - and to be honest, I'm not sure the book works very well without it. Out of context, it's all a bit over-the-top 1980s zany, with some very stagy photographs, whereas it might make a bit more sense if you'd seen what went on in the studio.

The idea's great - "discover the importance of food and its ingredients" - and as a cookbook for kids, the recipes are nice enough, but the emphasis on turning your food into animals, faces or whatever does pall after a while. I might be turning into a grumpy middle-aged lady, but food's far too important to mess about with. The pig melon (p72) has to be seen to be believed (although anything that gets fruit/vegetables into small children should be applauded, I suppose, and if you were making it as a one-off for a party, it might be worth it).

But for me, it doesn't hit the spot. The book's not simple enough for the age group targeted by the programme to read/engage with/use - there's a lot of recipes, a lot of small text if you've got a just-starting-to-read small person, and not quite enough step-by-step pictures. If you're a bit older, you'll probably be turned off by all the penguin shenanigans (and anyway, should really be using the bible of children's cookbooks, the River Cottage Family Cookbook).

Sorry Annabel. Better luck next time, in this household at least.

In which the tomato plants continue to take over the world...

Annoyingly, M's tomato plants are still far larger than mine. Humph.

In other news, the new planter is ready, so the beans are off shortly to a new home. Bet you never knew there could be such excitement in the world of gardening...

Galena galore

We've had a fantastic day out today searching for rocks in the middle of the North Pennines, miles from anywhere. The Killhope Lead Mining Museum is a bit of a drive from Newcastle - about an hour and a half - but you pass miles upon miles of moorland (complete with very cute lambs and sheep) as the A689 road wriggles higher and higher up the valley towards Alston.

Once you've arrived, there's plenty to do. We liked the little exhibition about 'spar boxes' and minerals, and loved the reconstruction of the 'mine shop' where the miners lived during the week. There's a huge water wheel which drives working machinery - and best of all, there's the washer yard where kids can have a go at looking for galena (silvery lead ore) and minerals. There was much enthusiastic washing and hammering of stones going on!

We didn't tour the mine today (I hate the dark and get claustraphobic underground, M's probably a bit small yet), but probably will at a later date - once you've bought a ticket for entry, it's valid for a whole year.

We did have a good wander round in the woodland, though, tracing the paths of the water down to the water wheel. There were no red squirrels to be seen, sadly, but there's always next time...

More cycling

Today we pootled along a section of the Derwent Walk Country Park, which is about 20 minutes' drive from where we live. Two miles out of Swalwell along the Derwent Walk, there's a huge viaduct (the Nine Arches), with gorgeous views down the valley to Gibside and its Column of Liberty. You can see the Column in the picture here, nicely camouflaged by lots of twigs:


Here's the troops looking slightly restive at the halfway point, and needing their tea:

Our next challenge is to go all the way along the path to Rowlands Gill. A promise of a reward has been issued: ice cream at the National Trust tea room...

Cycle trip!

It's amazing what you can fit on the back of an Audi A2. Not content with towing the folding caravan, we've now got a bike rack that goes on the towbar (we've had bikes on the roof, but sadly that's too tall for the ferry over to Denmark this summer).

We rode in Sunderland today, along the river from the National Glass Centre, which is part of the C2C. It's not a bad path - apart from the odd scattering of broken glass - which takes you past some weird and wonderful remnants of industrial architecture. We liked the giant hamster wheel:

There's some interesting stuff to look at (and a very interesting smell), but it's not as nice as the route along Newcastle's quayside. Apart from anything else, I'd feel safe trundling along the Quayside on my own, and probably wouldn't along the more deserted stretches of the Wear.

Belsay

It was sunny and warm today so we trundled off to Belsay again - this time for an egg hunt rather than a fairy trail, and a picnic (the second this week!). The egg hunt was fun - there were lots of letters hidden in the gardens, which then had to be made into two words (Easter-related, not surprisingly).

We had a picnic at the castle, and then climbed the winding steps to the roof. I don't remember going out there before - it's probably been too cold and windy the other times we've been! There's a great view across the valley, and some rather good turrets.

The Quarry Garden was as beautiful as ever - last time it was snowdrops, this time it was lime green ferns and pink, white and red rhododendrons:

All in all, a top day out. More like this please.

Bluebells

We headed to the bluebell woods in Durham today, for some general larking about and a picnic.

It was beautiful - huge carpets of bluebells, and sheets of sunshine dripping through the trees.

And some small children competing to see who had the tallest stick...

It's amazing what will keep small children amused in the Easter holidays...

Gardening

We have gone slightly vegetable mad in the garden at the moment. I've planted what feels like nine million red onions, lots of salad/beetroot/radishes, potatoes, some sweetcorn (which may be a tad optimistic, in Gateshead) and several punnets-worth of strawberries. This year I've decided not to do the allotment, hence our new range of pots:




Excitingly, there's a new planter under construction, which is going to be perfect for the various beans (french, borlotti, runner) which are currently invading the living room.


It's rather sad to have to give up on the idea of the allotment. But I just don't have the time - hopefully it will be much easier to spend 10 minutes each evening pottering about in the garden, rather than feeling permanently guilty that I've only been to the allotment for an hour all week. I've already planted more things than I did in all of last year - not having to weed makes such a difference. Now all I need is for the slugs to steer well clear of all this food!

Child and cat in perfect harmony

Story time

How to keep your five-year-old amused in the back of the car on a long-distance journey - make them write you a story:

"Sparkle town is...a cat town!
This cat is a Manx cat. He is looking at a flower. The sun is out and it is shining."

Am liking the detail...

It's very cold in Sweden

I had a work-related trip to Stockholm yesterday (it's not often I get to say that). It's an amazing place - but absolutely freezing still. There are a few signs of spring (crocus flowers were just peeking out in a few places), but here's the view from one of the bridges across to Gamla Stan - look at all the ice!

You could see all the frozen lakes/waterways from the plane on the way in, too - with a few channels through for the ferries.

Anyway, I had a good wander about central Stockholm for an hour in the sunshine, but then got too cold and had to retire to a cafe for coffee and cinammon buns. I've decided they might be the best bit about Sweden. I might have to make an emergency trip to IKEA for some more...

Ta-da!

Here's our pinhole camera image in all its glory - the streaks are the sun as it's moved across the sky over the last three months. You can see our back lane (and lamppost) quite clearly (our camera was fixed to the corner of our balcony). There used to be a few specks of mould, but they've been taken out in Photoshop.

Very impressed - it was just a beer can containing black and white photographic paper, with a teeny-tiny pinhole. Even more impressive, it was developed using a scanner (see www.pinholephotography.org for more info).

Maker Faire 2011

We've been at the madness which is Maker Faire UK today. Robots, knitted neurons, firebreathing dragons, and more craft/tech nonsense than you can shake a stick at. It was fabulous - inspiring, creative and completely potty.

Here's Orb and M making a rocket:

And here's Captain Jack with the finished product: Thunderbird 27

More pictures to follow, including some amazing long exposures of us dancing with glow-in-the-dark bracelets/swords etc and the image that was developed from our pinhole camera!

Alnwick Garden

We visited the Alnwick Garden last Saturday, as it's free until the end of March. Sadly, the fountains weren't switched on, but the garden was as beautiful as ever...and mostly deserted.

The cherry orchard. The bulbs are just starting to poke their leaves above the ground - in a month or so, it'll be gorgeous.

The walled garden was very peaceful, and surprisingly warm in the sunshine. I loved these tiny irises, which were nestled in close to the box hedges:

Cereal days

You may remember our views on breakfast - the three of us are big consumers of homemade marmalade, peanut butter and Marmite, and get through more toast in one sitting than a large toast-eating creature.

So it was quite interesting to be asked to roadtest some cereal recently - the new Superfruity brand from Shredded Wheat. I have to admit that I'm a fan of the plain, mini Shredded Wheats with lots of milk and a handful of raisins. But I've never really successfully got them into the small person - she's usually too busy eating granola and yoghurt or yet more toast. We were sent both boxes - the blackberry, blackcurrant and blueberry, and raspberry, strawberry and cranberry varieties.

And I have to report, that they're a success, for the small person at least. She's hooked on the raspberry/strawberry/cranberry variety (blackberry/blackcurrant/blueberry got the thumbs down), and has demanded them for the last week. As for me - I'm undecided. A bowlful is a bit much (they're quite sweet), but mixed in with the original variety, they're not bad. And it makes a change from toast...

Spring planting

It's probably a bit early, but we couldn't wait any longer...

The rain in North Yorkshire...falls mainly on Whitby

It was a rather cold, wet and gloomy day in Whitby on Saturday. As we arrived, the rain was lashing down along the seafront, making all the bucket and spade shops look a bit bedraggled. I do like the 'kiss me quick' end of Whitby - the bit with the amusement arcades, ice cream shops and winkle stalls - but it did all look a bit damp.

Luckily, Whitby's absolutely stacked with fish and chip restaurants, so we found a nice one and ensconced ourselves with fish, chips, mushy peas and the obligatory cup of tea. There's something very comforting about sitting in a cafe with steamed up windows on a rainy day, I always think.

But Whitby's always fun, even in the rain. We saw umpteen gothic shops, walked past the very entertaining Dracula Experience, and found the best sweet shop in the world at the bottom of the Abbey steps (we can heartily recommend the chocolate fudge).

The sun finally appeared for 10 minutes later on in the afternoon - here's the playground up by the art gallery/museum, where we made the most of the non-deluge.

Budget for the day: £1.60 on fudge. We were taken out for lunch for the fish and chips - yeay!