Out for the day.

As Judy had a meeting and her Local Councillor work to do in the morning, we pottered until lunch time.

After lunch we went to Gawthorpe Hall, out near Burnley, about an hours drive away. I was the designated driver, and Judy squished herself into the tiny back seat of the Fiat. Gawthorpe Hall is known as “The Downton of the North” – if you’re a Downton Abbey fan, you can probably see why, as it has similarities to Highclere House, which stands in as the Downton Abbey of the TV series. Gawthorpe Hall was redesigned, from an Elizabethan house, in the 1850s by the architect Sir Charles Barry, who also designed Highclere (and the Houses of Parliament!).

Even though The Gawthorpe Textiles Collection, a collection of  textiles founded by Miss Rachel Kay-Shuttleworth was closed, it was still an enjoyable and interesting visit. Mum wanted to sit down after climbing the first staircase, but Judy and I continued the tour, and found her chatting away to one of the volunteers about the gardens when we returned.

We briefly admired the gardens – the peonies were beautiful, and buzzing with hundreds of bees enjoying the nectar – and then headed for home.

As my nieces had given mum a voucher for the local restaurant for her birthday, she treated us to dinner out. I had houmous to start, then (as it was Kebab night) I had a very enjoyable lamb kebab, with flatbread, salad, and dips. I finished with a Crème Catalan (I think!) In this photo both mum and I look like we’ve had far too much to drink! I think it’s just a bad photo!