Pirates and Paddling!

On Saturday we visited Bolton Castle and Aysgarth Falls. These are both a must for any visitors to North Yorkshire.

Bolton Castle sits at one end of the tiny village of Castle Bolton, and as you must have gathered by now, is my favourite place in Wensleydale. The views are stunning, you can see from one end of the Dale to the other almost.

Our first stop was a bite of lunch in the castle tea room, just to make sure we didn't run out of energy, there are lots of stairs to climb if you want to enjoy the views from the very top! I didn't take photos inside the castle as I've been so many times now, but watched my guests clicking away, batteries empty, memory cards full!

I couldn't resist the gardens though,

Well! Could you?

I do seem to take this shot every time though. I'm looking up into one of the staircase towers, only the stairs are no longer there. With a little bit of tweaking colour wise, don't you think it would make a cracking piece of patchwork!

The two youngest members of our family group had a whale of a time. There was a group of pirate reinactors ( grown men and women dressed up as pirates) in the castle for the day, and they had organised a pirate trail competition around the castle for the little ones. The prize for completing the trail was a pirate mask and cutlass! These went down a treat, even with our 10 and 13 year olds! Here they both are climbing a tree.

Time to cool down and take a rest, so off we all headed to the Falls at Aysgarth.

Paddling, rock pool gazing and a well earned sit down to enjoy the peace and tranquillity. Aaaah!

Couldn't resist these tangled tree roots!

So that was our day, enjoyed to the full, by each and every one of us. Although I think I know who had the most fun!!!