rachel.blog

Tag: photos

  • Soccer and cycling in York

    Every Saturday morning, Daniel plays soccer. He is 6 years old, mildly autistic and has Tourette’s syndrome. We have tried many extra-curricular activities for him before, including soccer, but he never enjoyed any of them. But he loves the soccer coaching in York because it’s run by the mother of someone in Daniel’s class who…

  • Durham

    Yesterday we went to Durham – “a perfect little city” – according to Bill Bryson. In his book Notes from a small island, Bill Bryson summarises so well the feel of the place, so I’m going to copy and paste his words here: Why, it’s wonderful – a perfect little city – and I kept thinking:…

  • Leicester

    We went to Leicester for the weekend. Leicester, I have learned, has something of a bad reputation in the UK. When I tried to find out why this is the case, it is simply that there is a large immigrant population there. This is certainly true but I did not feel unsafe there, the people…

  • Yorkshire Museum of Farming

    We cycled to the Museum of Farming on Sunday. It was just outside York so a fair distance for me on the bike but easily manageable and very, very enjoyable. I feel truly alive at the moment with all this physical activity. The museum itself was a great deal more than just a museum. There…

  • Le Tour de York

    The Tour de France in 2014 will start from North Yorkshire and the people of York are starting to get excited about this. When I first heard about it I was puzzled because I thought this famous French cycle race was always held in France. It is called the Tour de France after all. And…

  • Jorvik and the Vikings

    York was once a thriving Viking city called Jorvik. Archaeologists in the 70s and 80s discovered the houses, workshops and backyards of these Vikings as they were 1000 years ago. They are now on display at the Jorvik Viking Centre in York. I took the kids there to have a look and it was fascinating…

  • Knaresborough

    Today was a fabulous day. It was one of those days that was completely unplanned with the decision to go somewhere made at the last moment. This morning, on impulse, we caught the train to Knaresborough, a market town less than half an hour away. Knaresborough is a gorgeous and fascinating place and I thoroughly…

  • York Museum Gardens

  • Rowntree Park

    York’s Rowntree Park is an absolute gem. It is public green space which was gifted to the city of York by Rowntree (the chocolate company) in 1921 in memory of employees of the company who died during the war. It’s now a huge park with children’s playgrounds, bowling and putting green, skate park, tennis courts,…

  • We’ve got a bakfiets!

    We have been very busy here. So busy in fact, that I’ve neglected my blog. But I have some great news to report today: we have wheels! Just two, completely carbon-neutral wheels. This is an original Dutch bakfiets, a second-hand one, built especially for lugging children and shopping around town and countryside. I have wanted…

  • More pics of the main streets of St Andrews

  • The Himalayan Putting Course

    Someone suggested to me this morning that we visit the The Himalayan Putting Course in St Andrews and by strange coincidence we just happened to be on our way to this very spot.  The Himalayan Putting Course is run by the Ladies Putting Club and is open to everyone, including beginners and children but only…

  • More from St Andrews

    You can’t go to St Andrews without visiting the world-famous Swilcan Bridge and this we did today. I’m not sure whether you’re allowed to walk onto the green for the purpose of taking photos but we did and no-one told us off. Here are our tacky tourist photos. Ben is attending a conference here so…

  • St Andrews

    We are in the lovely coastal village of St Andrews, Scotland. The Ricoh British Women’s Golf Open is currently running (not the reason we’re here) and the place is heaving with golf enthusiasts. An English friend of mine who recently spent some time in New Zealand (you know who you are!) told me that British…

  • Day 2 in Glasgow

    We have word from a Glaswegian that it rains twice a year in Glasgow: for three months over the summer and nine months over the winter. I like a city that can make fun of itself. Today was a rainy day so we took the city bus tour which was terrific and I highly recommend…

  • Glasgow

    We are in Glasgow. I’ve never been here before and have wanted to visit the city for some time so yesterday we caught the train from London to Glasgow which was a very fast 4.5 hour journey covering over 540km. I love Glasgow. It has quite a distinctive look to it with lots of grand…

  • London: Day 3

    Yesterday was a day of museums. Our plan was to visit the Natural History Museum but when we got there we found an enormous queue to get in. So instead we went into the Victoria and Albert museum which is right next door and was queue-free. We barely touched the surface of this museum which…

  • Silliness

    There’s a fair amount of silliness in our household. I blame these two:

  • Devonport

    My very lovely sister is visiting us from Brisbane. I haven’t seen her for two years so it is a big deal for all of us. Today I took her to Devonport which is a quaint village on the North Shore. I know I complain endlessly about Auckland but my complaints are related more to…

  • Lake House Arts

    A few weeks ago Daniel attended a dragon-making art class at the Lake House Arts centre. I took some nice photos but have been too busy reading scientific journals to upload them to my blog. Here they are at last:   While Daniel was busy being artistic, Elizabeth and I wandered around the grounds. They…