Tag: northumberland

Posted in Uncategorized

Cake (Not Scone) of the Week

Posted on by Jackie B

This week we visited the Old School Gallery at Alnmouth. Situated just outside the village centre on the road out towards Foxton, the Gallery has a small cafe area. They had no scones (so not exactly a “Scone of the Week” post} but five different cakes to choose from. I think they may have a bigger menu at busier times of year. Today we were the only customers there at the time of our visit.

We had a wander round to look at the art while our cake and coffee were being prepared and there were some lovely pieces, in a variety styles and media. They included a lot of seascapes and other sea-themed pictures. Many are available as prints and there a few other items too, including ceramics, textiles, cards and gifts.

The Gallery’s Spring Exhibition is currently being prepared ready for opening on 14th Feb so we could see many of the exhibits ready for hanging. My favourite was a huge seascape on canvas – I don’t know who the artist is but it was stunning.

Our home-baked cakes were excellent. I chose the lemon drizzle (one of my favourites) and Mum had the polenta and lime cake. Both were moist, light and full of flavour. For those preferring something with icing, there was coffee cake, chocolate, or victoria sponge. We had very nice Illy brand barista-style coffee to go with it.

The only issue with visiting the Gallery is the access. They have tried by creating a ramp from one of the entrance gates into the building , but then there is a single step inside, quite steep with no handrail. Apart from that it’s quite a nice place to visit.

We couldn’t visit Alnmouth without looking at the sea, so we drove down to the beach. It was a beautiful clear day and the sea looked almost inviting.

The afternoon sun lit up the Aln Estuary and shone on the wet sand.

As we drove away we saw one of the skiffs that are based in Alnmouth. Skiff racing is becoming quite popular around British coasts and as the boats are very traditional in design, this is keeping the old boat-building skills alive. They are quite often to be seen wheeled out of the boathouse by the beach like this and I love to see them.

It has been a week of seeing old friends. On Tuesday I had lunch with two fabulous former colleagues. It was so good to catch up (and far too long since we last got together). Later on I met a dear friend for coffee. She is off to Australia in a couple of weeks and I’m missing her already. Today we saw a lovely couple who live near my Mum for the first time in ages…..it turns out that this lady reads my blog! I didn’t realise. It was so nice to see them both.

Have you had any reunions recently or been back in contact with people after a long time without? I’d love to hear about it.

Posted in Uncategorized

Scone of the Week #7

Posted on by Jackie B

Today we returned to one of our favourite scone stops: The Rocking Horse Cafe at Rock Midsteads Farm. To get there from the A1 north of Alnwick, take the turn off for Christon Bank and after a few hundred yards you will see signs to follow for the cafe.

As usual we got a warm welcome. The Rocking Horse is one of the most dog-friendly cafes I know and many of the customers bring their four-legged friends along. Today the humans were joined by a Bedlington Terrier, a West and the cafe’s two resident border collies, Sam and Tess. Sam obviously thought that we were deprived as we didn’t have a dog with us, so he kept us company. What a friendly soul he is, and so well-behaved.

The cheese scones were as delicious as ever, served warm, with generous pats of butter and no foil wrappers to wrestle with. They were crumbly without being dry, with a good flavour and a decent crust. One of the best!

I ordered hot chocolate – and had a choice of types – either powder or proper chocolate. I went for the latter.

After a while of stirring the chocolate on the swizzle stick into the hot milk, it dissolved to make a deliciously chocolaty drink, perfect for a cold, blustery day.

I was sat next to the namesake rocking horse, so couldn’t resist taking a photo.

Since our last visit, one of the cafe staff, Janet, has opened a dog-grooming business next door and she splits her time between the two. Her new venture is called Hair of the Dog. I just love the name!

As we left, I noticed that the woods by the farm entrance were carpeted with snowdrops. Simply breathtaking.

I’m still under no illusion that winter is not over. Despite being so close to the sea, which can take the edge off the cold, we still get deep snow some winters, and little or none in other years. So far, all we’ve seen here in Northumberland this winter is a dusting on the tops of the Cheviots. Have you had snow where you are ? (Don’t forget to say where that is.)

Posted in Uncategorized

On the Coast: Ponies, Eider Ducks and Signs of Spring

Posted on by Jackie B

We had a drive up the coast today and came across these ponies on Annstead Dunes , a Northumberland Wildlife Trust nature reserve north of Beadnell. This was a small herd of six Exmoor Ponies, one of our native breeds. They were brought here some years ago as part of the reserve’s management plan. Several groups of ponies graze on the course grasses, which allows wildflowers to grow, improving the biodiversity of the site.

The Exmoors are very distinctive: bay with a pale “mealy” muzzle, pale underside and ring around the eye. We catch sight of them regularly when we drive up this stretch of coast, sometimes grazing, sometimes trotting along the dunes in a tight herd. It’s always lovely to see them.

We drove south to Howick, where there is a place to park by the Northumberland Coastal Path. K took the dog for a walk while I looked around to see what I could see and did some knitting.

The sea was quite calm, so conditions were reasonable for spotting whales and dolphins but nothing was about, and not many birds either, just a few gulls and a pair of eider ducks.

You can just make them out as dots on the water: the striking black and white male and the drab brown female. Eiders often mate for life. It’s too early in the for this pair to be breeding yet though.

With nothing else about, I got on with my knitting. I’m still making my socks -it’s a very compact portable project for knitting on the go.

There are some definite signs of spring about. We saw these winter aconites growing under a hedge on our trip out today.

All of a sudden there are clumps of snowdrops everywhere, including these in our garden. We do often get snow in February or even March, so winter will be with us for a while yet, but it always feels positive to see the first flowers of the year.

What is your favourite sign of spring?

Posted in Uncategorized

No Scone of the Week (but Good Cake)

Posted on by Jackie B

There were no scones where we went today, but the cake looked good so we stayed and had some of that instead.

We were at the Paw Prints Coffee Shop at WCF Pet and Equestrian on South Road, Alnwick, close to the the Aldi supermarket. There aren’t many places for a cuppa and a snack in this part of Alnwick, away from the town centre and the tourist haunts. But being handy for Aldi and having it’s own car park should attract customers, even those who simply want a takeaway coffee (currently on offer for only £1).

Being inside a pet/equestrrian supplies shop, Paw Prints is of course dog-friendly. The menu is very limited however. They only serve hot and cold drinks, a small range of home-made cakes and pre-packaged biscuits, cereal bars and crisps. The staff were great – very helpful and friendly (and quite apologetic about the absence of scones).

We opted for coffee and walnut cake, which was lovely: home-made with a nice texture, just the right amount of icing and a a generous sprinkling of walnut pieces on top. It was served with proper cake forks too. Our drinks were fine. – filter coffee and hot chocolate, but nothing fancy (no whipped cream or marshmallows), though the tall, thin mugs with saucers looked quite elegant. It was all very reasonably priced too.

The cafe has been open since just before Christmas and they plan to expand the offer to include sandwiches (and scones, I hope!) It provides a low cost alternative to the town centre venues if you just want to get a quick snack to eat in or take out.

Do you have a favourite kind of cake?

Posted in Uncategorized

Family Walk

Posted on by Jackie B

It’s been a busy week. I really needed to get on with some book editing so I needed a couple of days away from the blog to get some more done. I mentioned before that I’m helping a friend with her third fantasy novel – read about it here.

I did have a lovely trip out on Sunday though. Our daughter lives close to Druridge Bay Country Park. We (K, myself, daughter, son and dog) went for a walk (or in my case, a scoot – I use a disability scooter) around the lake that afternoon. The afternoon sun was shining but clouds were beginning to gather and it was cold.

The paths are good, so despite the mock threats, there were plenty of routes round the lake without negotiating this row of stepping stones.

There were lots of families, dog walkers and cyclists about and Buddy the labrador was in his element. He absolutely loves it when the whole family is together. He wasn’t sure about the swans though. They had come out of the water along with the ducks and a large flock of gulls when someone started to feed them.

We all went back to daughter’s house for hot drinks. I’d lost all feeling in my fingers, despite gloves, so knitting was out of the question for at least half an hour. I was soon back at the socks though!

It was so good to be out with the family – it’s not often that we do something all together like that. Do you have a family activity that everyone enjoys?

Posted in Uncategorized

Countryside cast-on

Posted on by Jackie B

Last night I picked out some yarn from the pile that I’d previously earmarked for the big stash busting blues poncho/cape – I found this sock yarn I picked up from Flying Tiger a while back.

This has too much green in it to fit in with stash busting project. I’ve really enjoyed wearing the last pair of socks I made, so need more – especially now I’ve become more confident about sock knitting and recovered from One Sock Syndrome. It seemed obvious to use this sock yarn!

I needed to start a new small portable project, something that I can stick in a small bag to do in the car, waiting for appointments and to take to knit and natter groups. Socks knitted on tiny circular needles are perfect for this (though when I turn the heel it might need a bit more concentration and nattering may cease for a while)

It was blustery this morning, but looked beautiful and such a joy to feel the warmth of the sun on my face when I was out of that cold wind. Sitting in the car in a lay-by while K walked Buddy nearby, I cast on the first sock – if I’d been more prepared I’d have brought straight needles in a larger size (casting on with thumb method, using 2.5mm circular sock needles is fiddly) – I wanted to try this to ensure I kept the cast-on nice and loose. Anyway I just concentrated hard not to pull it too tight and managed to complete the cast on and knit a couple of rounds. The top of the sock is in k2p2 rib so it’s lovely and stretchy – it would defeat the object of that if the cast-on is too tight,

I love the colours of this yarn – they include a deep blue with a very dark green, shading lighter into almost yellow green. At first this made me think of rocks by a deep blue sea, strewn with yellowish brown seaweed below high water mark and crusted with yellow lichens above. Then I looked out the window, spied this puddle and saw similar colours in the sky’s reflection, the grasses and conifer saplings around me.

The woodland is managed here, with fencing and rabbit guards on the young trees.

We couldn’t stay long as household tasks awaited – but it was nice to be out in the sunshine, thinking about the colours in the landscape.

Do you get inspired by your surroundings ?

Posted in Uncategorized

A Ray and a Rainbow

Posted on by Jackie B

It was blowing a gale again when we were at Boulmer this afternoon.

K had already been checking out the beaches this morning. He was choosing his mark for The Amble Open – an annual fishing competition which is held tomorrow. He found this Cuckoo Ray washed up at Sugar Sands. Buddy was fascinated.

We haven’t seen this species before – the books say it prefers deeper, warmer waters. As the fish was still alive, K returned it to the water. Buddy’s intermittent retrieving instinct did kick in at this point, which it always seems to do at the wrong time, but K was able to distract him long enough for the ray to swim away.

At Boulmer the sea was not as rough as it could have been, but the spray was blowing off the wave crests on the shore and on the rocks out in the bay. Boulmer is sheltered by reefs and out to sea beyond them there were a lot of white topped waves.

With relatively few walkers about there were a lot of wading birds on the beach, pushed in by an incoming high spring tide, including turnstone, redshank, curlew, oystercatcher and lots of these little knots (at least I think that’s what they are – I may need to update this post!). They run rapidly up and down the shore avoiding the incoming waves. I’m always reminded of clockwork toys when I see them.

As the winter sun got lower it lit up the wave crests and every so often I could see rainbow colours in the spray. Then I looked up and there was a proper rainbow

It looked even more dramatic against the dark clouds to the west.

Of course, with all this to photograph, I didn’t get to do any knitting there, so I’ve made myself a mug of hot chocolate and will sit here and get on with trying to finish the cobweb grey scarf.

This is my new favourite mug. It sums me up perfectly. Do you have a favourite one ?

Posted in Uncategorized

Looking Out To Sea With The Couple….For Whales!

Posted on by Jackie B

Today we were in Newbiggin-by-the-Sea. The town is home to the Couple: a pair of sculptures, one on the shore and a larger 12.5m version out in the bay on the breakwater.

We were there to join members of the North East Cetacean Project for an afternoon of sea watching. Cetaceans are whales, dolphins and porpoises. We were at Church Point, by the 13th Century St Bartholomews Church. This promontory makes a great vantage point.

I noticed this bollard on the way from the car park.

The conditions were not great for sea watching , with quite a swell breaking on the rocks.

K took Buddy for a walk along the beach (the labrador was getting far too interested in everyone’s lunches) and found this shell (yes, that’s my knitting needle gauge). He found others but this was the least damaged.

I can usually identify these, but I’m really not sure what species this is. Its certainly not like any of the shells I usually see around here. Interestingly, the beach at Newbiggin is artificial. After years of erosion the sands had all but gone but in 2007 the beach was reconstructed with sand brought from Skegness. Maybe it’s from there!

I did enjoy meeting the other watchers. Some are members of other marine conservation organisations too – I’d never heard of Sea Shepherd until recently but was really interested to find out about their work internationally and locally. Round here, for example, local volunteers do a lot of seashore litter picks. I’ve also seen Sea Shepherd volunteers at Boulmer (they have very distinctive logos on their jackets) collecting broken lobster pots and washed up fishing gear.

We all know how important it is to reduce plastic pollution in our seas – the issue was brought to global recognition by David Attenborough in the Blue Planet series. For me, this issue was brought alive looking at microscopic plankton samples in an aquarium a few years ago. The samples were full of microfibres – nylon and other materials. That’s why I’m trying to repurpose old yarn with charity knits and buy natural fibre (biodegradable) yarn wherever possible.

The wind strengthened and the sea got rougher so it was time to go. We left shortly before two bottle-nosed dolphins put in an appearance, so the more tenacious watchers were rewarded for their vigilance. There have been no further reported sightings of the off-course sperm whales I wrote about recently. They may well have died way out at sea: at least that way they be feeding the scavengers and return to the food chain, away from human interference.

To end on a happier note, it was lovely to spend the afternoon meeting new people with a shared interest.

Sea Watchers at Church Point, Newbiggin-by-the-Sea

I’d love to know if any of my fellow knitters are developing their own environmental policies. If you are please share them.

Posted in Uncategorized

A Coastal Castle (and a Finished Project)

Posted on by Jackie B
Dunstanburgh Castle

Today we headed up the coast to Craster and beyond, towards Dunstanburgh Castle. Northumberland has many castles, but this is one, which dates from the 14th Century, is one of the most atmospheric, situated on a rocky promontory overlooking the sea, between the villages of Craster and Embleton.

It’s about 1.5 miles from the nearest car park to the castle and I haven’t been since I was a child. (I took these photos at Embleton Steads) It is in an amazing location – the cliffs on the north side of the promontory are home to nesting seabirds, including fulmar and kittiwake. There were cliff nesting house martins too at one time but I’m not sure if they are still there.

I also completed the Twiddle Mitt last night. These are given to Alzheimers patients to distract them from picking at dressings and canulae when in hospital. Also, repeatedly twiddling the buttons and other adornments and stroking the different textures of yarn can have a calming effect.

My Twiddle Mitt

A friend who has arthritic hands and can no longer knit donated a huge bag of wool, needles etc to the knit and natter group. This included some yarns that were perfect for this – mohair, boucle, some glittery ones. I used this pattern and added some beads, including some little jingle bells, buttons and threaded a ribbon through. I also added some to the inside. The knit version is easy – a stocking stitch rectangle sewn into a tube, doubled up and sewn together at the ends. It’s great for using up those odd little bits of yarn and the more you mix the yarns the more interesting it is. You can add texture by varying the knitting stitch too – blackberry stitch or moss stitch would work, or some cable. I think I might try the crochet version next time.

Posted in Uncategorized

Boulmer, Boats and Birds: Working Towards the New Year Resolutions.

Posted on by Jackie B

A different beach and a different project today. I’m making great progress with the New Year Resolutions too. We went to Boulmer (pronounced Boomer) and while K took the dog for a walk I knitted some stitches by the sea (definitely working on Resolution #6). This UFO is a project that’s been hanging about for a while: a cobwebby scarf in fine mohair yarn on 10mm needles made in garter stitch. This was sitting in the bottom of my knitting bag where it’s been on standby to be worked on in knit and natter groups if the other project I have taken with me requires too much concentration to allow simultaneous nattering and knitting. Must crack on and finish this one (Resolution #4)

  1. Make a Santa hat. There are always a number of times I need one over the festive season (eg choir/ukelele performances) and I always think how much nicer a hand- knitted one would be than the tacky felt one I’ve been using. By the time I think about this it’s always too late. To avoid this happening again I have already started this, so that’s the first new project for 2020 underway. If I enjoy doing it I might even make a Bah Humbug version for K, my own personal Grinch.
  2. Make a Christmas jumper. For exactly the same reasons as 1.
  3. Keep on stash-busting. I want to finish the Stashbusting Blues Cape/Poncho and look at what else I can use up. I recently came across the SABLE (Stash Acquired Beyond Life Expectancy) acronym so I need to reduce what I have ….and that’s all craft materials, not just yarn.
  4. Finish as many UFOs (Unfinished Objects) as I can (which is linked to 3. in a way.
  5. Tidy up the craft room. When I retired, one of the first things I did was decorate the conservatory (which had become a bit of a dumping ground) and turn it into a workshop/studio /craft room and a place to store all my yarn and craft kit that was previously scattered around the house. I do have the share this space with son’s drum kit, but as I acquire more stuff, it silts up. This needs a good sort out which will in turn help with 3. and 4.
  6. Get out more – with my knitting. Sitting in a car with a nice view while K walks the dog, will actually increase my knitting output. At home there is always something else that needs doing before I sit down with the needles and yarn.
  7. Improve my photography. I was not impressed with the blurry knitting on this post. Needs work.
  8. Learn brioche. I keep seeing beautiful examples of this. It could even be my new skill for 2020

Boulmer was looking glorious in the sunshine and the beach was busy with families, and dog walkers. In an effort to improve my photography, I got the decent camera out to take these (Resolution #7)

Looking south from Boulmer
Boulmer is a safe haven for fishing boats, protected by rocky skerries, with a narrow entrance into the bay.
Looking north
Boulmer Village

The blue and white boat in this picture is a coble, the traditional fishing boat of the area. The sand here is fine, verging on mud and supports a lot of invertebrates and in turn wading birds. There were lots of oystercatchers, turnstones and curlews among others, feeding at the waters edge, flying up every time someone (or some dog) went past. The birdwatchers seem to congregate at Boulmer as I keep coming across reports of rare birds from here. This evening K found an online report of a black redstart seen today within 100m of where I was. I’ve never seen one of those before and I missed it!

Last night I completed the Santa Hat (Resolution #1)

This was very quick and easy to make – the pattern, Santas Hat by Angela Modzelewski is here. I didn’t have circular needles in the right size so I did it straight and sewed up the join. For the furry bit I used James C Brett Chinchilla which is incredibly soft and knits up on 10mm needles. The main red part is in James C Brett Chunky with Merino, which felt great to work with and knitted up very quickly on 6mm needles. If I do it again I won’t use the same yarn for the pompom which moults worse than my dog! I’d use a more conventional yarn (though the Chinchilla was perfect for the band, Now I have to put it away until Christmas 2020!

How are you getting on with your New Year Resolutions?