My Holiday Expert

Day 4 and what a tiring day up in here in Yorkshire. Today all 20 of us descended upon Bolton Abbey for the morning and then have a steam train ride to finish the day. I have to say Bolton Abbey is beautiful. You have to pay £6.00 per car to park here, however it is more than worth it. As once you are parked up, you are free to wonder around the Abbey ruins, see the castle, go to the small beach, stream and stepping stones. This is far as we got, however there are countless walks and beautiful scenery, if you manage to get the sunny day that we were blessed with then you can easily spend the whole day here, relaxing in this gorgeous area.

Bolton Abbey

Bolton Abbey is in the heart of the Yorkshire Dales on the banks of the River Wharfe. With just under 30,000 acres of beautiful countryside, over 80 miles of footpaths and ample space to run around and enjoy the fresh air, there is something for all ages. Explore the ruins of the Priory and discover a landscape full of history and legend, wander along the riverside, woodland and moorland paths, enjoy local produce in the excellent restaurants, tea rooms and cafes, treat yourself in the quality gift shops and food shop or simply relax beside the river with a picnic whilst the children play.

Visitors have long been welcome to Bolton Abbey and whilst we are open everyday from 9am, please check opening times for refreshments during the winter months.

www.boltonabbey.com

Embsay and Bolton Abbey Steam Railway

Travel between Embsay station, built in 1888, and the new award-winning station at Bolton Abbey. Your journey takes you through picturesque Yorkshire Dales scenery. Bolton Abbey station is the ideal stopping off point for a pleasant one and a half mile walk to the ruins of the 12th Century priory. Venture a little further to picnic on the banks of the River Wharfe, or in the shade of Strid Wood where you will find the Cavendish Pavillion for refreshments

Sue x

Well day 3 arrived and with that a trip to the White Scar Caves for the elder children in our party and off to the Settle Play Barn for the youngest (I chose to go to the Play Barn to relax with a coffee whilst my husband took some of the elder children down to the caves, however after seeing the pictures, I wish I had not done the Play Barn!)

White Scar Cave

Entering the cave, visitors become aware of a faint sound that gets louder as they walk further in. Suddenly they turn a corner and find the first waterfall, which after wet weather literally thunders into a rocky pool. The waterfall was the first feature discovered by Christopher Long in 1923. In full spate the weight of water cascading down each minute is about fifty-five tonnes.

Opening Times (Weather Permitting)

• Spring & Summer – February 1^st to October 31^st
  The cave is open every day, from 10am.
• Autumn & Winter – November 1^st to January 31^st
  The cave is open on Saturdays and Sundays, from 10am.
  Groups are welcome to arrange weekday tours, but advance booking is required.

Admission Prices

Visitor type
Price
Information

Adult
£8.50
adult is age 16 or older

Child
£5.50
child is ages 3 to 15 – there is no charge for children under 3

Family
£23.50
family is 2 adults + 2 children

Timetable of Cave Tours

All visits into the cave are with a cave guide. Tours start at the following times:

• 10.20am • 11am • 12 noon • 1pm • 2pm • 3pm • 4pm The tour takes about 80 minutes.

At busy times you may be asked to wait some minutes before joining an additional tour. This reduces the number of people on your tour, helping you enjoy your visit underground.

Settle Play Barn

The Play Barn offers a space where parents and children will have a fun time, whilst the children are scrambling over the adventure course or testing their climbing skills on the climbing wall having fun in the spooky maze or perhaps sliding down the twisting slide.

Sue x

Day 2 of our holiday and even though it does not feel like  we have ventured out all that much, it definitely has been a very tiring day!! This morning we decided to travel the 5 miles from  www.thewoodlandshouse.co.uk to Malham Cove, with the drive up from Giggleswick being described as a rollercoaster ride along the roads by the kids in my car.

Such beautiful scenery and a lovely way to spend the day if holidaying here with dogs and children. This really is the perfect place if you are looking for a peaceful and scenic area, where you can partake in hiking, dog walking and tiring out the children.

Standing some 80 metres high and 300 metres wide and north of the mid craven fault, Malham Cove is a curved crag of carboniferous limestone formed after the last ice age. Meltwater, particularly from Malham Tarn, cut back the cove as it fell over the edge as a waterfall. This erosion took place more actively at the lip of the fall rather than at the sides, hence the curved shape………http://www.malhamdale.org.uk/malham_cove.htm

Tonight is looking to be a barbecue night, so we are keeping our fingers crossed that the weather holds off!! Then tomorrow it all starts again..!

Sue x

This year the Arscott Family have set off to Giggleswick, where we are going to be staying in a beautifully large house on the edge of the Yorkshire Dales, or “Orkshire” as my 3 year old likes to call it.

From Taunton we set off along the M5 and finally made it into Giggleswick 6 hours later, arriving at the very impressive www.thewoodlandshouse.co.uk . Not too much to tell you all yet, with only just arriving and having an evening finishing up a bottle of Pimms with the rest of the family…did I mention, we have 10 children (all under 8 years old) and 10 adults staying in this house?! So far, I’m not sure if it was a crazy or brilliant idea.

Although I am quietly pleased that I managed to bag the bedroom at the top of the house, with the iron footed bathtub at the end of the bed!! (With the downside being that we are on the same floor as the children, this may be a decision I will regret later in the week!)

That’s all for now, I’m sure that Day 2 will be a much more exciting entry!!

Sue x

The UK has suffered a 'negligible' number of tourist cancellations despite images of rioting and looting being screened around the world, according to the European Tour Operators Association (ETOA).

ETOA reported its members had received 330 cancellations for the coming week by yesterday, out of more than 38,000 people booked to stay in London hotels on Wednesday.

An ETOA spokesman said: "On the basis that these people would have stayed two nights, this represents 660 missing bed-nights throughout the week or barely 95 cancellations per night." This represents a cancellation rate of 0.17%.

"Some of the individual cancellations are now rebooking," the spokesman added. "People cancel for a myriad of reasons: the disturbances have, for now, proved  as significant a factor as having a sick dog or flooding the bathroom."

The association suggested the fact that media coverage of the riots had shown "comparatively anonymous locations" had contributed to the low level of cancellations.

"No major landmarks and no significant numbers of tourists have been caught up in the trouble," said ETOA.

However, the organisation, which has 500 inbound tour operator members, said: "The significance lies in how a country is seen to deal with the trouble. The images have been of the police trying to contain the trouble. They have not violently confronted it.

"Images of property being damaged are very different from those of people being hurt. So the story of the last few nights, played out on television sets throughout the world, has been of an unarmed police establishing order.

"The story of the next few nights will be of the due process of law bringing suspects to account. London remains safe for tourists, and tourists understand that London remains safe."

source: www.travelweekly.co.uk