Great Day Out In Whitby

On the spur of the moment, it being unexpectedly sunny, we went to Whitby for the day. Rather than head straight into Whitby we decided to head for Sandsend first and drive along the coast from there. We parked in the car park there at the bottom of Lythe Bank (extortionate fees) and I noticed there were some steps up out of it onto the moor behind. Wife told me they used to go that way as kids, but that she hadn't been for years. We decided to take a look.

What a "discovery", a beautiful walkway along what used to be the railway ends at the point where the railway vanishes into a blocked-off tunnel. How had I not known about this before?

The path continues up and over the hill that the tunnel vanishes into so we followed it a little further, on to a beautiful stretch of clifftop before turning back. Strangely I saw no sign of where the tunnel emerges at the other end. Perhaps it no longer does.

This short section from the car park to the point we turned back was about a mile and a half each way and took in some lovely scenery. To our right was the sea and to our left what appears to be former quarries, now turned into a nature reserve/country park.

There was even a track down to the base of the cliffs to a small pebbly beach - somewhere to take a look at next time we come when we're both wearing more appropriate footwear.

Back at the car park we were feeling peckish and decided to find somewhere for a snack. We ended up at Woodlands Eat, a nice little bistro/cafe bar. The sunshine had brought out the crowds and we got just about the last two seats left, but those crowds had also snaffled almost all the cakes and scones. We were left a little bit with Hobson's choice - Pannetone and Ginger Parkin, but they certainly didn't disappoint us. Both were delicious, the Pannetone being easily the nicest I've ever had. I could have gone back and scoffed the lot. The ambiance, music and full menu looked good enough for us to want to go back there for a proper meal sometime, most likely in summer, when we'll also take stouter footwear and do a longer hike along that old railway trail.

Fully sated (for now) we headed into Whitby and had a wander round, discovering some parts of town that we'd never seen before despite having been going there for over 30 years! It wasn't long before we were feeling hungry again though, and remembered a place I'd seen on earlier visits and had always wanted to try - Humble Pie 'n' Mash. 

This cafe serves just one thing - the thing it's named after. Pie, mash, peas and gravy is the only thing on the menu (apart from the kid's choices), but there is a large and varied selection of pies on offer. We plumped for one each of the two vegetarian options - Homity for me, roast veg & goat's cheese for wife. Everything was spot on, the pies delicious, the mash just how we like it, nice "real" peas (wife has an aversion to mushy) and lovely gravy. Even the Yorkshire Tea came in a great big mug - lovely. Good prices too, at just £4.95 for the pie meals.

Deserts looked too good to miss too, so we didn't! The Jam Roly Poly was ace, just how we like it with a nice crisp baked crust and a soft gooey interior with plenty of Jam. We could have gone around the whole desert menu, each one sounded delicious (and each one was an old childhood favourite - I was especially tempted by the rice pudding).

After leaving there we had another wander around the shops, up past the Kipper smoke house, down to the pier and then back into town and up to the car park. It had been an absolutely fabulous day and one that filled us with enthusiasm for just how lovely England, and especially Yorkshire, can be on a nice day. You tend to forget after day upon day of gloom and rain.

Saltburn Pier

We went to Saltburn today, once again ignoring the BBC's best attempts to keep us indoors with their flaky weather forecasts. Saltburn (or Saltburn-By-The-Sea, to give it its full title) is on the coast of Cleveland, and is the home of the North East's only surviving pier. In fact, it was recently (yesterday, as it happens) voted Pier Of The Year!

Saltburn is a quite attractive little town, clinging to vestiges of its Victorian past which are still evident in many of its buildings in the streets behind the railway station. The beach lies at the bottom of the cliff, down to which winds a steep and torturous road, some steps or, for the unfit or those who just want to experience it, an old fashioned cliff-lift. The pier is right at the bottom of the lift.

The beach is lovely, easily the best in the area, and the stretch beside the pier is patrolled by lifeguards in season. Surfing is popular and it's probably a good place to learn, the breakers not being too big for the most part. The area at the back of the beach has surf shops that hire out equipment.

We had a stroll around the town, taking a look at some of the picturesque Victorian streets before walking down to the beach and out along the pier. This was followed by a walk along the beach and up the Cleveland Way onto Hunt Cliff, a site of Iron Stone mining back in Victorian times and part of what helped to fuel the growth of Middlesbrough. The views from up here were gorgeous and we had to resist the temptation to follow the cliff path for too far - lunch was calling!

One Mocha & Cakes later at the excellent Camfield's just behind the beach and we were off for a walk up the Valley Gardens. These start (or end, depending on your perspective) at the beach and head up the valley of Skelton Beck. In the lower reaches it's just trees and grassland set in an attractive wooded valley, but further up formal gardens are planted up the hillside and stretch right up to the road up above.

For such a little town Saltburn has a lot to offer - great beach, pier, cliffs, woodland and countryside walks, surfing, cafes and some nice, quaint backstreets. We've been coming here for 25 years, but we're still growing to appreciate it more and more.

Compare The Meerkats - Thorp Perrow Arboretum

Today we ignored the BBC's best attempts to keep us at home with a misleading and inaccurate weather forecast (I have a real gripe about the BBC online forecasts - have they been told to err on the pessemistic side or what?) and decided to have a day out. What a full day it was too.

We decided to go to Thorp Perrow Arboretum, a choice in part influenced by the fact we knew they had Meerkats there. Who doesn't love Meerkats these days? They were so cute, especially the baby ones and also when a light plane flew overhead. Obviously thinking it was some kind of bird of prey they all went on guard and watched it keenly until it passed form view (that's what they're doing in the photo). As well as the Meerkats they have Ferrets, Pine Martins, Rheas, Wallabies, assorted fowl and a huge collection of birds of prey.

Despite having some rather more illustrious bretheren around it, my favourite bird was the humble Kestrel, absolutely gorgeous and suprisingly gentle looking for a killer!

After seeing all the animals, the bird flying displays and the parkland (which we had to hurry, it's too big to see it all at a liesurely pace) we headed a mile or so down the road to Snape. This is a lovely old village, guarded by a castle and with a stream meandering through the middle of it. The castle was one of the family seats of Catherine Parr, Henry VIII's final wife. It's a private residence now (or several, by the look of it) but its chapel is open to the public and seems to serve as one of the village churches. Within the chapel is an information board about Catherine and her life.

Finally, if we hadn't had enough fun, we went to Pizza Express in Northallerton to spend our Half Price Dining Voucher, which actually cost us less than half price (these vouchers are great value, we've had a couple now for different places). We were ready for our food as we'd had nothing to eat since breakfast!

A great day out, and blue skies all the way, despite the BBC's insistence on light rain all day.

Night Out In Leeds

After a busy day out around the shops and markets of Bradford we headed into Leeds for dinner and to sample its nightlife. We feel a bit like country bumpkins in a big city for the first time when we go out somewhere like Leeds. The place is just brimming with swanky looking restaurants and bars, moreso even than Newcastle, which is the nearest we ever get to big city life.

The town hall was looking lovely, illuminated as it was against the black night sky, as were many other of Leeds fine buildings. One day/night I'll have to go back to take some more pictures, but that's not why we were there this time.

Being near Christmas (well, it is November after all) the German Christmas market was in full swing in Millennium Square. Not the biggest of Christmas markets and certainly nothing to have Cologne worried, it was still entertaining enough for an hour or so. It had the usual stalls selling Christmas trinkets and decorations, mulled wine and all variety of sausages, as well as one or two "beer kellers" complete with long benches and trestle tables.

There was also a small funfair. Wife wouldn't let me go on the dodgem cars, saying that with my driving every day is like the dodgem cars anyway, and I had no intention of going on the carousel. Such things just make me feel sick - in fact watching it didn't make me feel too grand.

For dinner we went to Casa Mia, which was right next to where the market was - very handy. This is a very nice Italian restaurant with great food and excellent service. I really fancied risotto but there was no vegetarian risotto on the menu. No problem, the chef could knock me up a mushroom risotto, which sounded fine to me. It turned out to be more than just fine, being exceedingly rich and flavoursome with the rice cooked to perfection.

There was absolutely no need to ponder over what to have for desert. We'd already noted the bread & butter pudding, something we always find hard to resist, and decided to get one between the two of us. This one had an Italian slant to it, being subtly flavoured with Marsala. It was served with a creme anglais and blackcurrant compote and was totally delicious. BFG & SIL shared their desert too, a white chocolate roulade. With a shared starter of pizza sized Garlic bread and a bowl of the biggest olives I've ever seen or had, a main course each, two shared deserts and a bottle of very palatable red wine the total bill was only 17.50 each, which I found more than reasonable.

After dinner we went to Whitelock's, Leeds' oldest pub established in 1715. It's still a very traditional, almost Victorian, style of pub with its dividing partitions and dark wood. Lots of hand-pulled beers too, too many to try in one night, especially as the pub doesn't run to extended opening hours. I found this strange after hearing so much on the news in the week about what effect these longer hours had been having. It seemed to me that quite a large number of Leeds pubs don't stay open beyond 11, and so it was with heavy heart and heavier stomaches that we headed off back to BFG's at the end of our night out in the bright lights of the big city.

What really would have rounded off a great day would have been an Indian take-away. Both us boys wanted one, but the womenfolk vetoed the idea. I don't know if they were thinking of our health or the prospect of sleeping with curry-breathed blokes, but whichever it was there was no take-away.

Next time maybe.

Aagrah, Shipley

We were in the Shipley area again at the Easter Weekend and I decided it would be a good idea to try out one of the many Indian Restaurants that there are in the area. After all, Bradford is regarded as one of the finest places in the country for Indian food and Indian food is our food of choice!
I looked up a place called Aagrah that I'd noticed in Shipley and I read some very good reviews of it, so I gave them a call to book a table. I was surprised when the voice at the other end of the line asked "which Aagrah branch I'd like to eat at".
"The Shipley one" I replied.
"Which of the Shipley ones?" they asked.
Wow, not only multiple choice of Aagrah's but also multiple choices within the same town. In the end I plumped for the one on Westgate because I was told it was the more "cozy and intimate" of the two. I later found out that this was the original Aagrah, opened some 27 years ago, and now re-opened as some form of tribute.

The restaurant wasn't what I expected - it was so unlike the Indian restaurants that I visit in our area. No twee flocked wallpaper here, instead it was a modern and airy minimalist look, which was really rather nice. The menu was different too, having a huge range of dishes that we just don't see elsewhere. Sure there was the old favourites of Madras, Korma et al, but there were wonders such as Hyderabadi, Makhani, Sindhi and Achar. Starters were interesting too. We wanted to try the Paneer Kebab and the Hara Bhara Kebab but we noticed that the Special Vegetarian Mix for Two contained these two as well as every other vegetarian starter on the menu, and was only £4.95. A bargain - just look at the plate! The people beside us leaned over and asked "What are you having...?". We told them it was the "Vegetarian Spe..." "Ah, Vegetarian" they said, backing away carefully. The starters were all lovely - the two Kebabs being very unusual (one resembled Black Pudding!) but the star of the show for me was the Samosas which had a wicked mint/coriander flavour and were filled with rice & veg.
For mains we decided to try three new things. Well, two truly new and something familiar but in a new variety - if you see what I mean. We went forMixed Vegetable Hyderabadi, Vegetable Chanari and Chana Aloo Biryani(which was the familiar dish in the unfamiliar flavour). Having a Biryani serves as both your rice dish and as an extra curry, so we were well sorted. No breads were ordered, as we knew we wouldn't be able to manage them.

The mains were even more delicious than the starters, though the Hyderabadi was a bit hot for Wife (she's a delicate palate) so the lion's share of that went to me. It was gorgeous, quite creamy and with a lot of subtle flavours interacting, and yes, quite fiery. The Chanari is made with apricots and plums, and it certainly did have a nice fruity flavour and substantial pieces of apricot in it, perfect for wife really. The Biryani was of course delicious, especially as chick peas and potatoes are two of our favourite things to find in Indian food, and they go really well in a rice dish.
The people at the next table got over their fear of vegetarianism and asked us why I take pictures of food. I told them of my web reports and they hoped that I would give Aagrah a good review. They had been going there for 30 years (and yet had seen their first vegetarian starter that very evening, amazing) and "would highly recommend it". Well, so would I. I think all of the Aagrah restaurants will be of a similar quality and standard as this one, and wouldn't hesitate to recommend any of them to anyone who likes Indian food. It was, without a doubt, the best food that I have had. And it was a little short of 30 quid for the two of us, including 2 sets of drinks.
Aagrah's website is here. The veggie menu is here. You can find Aagrahthroughout the "greater Leeds/Bradford" area, from Skipton to Tadcaster, from Doncaster to Denby Dale, and of course in Shipley.

As a footnote, the Westgate branch of Aagrah has now closed again. It's a loss.