Sinderby – Mkingdon's Blog

My Weekend With A Hairy Ass.

17/04/201617/04/2016 by mkingdon, posted in mkingdon

After a very busy week at work, the weekend has been similar. There has been zero progress holiday wise, mainly due to the lack of flight availability as yet. The brain has been percolating possibilities in the background of course, but I have nothing further to report. I do object to working full-time when it restricts my ability to spend endless hours researching my holiday.

The busy week was made more taxing by the events of Thursday evening. For those with no interest in football and perhaps those who do but are not Liverpool fans, it may have passed you by. For me, as a life long fan, watching that roller coaster of a game through my fingers and at times tears of despair left me emotionally spent, yet happy after one of the most dramatic and spectacular comebacks ever seen. Sure, I may be over egging that, but grant me that as we’ve had little else to celebrate for a while.

Straight after work on Friday I was off to the latest Mustard gig at a local pub where we play very regularly. After getting home at around 12.45am, I slept for a few minutes before getting up to get ready for our trip over to North Yorkshire to see our friends Steve and Di, who live in Sinderby near Thirsk.

It was bloody cold, and at times wet, but we managed to dodge the showers during the times we were not eating to give Oli a decent walk in the country side.

He got nice and muddy and worried a sheep or two before we stopped off to donate some Polos to a couple of donkeys.

The visit to Steve and Di’s, as they usually tend to, included a lot of chat about holidays and Florida (as well as lovely food and alcohol) as Steve and Di are long time DVC members and very experienced travelers. As much as I thought I had our plan sorted, at least in my mind, our conversations have now raised a trip to The Keys as a contender. I do feel that our previous half day excursion to Key West didn’t really do it justice so I may need to ponder on that one a little more.

It didn’t help that the day we went saw temperatures only usually involved in the frying of chips. Patience and tempers were tested and we soon retreated to the welcome air con of the car and drive back north to our hotel for shade, swimming and drinks. Yes, clearly going to Key West in August is likely to be on the warm side. Even a planning genius can make the odd schoolboy error. As Louise often reminds me, and she did again this weekend, I was the one who booked us into the Sun Viking Lodge in Daytona a few years ago. I won’t bore you with the story again, I’ll just say, if you are thinking of staying there, don’t!

Having got home very recently, the relaxing pants are now on, and I intend to do lots of nothing for what remains of the weekend before another busy week to come. The fact that we have returned home with most of the Coffee and Walnut cake we couldn’t eat last night means that the outlook for this evening is a good one.

So that’s your lot, I’m knackered and in need of nothingness.

Till the next time…..

To North Yorkshire…and Beyond!

30/11/2014 by mkingdon, posted in mkingdon

I know it’s late. How have you coped in these few hours this evening without my words of wisdom? Oh, you hadn’t noticed the lack of a post? Rats.

We have been away in North Yorkshire this weekend, being pampered, treated and fed enormous amounts of food by our friends Steve and Di. We traveled over to Harrogate for Saturday lunchtime and met them (already drinking) in a bar. We then spent a lovely few hours wandering around quirky and interesting shops, made even better by not buying anything, other than a delicious mulled wine in an ancient pub. Of course we *had* to visit Betty’s Tea Room and have a look at the yummy wares on display. I’ll leave it to you to decide if anything was actually bought (Thanks Di).

As darkness fell, we wandered back to the cars and made our way over to Sinderby, the tiny village where they live to partake in a food extravaganza of epic proportions. It was so outstanding that I totally forgot to take any photos until my jeans were screaming and the puddings arrived. To summarise the party in my mouth, our starter was goat’s cheese with pear, then the mains were a tangine (not a small orange apparently) of some lamb dish, slow cooked for a million years so it fell apart when I looked at it. The dish was gorgeously unusual containing pomegranate too which was the perfect finishing touch.

Dessert (or one of them) was Baklava, a Greek (I think) dish made of chopped nuts syrup and filo pastry. It is just orgasmic. Emily demanded we brought her some home as she was with us the last time we had it. There were also Macaroons (from Betty’s) and Victoria Sponge hand crafted by Di.

Beer and wine flowed and we chatted the night away about Disney (they are DVC members), who would play the next James Bond and almost every other subject under the sun until we all craved our beds at around 11. Yes, we are party animals. Louise was so full she was in actual pain and I think it took me multiple seconds to fall asleep.

Today, following a sensational full English that I surprised myself by being hungry for, we headed off up to Northallerton to Kiplin Hall.

There was a Christmas Gift Fair but the highlight was the tour of the house. It has been recently restored and is full of detail, information and incredible history.

We also saw a very impressive bush…which is always nice.

We spent a lovely couple of hours learning about the house and it’s owners and imagining life before central heating!

Then, back to Steve and Di’s for one last brew, and a bit more cake before making the journey home across the Pennines. It may shock you to learn that we have done without any tea. I know!! We are slaves to our waif like figures. There could be a spot of supper whilst watching Homeland shortly!

To compensate for all the lovely stuff over the weekend, on arriving home I undertook a DIY project with the much needed help of my Dad. We’d been promising to put Rebecca’s TV on her wall and all the gear had been delivered to do so over the weekend. It took much longer than it deserved too, and it left both my Dad and I sweating and swearing at the fiddly badly designed nature of the whole experience. I hope she appreciates it, and uses the now TV free wardrobe space to house all the crap that is usually all over her floor. My hopes are not overly high.

So that’s been our weekend, and it’s been superb. Thanks to Steve and Di again for making it so, we loved every minute.

Till the next time…..

We are Yorkshire Puddings.

12/05/2013 by mkingdon, posted in mkingdon

We’ve had a lovely change this weekend, and spent it away with friends in Yorkshire. Our frequent lenders of DVC points Steve and Di had us over to their house in North Yorkshire, and we have only just arrived home, tired, but mainly full after Di served us so much food over the weekend that I’ll be in one of my post Florida shirts for work tomorrow!

We have been totally spoilt, waited on like royalty, and had a lovely time around some of the loveliest countryside in the country.

After arriving on Saturday and being served Quesadillas, grilled goat’s cheese on french bread and a paklava so delicious that I almost passed out, we went out for a wander around Sutton Bank.

This is home to a gliding club, and we timed it perfectly to see one take off. We also experienced some of the craziest and strongest winds possible. We were literally being blown sideways for just a few minutes until it suddenly just passed, leaving us to continue the walk, taking some snaps along the way.

However, Emily beat my attempts with this one.

Having walked off a dozen or so calories it was back home for another meal. This time, it was a delicious spicy chicken curry, with perfectly cooked fluffy rice, and just to make sure we liked it we had some more paklava too.

Steve and I took Oli out for a late night wander up deserted country lanes, introducing him to sheep of various colours and sizes. None of which he was particularly keen on to be honest. He’s just a big coward really.

Full of fine food, beer and wine we all soon fell into bed.

Having Oli with us proved to be OK for most of the time, but when he started playing with his purple squeaky ball at 3am, nobody was amused. I was going to join in, but thought better of it and put mine away.

Having vowed never to eat again twelve short hours earlier, nobody can explain why we were then tucking into a huge full English breakfast at around 9am. Only just able to walk we boarded the car, and set off to feed some local donkeys that Steve and Di like to spoil on a regular basis.

They like polos!

Next door to their field was Marmion Tower which we had a quick look around, but to be honest the stupidly low temperatures for May and the constant drizzle forced us back to the car sharpish.

We had a brief wander around a lovely town square in Masham, home to Black Sheep beer, bought Oli an ice cream cone, and then retreated to the warmth of the car once again.

After a short scenic drive through some lovely looking (but cold and wet) scenery, there was nothing else to do but eat again. Having put away enough to feed an army already this weekend, a light lunch was the sensible option.

Instead, we had a full Lamb Sunday dinner, with all the trimmings, followed by home-made Bread and Butter Pudding. I think you have put weight on simply by reading this blog.

At around 4pm we left Steve and Di in peace and made our way home, and once back over the Pennines the weather went up a good few notches on the crappy scale. We are all now lounging in various states of lethargy, and pretty much all in elasticated pants of one variety or another.

It has been so nice to do something different of a weekend, in what must be one the loveliest places in the country. The food wasn’t bad either!! We have been looked after fantastically and are just sad to be back in the real world again having to fend for ourselves!

I am off now to either vomit or start eating again….I’m not sure which yet.

Till the next time…..

Sinderby, Snotty Spaniels and Secrets

20/04/201007/06/2020 by mkingdon, posted in mkingdon

Let me deal with the secrets thing first.

Well I can’t tell you, otherwise it would not be a secret. All I will say is that I am working on something that I hope comes off, and if it does it should be better for me and the family all round. More news as it breaks…you shall be the first to know. Actually you won’t as Louise would be quite upset were that to be the case.

I have to point out that my lovely silver sexy Macbook has gone to the great big recycle bin in the sky, and I have been landed with, I mean I have been lucky enough to get a HP EliteBook in its stead.

It seems OK, but the keyboard feels very different and it keeps putting a \ when I just want to do a capital letter. Frustrating, and I therefore distance myself from all typos in this ere post.

Snotty Spaniels, you know about. We ended the last post with us making an emergency dash across the M62 to drop the little git off with our friends who were to let him recuperate in the country air of North Yorkshire. Luckily we had planned to go and see said friends last weekend, so this meant Henry could have a week in the land of James Herriot, and then come home with us, a week later.

So this weekend just gone, we spent the lovliest of times with Steve and Di in Sinderby. After an uneventful journey, apart from Rebecca acting as iPod DJ all the way there, and inflicting the very best and worst of Emo culture upon us, we arrived to see Henry distraught at being seperated from us.

We were also blessed with the weather, and for the first time this year actually dined Al Fresco. I have no idea who invited Al, but he was welcome. The rest of the day was spent wandering around a pretty little town/village called Leyburn, where Louise and Di spent what felt like three days in a soft furnishing shop whilst Steve, myself, the girls and Henry waited ever so patiently outside. I had never heard a dog tut until Saturday.

On the way back to Steve and Di’s we stopped off to feed two donkeys (Steve and Di do this regularly, we didn’t just stumble across them), and they were in a field right next to Marmiom Tower.

Marmiom Tower — Through the arched window...

We then retired to a nearby beer garden to sample the delights of the local brew, namely Black Sheep. Again, a first for the year, having a beer in a garden named for that purpose.

We then retired to Sinderby for a lovely meal courtesy of Di, quite a lot of wine and beer, and for the second time in a week, a session huddled around a fire pit. I must admit the temperatures dictated we didn’t move too far from the flames!!

Henry spent the evening being a right pain in the backside, as he located what we think was a hedgehog house, in the back garden, and would not leave it alone.

One by one, the girls first, we retired to bed, with us all giving in to droopy eyes by midnight.

Sunday saw us mainly eat to be honest. Bacon butties all around for breakfast, followed by lunch at the local boozer, which is a true country pub with stunning food.

After a brief stop off at Tesco in Thirsk we find our way home via the A1 and M62, with Henry on his way back to Chez Williams. He has had a busy week, and a very hectic weekend which may explain why, for once he did not whine all the way home. Instead he fell asleep almost immediately and looked like this until Bolton.

The rest of the week ahead is full of meetings and secret things which I really hope will all come to fruition by weekend or at worst early next week. Don’t worry, it won’t be anything as exciting as I’m building you up to expect!!

My head is all over the place to be honest, which probably accounts for the rambling (more than usual) unstructured form of this post. Apologies.

I’d like to thank the keyboard on this laptop for making this post twice as difficult to type as normal.

Till the next time…..

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