Castle Howard 2018 - utterly Christmas

We will remember them ....

We remember them often ...

And one person here in particular -Billy Buckle who was from Byland Abbey was George Lupton's cousin and also his godfather. He was the gamekeeper on the Newburgh Priory estate and served in the 1st World War alongside Jack Pringle from Wass.
The man in command of them didn't know as much about horses as they did. When their commander said something Jack Pringle soon corrected him and told him straight that it was called the horses withers not some other name he had dreamed up. Before going to war they had to be able to manoeuvre a horse and show they could go round some tin cans that had been put down. They were expect to be able to trot but apparently they galloped round at breakneck speed...

My Jack often tells the tale of when he was young going with his brother and sister to Billy Buckle's to get warmed up in front of the fire on a winter's day and Anna also remembers this countryman , who had two rather large spaniels and going to see him in bed when he wasn't well up the rickety stairs when I was a little girl.

Nunnington Hall... what a gem

So when it is half term and a sunny cold frosty day what do you do with the children.

We all had the most amazing time at Nunnington Hall which is only 6 miles from us. The River Rye runs through the grounds and the gardens are a great

place for children to run off all that extra energy.
The house was decked for Halloween .Nunnington Hall was a lived in home that I passed every day when I went to Malton Grammar School. I remember the Clives living here with their St Bernard when I went to school. Today there seemed to be far more rooms and passageways that what there was back then . It still has very much of a homely feel and I could quite happily pack my bags and move in . A rod in hand sitting on the banks of the Rye fishing for my supper. I remember been told of a ghost -a  lady who walked in the garden. Maybe it is just too beautiful to leave. The children had a great time tying their ribbons to the tree...making memories ,making wishes then running around the garden, lost in a world of make believe and fantasies that are so often missed in the fast world we live in now. This is more how our childhoods were spent. We adults enjoyed a walk around the garden in the sunshine,the serenity and the peacock elegant even though he was missing his tail feathers joined us silently in conversation ...... a marvellous afternoon.