birthday celebrations

We started at the Cumbria end of the Wall and worked our way along, stopping at several historical sites along the way. In one day managed to enter Northumberland, stopping at Walltown Quarry and Vindoland Roman Fort & Museum.

If you want to see exactly where we went, along with photos and essential info for each place see The Hadrian’s Wall Adventure Part 1 and The Hadrian’s Wall Adventure Part 2.

Unfortunately not many people could make it on the day to share the experience. The Islands Exhibit was also rather disappointing.

But the well-established exhibits were great. My favourites were: the Elephants enclosure, the Butterfly house, the Giraffes, the Chimps, the Flamingos, the Lions, the speckled Bear and the Black Rhinos.

So instead Simon directed me to Astley Hall Park. It was a place that I had never been to before and is beautiful.

We had a walk around the park, stopping to take photos. Then we had coffee and cake in the on-site cafe.

It wasn’t exactly what I had in mind. No giant glass greenhouse. But the weather was sunny and warm and in its own way it was totally charming. The small park was filled with trees from across the world. I just wish there had been some sort of guide to what species the trees were and where in the world they had come from.

There was an unexpected aviary and a small yet delightful Victorian gardens. There was another cafe, so of course we stopped for coffee and cake.

Simon and I visited York and Knaresborough. York is architecturally splendid and has building from various times in its long history. We did visit The Shambles, but didn’t really buy much.

Probably the greatest thing about our visit is the fun we had together. We talked and laughed lots. Here are two photos of me being silly (click on any image for full size):

Me racing on a wooden sheep.

My arrival at Knaresborough Castle.