England Continued

Our motto for our trip through England was as follows...

...meat pies, that is.  The food in England is not my fave, but they have perfected the pot pie - that's for sure!  After a couple of days in London, we headed North to York.  Our first stop was the amazing York Minster.

It was pretty great and spacious.  The kids absolutely loved exploring in this place.  They had little detective kits for each of them with all kinds of tools - a flashlight, magnifying glass, binaculars, etc.  ...all to help them on their scavenger hunt throughout York Minster.

Walking around York was a lot of fun.  It was small and village-like with almost no other tourists.

Next we ventured to what felt like the middle of nowhere to see Ryan's favorite site on the trip - Fountains Abbey.  It was pretty incredible and I took loads of pictures.  I kept imagining some sort of event here - wedding reception, fancy party, etc.  Apparently they do have quite a few weddings here.

Everything was so green and pretty.  We were extra fortunate to have no rain that day so we could really enjoy hiking in and around the abbey.  We also visited this indoor portion, a former estate if I'm remembering correctly.

We continued on our drive to Durham, where we stayed in this tiny apartment above a pub.  It felt a little sketchy at first, but it was clean and they set up extra beds for us.  I left feeling very legit - staying in an apartment above a pub as you road trip through England sounds very authentic, doesn't it?

The streets of Durham were clean and neat...

...and we even found some evidence of our heritage...

We stopped in Durham mostly to see the Durham cathedral...

...but there were a few other sights near the University that were also worth taking in...

Next we drove and drove and drove some more.  We passed field after field after field of sheep and this yellow stuff which we learned later is rape seed (used to make rape seed oil I guess...seems like they could come up with a better name for it).  Anyway, the fields of yellow were really beautiful...

We wanted to see at least one of the sites of Roman ruins that are scattered across England.  Luckily we found a site on the route we were taking, so we stopped for a quick tour.  It was fun for the kids to be the only ones there - they could wander and explore while listening to the history of it on the recording we were given.  These were also in the middle of nowhere - completely surrounded by fields of sheep and farmland.  Apparently there are believed to be a lot more Roman ruins hidden beneath all of that surrounding farmland.  Pretty neat...

This is a look at Hadrian's wall - another Roman ruin that sort of divides England and Scotland.  Also of note, as we were driving in the middle of the countryside, what do we spot but a Dutch license plate!  The driver nearly ran us off the road so she could roll down her window and excitedly speak Dutch to us.  I think she was a little disappointed by our lack of fluency.  Dutch people love to travel. One of our Dutch friends jokes that no matter where he goes in the world, he always sees at least one Dutch person or hears someone speaking Dutch on his trips.  He always says "I came here to get away from you people" which is exactly what I was thinking when that Dutch driver flagged us down.  Haha.

Next stop, Bamburgh Castle.  This castle was right on the water and although the weather was rainy and dreary, it was really amazing.  The first shot is the kids hiking up to the main castle, next is the view of the sea looking down from the castle grounds...

But here is what the castle looks like on a clear day, and this gives a much better idea of just how amazing it was...

To keep it real, what I really remember about this castle is the colossal tantrums that were thrown there.  I suppose seeing castle after castle in England calls for a royal tantrum once in a while.  Luckily, there were some nice distractions.  The kids tried to experience what it was like growing up here by playing children's games from centuries past...

All that rain and hiking called for a sit-down indoors.  After trying to find a table at a few restaurants that were not so kid friendly, we finally ended up eating some traditional fare at another pub.

Next was the memorable Lindisfarne Castle.  This one is tricky to visit, because you have to time your visit based on the tide schedule.  The castle is in a little village surrounded by water and one highway.  That highway -  the only road in or out of the village -  becomes completely covered by water during high tide.  Waiting for the tide to go down and the highway to dry out requires patience - something that both my husband and children are still working on (not me though, I don't know what their problem is).  So here are a few dark shots of us driving over a partially covered highway because we just can't wait any longer...

And here is Lindisfarne Castle, a mini Mont St. Michel a la France...

This sunset was the perfect end to another adventure packed day in England...