York

In August I meet up with Clare, Matt El and the kids in York. Clare and I spent Friday night at a lovely B&B, catching up over a bottle of wine before the meet up with the others on Saturday morning. The weather was gorgeous so we wondered around York a bit, got some lunch and found the York Gardens to have a picnic.

York Cathedral

View for our picnic.

In the gardens, they had a couple of birds of prey on display which you could hold briefly for a few pounds. I held the giant European Owl and Livvy held the little Digger owl. I think she picked the right one. The European owl was quite heavy.

European owl (looking quite small here)

In the gardens, there is the York museum which had a dinosaur trail so we spent the rest of the afternoon in there.

Livvy practicing her spelling.

Getting the trail info

Something Roman

Matt playing dress-up

Little dragon attaching daddy dragon

Sword

Dino

We dared Matt.

Real dino bones

 After getting our luggage, we headed to the AirBnB on the outskirts of the city. We spent the rest of the night chilling and making the most swamping S'mores. 

Ladies Day at the races

Last Friday I went with Fiona and a couple of her friends to Ladies Day at Musselburgh Races. It was a great day and for once the weather was glorious (it has been raining here everyday for months). We all got dressed up, complete hats or fascinators. 

We had booked tickets in the Pavilion where we had a private table in a marquee with our own bar and betting window. There were also nice people wondering around the tables taking bets and helping people which we very much needed. 

With the ladies.

I will admit my betting selection process was very unscientific. I pick the ones with either the best name or had a lady jockey (got to support the sisters!). Needless to say I got my money back on one race and lost the rest. If I could have bet on which horse came last, I would have done a lot better. Oh well. I figured I would be loosing the money anyway so it was good fun just to watch the horses. I am not at risk of becoming a gambler!

The other ladies were a lot more lucky than me and all at least made their money back. I figured someone has to support the underdogs. 

My unlucky bets

We also took a very nice picnic with us complete with a full cheese board. 

 It was a really good day and it was loads of fun looking at all the outfits. Some were amazing. Some questionable. But good fun. 

Lauriston Castle

Clare's flight back to London wasn't until about 6 that evening so after a lazy morning we drove over to Lauriston Castle which is on the airport side of Edinburgh. You can't actually go into the castle but the grounds are lovely. They are small but worth a walk around and there is a very nice tea shop (with cake!).

Nice little country house.

View from the bottom of the garden over the forth of firth.

The sun came out. Finally!

Cake

Cake with a view

They have a small japanese garden which is very peaceful. Though it was a Monday which helped.

On the Japanese pond bridge

Beautiful maple

 we spend a few hours wondering and enjoying cake before I had to drop Clare off at the airport. :( Looking forward to her next trip.