Hinchliffe's, Castle Hill and a Birthday Boy.

Today was a good day.  It doesn't seem to happen very often that we all are able to go out for the day together.  Usually somebody will have other plans or Caroline or Trev will be working.  But today everybody was able so we made plans for an outing and also it just happened to be William's birthday.

Our first idea was to go to Dovestones Reservoir for a good walk and to take a picnic but that idea was spoiled by it raining this morning.  Caroline came up with Hinchliffe's Farm Shop and Restaurant in Huddersfiled and that's where we ended up. 

In the picture above you see the birthday boy with Nicholas in the farm shop and just behind them are Gary and Victoria.

 

Hinchliffe's is also a working farm set in beautiful countryside.  There are a few different animals and chickens etc. for the kids to see.   Notice no rain, it seems we had left it behind us.

We all enjoyed a drink and a cake on the veranda.  I had the carrot cake, it was delicious. In the background at the top of the picture you can see a little monument sitting up on the top of a hill, that's where we went next.

Caroline and her family on that tower.  The place is Castle Hill, and this rather big monument is Victoria Tower built to commemorate Queen Victoria's 60th year on the throne.

Gary parading as The Angel of the North or about to take off.  Let me tell you, it was windy up there.  Very fresh!

There were fantastic 360 degree panoramic views.

The boys had a great time looking for rabbits.  George insisted his name wasn't Alice though.

Nicholas fell head first down a hill and hurt his leg.  He couldn't walk so well after that and did a lot of hopping about.

 

Aaaand, wonder of wonders, I got a picture of all of us together!  Okay it's not fantastic but just when I needed somebody to walk by so that I could ask them to take our picture nobody did.  However I had my camera remote control with me but was there a wall or a bench close-by to rest the camera on, no!  The only place I could find to rest the camera was on a bumpy little hillock.  I was desperate not to miss this opportunity, so I set it up, we all crouched down and hoped for the best. This is the photo I got.  Perfect or not you wouldn't believe how happy I am with it!  I'm going to take my tripod next time and see if I can do better with that.

Finally back to the car.  To get an idea of how high we were - 900 ft above sea level to be exact.  You see the little red speck next to the cars at the very left hand side of the picture, that's Caroline waiting for us.

We all had a really lovely time today and with all the suffering and heartbreak going on in the world I know how lucky we are.  This neck of the woods was somewhere different for each of us, Caroline had only been to Hinchliffe's once before and none of us had ever been up Castle Hill.  I'm so glad Caroline suggested this area for an outing and also Happy Birthday William.

TTFN,

Kathleen.