The Old School Coffee Shop, Grosmont

The final part of our weekend in north Yorkshire and one of the nicest bits - The Old School Coffee Shop in Grosmont, which is just up the path by the railway which leads to the engine sheds.
Who could resist a coffee stop in a place that had a sign like this

and this

and looked like this

and inside was this

and whose tables outside have these on them 

the coffee was delicious, complete with latte art

the seating outside was heaven for D

as he had a view of this

Do you get the idea I liked this place? Well I loved it. there were some lovely touches like the pop up tables we sat at by the wall,they and the chairs were just the right height to sit and watch the trains. There was a special area for dog owners with 3 bowls full of water so even the dogs could enjoy a coffee stop. The school yard had both sunny and shaded areas to sit, the shade being provided by pergolas planted with flowering climbers. I should also mention the cakes looked absolutely gorgeous and had we not had such a big breakfast half an hour before we would have certainly been sampling.

I've gone on and on about the coffee shop and not even said what we were doing up there in the first place (you can see what my priorities are!). Well D is a steam engine enthusiast, not that he is obsessed by it but where I could spend hours in a craft or vintage shop he is similar with steam engines and you can't go up to North Yorkshire and not visit the North Moors Railway so we had gone up to Grosmont.

If you've not been there it's not a big place but you get the impression that time has stood still especially when you see the Co-op

We walked up to the engine sheds through a tunnel built by George Stephenson

I took a picture of the ceiling on the vivid setting on the camera and it came out like this - amazing colours

D found the engine sheds a little disappointing but never the less enjoyed looking at the 'bits and pieces' around. I preferred looking at the railway cottages that we walked passed on the way back

Once back at the station a train that had just pulled in and we were able to savor the atmosphere complete with the smell of the smoke.

So that completes our weekend in Runswick Bay, I hope you have enjoyed it as much as we did. Come and visit me soon as I have still to tell you about my mad sewing project late last Friday which involved 3 tea towels. Till then have a lovely sunny day (it's sunny here and still very early) Anne xx

Runswick Bay

Yes I know 2 posts in one day, well I said today was a ME day so I really wanted to get up to date with all our doings as it's going to get busy for me during the next 10 days due extra work days, a sailing club open day, Chelsea flower show and GOING TO CORNWALL!!!! But before all that I really want to tell you about our holiday in the caravan at Runswick Bay. If you don't know where Runswick Bay is it's north of Whitby, between Sandsend and Staithes. It's a small village at the bottom of a very steep hill, which is fine when you go down but doesn't half work your calf muscles on the way back.

It's very pretty, with very little in the way of amenities apart from a pub (very nice) and cafe

(cafe on left of picture)

It seemed very much a 'holiday cottage' place, with lots of lovely cottages to rent

alleyways

and unexpected gardens

The bay sweeps right round

with the sailing club on the beach. D enjoyed watching the racing taking place.

and some amazing rock formations with gorgeous colours in them

and patterns on them

There were rock pools, perfectly round due I think to some sort of drilling (D found out why they were like that so I'll update when he's in and can tell me)

and pebble sculptures

(In case you were wondering about the bright colours I was experimenting with the vivid setting on my camera)

We had a lovely walk along the beach when the tide was out on our last day, finishing up at the cafe for an ice cream.

We had our caravan at Runswick Bay Caravan and Camping site which was at the top of the bay with access to the Cleveland Way. Here we are

Can you see our car through the gap in the hedge? that was the way onto the Cleveland way and from the van we could just see the sea looking through it.

We walked from the site to Staithes on our first day.

 Passed Port Mulgrave

which owes it's existence to the ironstone mining industry of the mid nineteenth century. 

The fields around were alight with yellow rapeseed flowers

When you get to Staithes it's a walk down into the bottom (and hard going back up)

But at the bottom quite a pretty village, with a working harbour and more amenities.

I just loved the way this driftwood had been used

and the pile of lobster pots near the lifeboat station

It was our wedding anniversary that day so back at the van a treat for tea was in order, steak diane enjoyed with a bottle of gorgeous Urbina rioja - perfect

Now I still have to tell and recommend to you a lovely, lovely tea shop in Goathland and show you a picture of the bedroom end of our van that I re-vamped, but I'll save that for later. Till then bye x

A night out with ?

Well friends here I am, today is my day for ME and only me. I've been tied up organising a WI event (more another time) that I've had no time for 'me' whilst at home and when I did have time when we were away I had no internet access to bring you up to date with life @ number 6 so I'm going to take you back to  Christmas Day when I received this from D

How exciting but oh such a long time to wait. So many things have happened since then that I'd almost forgotten about it, although the voucher has been sat on my kitchen window sill for the last 4 months. However like with many things it was suddenly there. The baking friend was my very good friend A from Nottingham, who arrived during the afternoon. Off we went into Sheffield, treating ourselves to tea out in Leopold Square at Zizzi and before making our way to the City Hall. We found that we had seats very near the front so were going to get a good view. As you might imagine the place was mainly full of women, some of which had already had the odd drink judging by the ooos and ahhhs and comments which were being shouted out. If you think about it there are lots of innuendos associated with baking and they were not going to let Paul get away with anything. But back to the man himself, well I have to confess to being a little disappointed with show. He started by making pastry and turning it into an apple pie, showing a couple of ways to decorate the top. Looking around at the people there and bearing in mind that most would be there because they baked and were interested in improving their knowledge, an apple pie which they have probably made many times is not going improve it. He went onto to make a black forest gateau, again I guess looking at the ages round us many would have 'been there, done that'. Second half he made a Cypriot bread, that was interesting and then a wholemeal loaf with seeds in, which if you have his book and make bread you would have probably made. So a little disappointing. He told a lot of tales about Mary Berry, but I would have liked to know about the background to the Bake-off and heard stories about that, successes and disasters, do the contestants have talks on how to use the Kitchenaids and the other contraptions that they may not have at home and get chance to practice using them and the ovens before the contest. Despite him being a little disappointing A and I had an enjoyable few hours together and for me it was the start of the May Day bank holiday as the next day we were off to Runswick Bay, but more of that in the next post.

I'm still here!!

Very, very quick post to say I'm still here. We had a lovely time away last weekend in our caravan so I've some nice pictures to show. I can't stay long today as I am in charge of organising the Centenary Baton event for our WI so am just about to pack the car and get up to the Community Center.Tomorrow is going to be a 'ME' day and bringing you up to date with Life @ number 6 is a main priority so I'll catch up with you then.
Bye for now. L Anne x

Laptop back = dissertation finished, printed and bound!!

I've got my laptop back!! J's dissertation is finished, printed, bound and ready to hand in tomorrow - thank goodness. We weren't involved with C or B's, in fact not sure B did one, so didn't go through the stressful last days. Anyway all done and he's back at Loughborough with just his finals to do, guess it will go quick for him.
So what have I been doing in the meantime? well, when D and I were away in our caravan we talked about how we could bring some colour into it. (I do wonder about caravan designers and how they choose the furnishings because to my mind they are usually so bland) Having noticed Kate's van from Just Pootling I thought we could do something similar. Here is our 'bedroom' area before

all very pleasant, but not really any wow factor. I decided a trip to Dunelm was called for and I returned with this - I do like spots.

The headboard was easy to do, just a case of re-covering on top of the old fabric. The curtains didn't take very long either, even lining them. I still had some fabric left so a quick trip to where the van is stored to get some cushions and we now have a lovely bright bed area. What do you think?

I am so pleased with how it looks, so much brighter, and can't wait to go away in it this weekend. So thank you Kate for your inspiration.

I've also been doing a bit of baking - no surprise there, but I did remember to take some pics as I went along. We had an unexpected visitor last week which was a good excuse to make a Greek Halva cake. It's one I have often done at Easter but as we were on our own this year I didn't bother. Here it is finished

and here is how you make it

You'll need

100gr butter

100gr caster sugar

finely grated rind of 1 orange and 1 lemon

2 beaten eggs

175gr semolina

1tsp baking powder

90gr ground hazelnuts or almonds - I actually mixed chopped nuts from Asda which are chopped finely

For the decoration

1 orange, lime and lemon

225gr caster sugar

1 cinnamon stick

12 cloves

Beat butter and sugar till light and fluffy. Stir in orange and lemon rinds, eggs, semolina, baking powder and ground nuts or chopped nuts.

Put in a lined 18cm square tin and bake in 220oC oven till just firm.

For the topping pare strips of rind from fruit, taking care not to include any white pith.

Squeeze the juice into measuring jug and make up to 300ml with water.

Place liquid with sugar and spices in a heavy based pan and heat gently, stirring until the sugar dissolves, then bring to the boil. Add the prepared orange and lemon rinds and cook for 3 mins, then add the lime rind and cook for 1 min.

Remove the rind and spices with a slotted spoon and arrange over the cooked cake. Pour over half syrup. Boil the remaining syrup for 2 mins till a little thicker and then spoon over the cake.

I like to serve it with creme fraiche as a pudding. It keeps quite well although generally it doesn't last long in our house.

Unfortunately I'm going to have to say goodbye as I've just looked at the clock and realised I'm due at work shortly and need to get some lunch before I go. Must just mention that I am off to see Paul Hollywood on Thursday night (my Christmas present from D) with my best friend A, can't wait! L A xx

Laptop commandeered!

Just to let you know I've not forgotten about you all, it's just J is on the last leg of his dissertation, he and D are proof reading it and so are using 2 lap tops in tandem, one of which is mine. It is all but done so I hope to be able to tell you what I've been up to tomorrow, so see you then xx