West Yorkshire

[Sundae]

I had a bit of a disappoint on Friday.
Went into Leeds to see my Support Worker and understood she was standing me lunch. Lunch didn't happen, and it was cold and wet in Leeds, so I came home very grumpy.

On the flip side, she's definitely buying lunch this Friday - yay!
And I went into Leeds again yesterday (Saturday) on the same bus pass, as I had things to do I couldn't manage on Friday.
I will admit to you I set out in a filthy mood.
It was still chilly and damp, I missed one bus by about 30 seconds and the next one was late. I very nearly went home in a sulk, but luckily remembered in time I am 42 and not 15 and "you're only hurting yourself, you know".

By the time I came out of the hairdressers (OMG, got my Grade 1 back - lovely and bristly) the weather had cheered up and so had I. I also realised part of my grump was low blood sugar level, so I headed over to the new Pieminister shop/ restaurant to complete the degrumping. It made me sublimely happy.

The staff are young and trendy, but very attentive and friendly. They really seem to enjoy the fact they are working there, and talk intelligently and warmly to the customers. I was offered a window seat, which is kind and unusual for a lone diner in my experience.

The decor is deliberately pared-back industrial. It works, even if I know they had to strip everything out of the unit to get it to that state.


My window view.


I had a non-alcoholic cocktail which had real marmalade in it.
It was a bit tart, and the bits got stuck in the straw, but a nice change from the brown fizzy stuff.


And I was supremely unadventurous when it came to my pie, ordering one I have had from the supermarket before: Moo and Blue. Which is steak and Stilton cheese. I only had it with mash, as you paid for every side separately. But pie n mash are a meal in themselves anyway. I had an apple later, if that counts.


It came on a wooden board, on an enamelled tin plate.
There was a jug of gravy, but I only used about a teaspoon because the pie - as previously experienced - was rich and moist and bursting with flavour.

I heartily recommend.

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The toilets were clean and smelled very good (I think from the really creamy handwash).
The industrial theme was carried through here too.

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Off to Kirkstall Abbey (ruins of).
It's walkable from central Leeds, but hey - have a bus-pass, will travel.
It's one of those new kinda places. Built in 1152.

Leeds are running a month long Food Fair, in various different places May-June. I'm looking forward to the Yorkshire Evening Post (newspaper) showpiece in Millennium Square, but in the mean time there was a Deli market in the grounds of the best preserved Cistercian Abbey in the country. Couldn't say no really.

I don't need to go on about what a lovely location it is, you can see for yourself. What I didn't take any photos of is the river which also runs through the grounds, and the sheer amount of land it's on.

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Market time.

There were many (expensive) food-purveyors there.
I was still a little meat-drunk and full of pie thank goodness.
This one had sliders. I don't know if that's an American thing, but I've only become aware of it in recent years. They're basically mini-burgers. These were served on brioche buns, which I am always wary of - good brioche should only ever be eaten alone, with unsalted butter...


Big expensive sausages for hotdogs.
This was a Polish stall. Even given what I've written above I was tempted. I did control myself though.
There were four different kinds available, even before you started adding toppings. Nomnomnom.


Again, I'm sure what they did, they did well. But £4.50 for a Breville? You're having a giraffe mate.

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I was startled when I came back and started uploading my photos, to find that Barlow had been working (out in the sunlight!) on one of the stalls.


I had obviously been fannying about with my camera for too long, because I gave them time to smile and pose. If I'd realised I may have given in and bought some nachos from them. Never underestimate the power of a handsome young man's smile. Or the smell of nachos. Or my greedy belly.


Another handsome chap. Winner of the Not Smiling With A Moustache Competition I was running that day.


I don't even....

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The bacon-making kit did not come with a pig.
That makes me suspicious.


I had some cheese samples. There was a spicy one which was yum, but I didn't want to carry cheese around all day, getting hot and sweaty in my bag. So I just doubled up on the freebies instead. I thought I might like the Rhubarb Crumble one, but it was too sweet for me. Cheese with fruit in always treads a fine line IMHO, and this one was a travesty. Harsh but fair.


Proper made-by-God-to-be-sweet things.
No temptation for me there.
They must have been good, (although nothing like as amazing as Ali's creations) because there was almost nothing left. And when I did a final tour of the stalls before leaving, there really was nothing left.


These are the sort of flowers I will fill my home with when I have one.
I loved the ones in old biscuit tins especially. Re-use, recycle, renew.

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Pretty olives.


Your average market scene.


From the outside.


A fun family day out. Or just a day out alone. Well, at least it wasn't raining (unlike this morning)

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As I skipped about taking photos a (slightly merry) Irishman offered to have his photo taken with me for 10p.
Hahaha. I only had a 20p piece.
But what the heck. His equally merry friend took the photo for us!

And bless him, he even tried to look for change for me. I only gave him the 20p for a joke. No doubt he'll regale his friends for quite a while about the day he had a photoshoot with a foreigner.


Across the road was a building which has been turned into an expensive coffee shop/ gift shop. I was only killing time til the bus came, but it was rather beautiful. Note the plane coming in to land at nearby Leeds-Bradford airport.


Inside.


And that's it for today. I'm done!

[Carruthers]

Thanks for the latest travelogue, Sundae.

Seeing the abbey jogged my memory. I'd quite forgotten that I'd seen it from a passing train some years ago.
I can't for the life of me remember where I was going at the time, mind you.

[Gravdigr]

Hmm...Guess it really was more about the journey than the destination, then.

[Sundae]

Have bus-pass, will travel...
I have become slightly more enamoured of equines recently, and there are two horse/ donkey sanctuaries nearby.

The first rescues donkeys exclusively, but is also is a specialist therapy/ riding centre for disabled children. When they get biddable donkeys they are always trained up for this. One of the girls I worked with at school was an avid rider, so I know how exciting and beneficial it is to children. She rode ponies due to her age and size, but was horse-mad. Although her verbal communication was poor, her whole face lit up when she talked about "her horse". I imagine she'd have felt the same if the local centre had had donks instead.



This one is not real of course. But rather lovely.


A very traditional type of donkey, like those we used to feed as children (and unwittingly ruin them no doubt).


Put it away! Dirty boy.

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These donkeys were in the Stable Yard. Others were out to pasture, and six were actually in inside, in the ring (?) where a session was underway.
There was a blanket ban on photos in there, which I understand - it's not just where vulnerable children ride, it's where vulnerable animals are trained.

My photos make these animals look a little sorry and world-weary, but they were well cared for and obviously loved humans. I just forgot to take photos when I was approached by them! Those within the yard were free to move about.



A whole Donkey Sanctuary and Cherry finds a cat.
Go figure.
A gorgeous boy. Bet he's a good mouser too.


It's only a couple of miles off the X84 bus route, but if you ignore things like power lines (and the occasional car) it could be in a different time.

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So today, off to Hope Pastures. Even closer to the bus route, but with more land, better facilities and horse/ pony focused (although they have a few mules).

They do not offer riding therapy as far as I could tell, and many of their animals are rescued in order to heal and be adopted back into loving and caring homes.


Two cases in point.
Raphael and Merlin were adopted from a lady who had rescued them herself, but in the end lacked the land and funds to properly assist them. They're Welsh ponies, and were stallions. No-one wants a stallion as a pony (a worker told me) but she couldn't afford to get them gelded.

Hope Pastures took them in, did the deed, and they are both due to be released to pasture by the end of this week. They have adjoining stalls, and the staff would like to think they'd be adopted together, but they know it's unlikely. Still, they're young, good natured and rather beautiful, so they are unlikely to be there for long.



They also rehabilitate battery hens - take them in til their feathers grow back, let them learn to be real chickens and then offer them up for adoption. I saw a few while I was there. This however is not a chicken, as you may well spot. This turkey has been with them for five years. The family who bought her found they could not kill her after all, but could not keep her. She's happy (whatever that means!)

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Buttercup came in with what they suspected was a case of worms; she had a bloated abdomen. Obviously in a place like this, the vet is contacted as soon as an animal arrives.

Not worms; a foal!
Duchess was born on the same day as Princess Charlotte, and thus named Duchess. Which makes her a month old. Buttercup is a lovely friendly mare. the only reason my photos are at a distance is I was too busy paying her attention and cooing over her still gangly foal to reach for my camera when they came closer.


I didn't catch this horse's name, or even gender. I assume mare from the pink halter, but who am I to make gender assumptions?!
But s/he is rather beautiful. Last horse to be groomed before going to the paddocks for the day.


The cottage onsite. There is a chicken hidden in this photo.


The Wall of Remembrance. Some of these lived to a ripe old age, some were simply unable to survive the conditions they arrived with.
Would we were all so simply and kindly remembered.

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Just some of the lovely horses and ponies I met.
This place was a great way to spend a morning. All the staff - from the hard working stable hands and grooms, to the lady who was only there to knit for the gift shop, were so full of commitment and love for the work they were doing.

Given my druthers, I would still volunteer with cats. It's how I'm wired. But don't be surprised if when I'm ready, Hope Pastures features. Don't worry, I'd be pouring tea and selling chocolate, not pretending I know how to groom a horse (even apart from the fact they'd spot me a mile off as a fraud!)