Northumberlandia

On Saturday we all had a long day out travelling up north to near where Judith & Leigh used to live - and Crybbe too! We were going to visit friends and have a look at a new visitor attraction in Northumberland which is up near the border between England and Scotland. There has been lots of mining in this county for many years but nowadays the mining companies have to restore the land when they have finished mining and create green spaces for wildlife and trees and plants. In this place they decided to make a huge sculpture out of the earth - of a goddess they called Northumberlandia!

It is so huge you need a map to walk round it - it is the biggest human landform sculpture in the world!

 First you walk through some woodland and then there is a path to the sculpture:

We had a good explore and met lots more dogs with their peeps:

Below you can see a hand with a pointing finger - and tiny peeps :-)

We climbed up to the top of the head - Aoife and Trilby in the lead:

past the funny notice:

and I looked over to see the view:

 Down below was one of the eyes!

and the viewing towers:

This is a view closer to the face:

Then it was time to walk back down and head back to the car - goodbye Northumberlandia!

Visit to Rievaulx Abbey

A couple of weeks ago Judith and Leigh took me and Aoife on a day out to Rievaulx Abbey. Like Fountains Abbey it is pretty much ruined but still very fine to explore and we dogs were allowed to wander round on lead too :-)

Here we are on the steps. It was so bright and sunny we were all lit up! 

As well as the ruins there was a little camp set up by members of a historical re-enactment society. They were all dressed up like people from the Middle Ages - cooking, playing music and chopping wood. Here are some photos:

This man and woman were playing old musical instruments and singing for the children.

This man was busy chopping sticks for the fire.

I think Aoife could smell the dinner cooking!

These people were chatting and weaving baskets.

We even found some more hens!

There was so much happening I took a chance for a rest and to watch what was going on.

That was a good day out and I would go back to Rievaulx Abbey again if we have a sunny day!

The Great Feather Mystery - an Award and a Tribute!

Yesterday afternoon when we all went down to the end of the garden to check on the new hens - we found feathers everywhere under the cherry tree! This is me checking it out. Then Trilby joined me:

Aoife was looking a bit suspicious:

But she said those feathers were not her doing

And all the hens were fine:

Leigh thinks the sparrowhawk who comes every so often may have taken a collared dove - all that was left was the feathers :-(

On a happier note - we have been honoured with an award from Basset Momma - thank you! We will try and fulfil the conditions very soon :-)

and we have also received a beautiful tribute to our dear sister Caoimhe from Haopee which we will keep on   our Rainbow Bridge page. Thank you for this lovely image!

Wordless Wednesday - The New Hens

Harvest Time

Here in Yorkshire now the autumn has come all the vegetables and hay are being harvested. Behind our garden are fields of hay, sweetcorn, potatoes, turnips and carrots and there are tractors and lorries harvesting into the night. The photo is the view from our back lane.

The bales of hay may look small from a distance but they are pretty large really!

The sweet corn is tall too :-)

I didn't think I was going to get out of that field before those corn monsters got me!

Back home the tomatoes are ripening but they are not very good this year because there's been too much rain and not enough sun!

This red admiral butterfly in our garden is trying to get food before winter.

Here's hoping next summer is better!

Burton Agnes Gardens Part 2

It has been a little while since I could get back to blogging and you might have thought I had forgotten about the other photos of our visit to Burton Agnes Gardens. But here they are! I have many more adventures to tell you about too but for today here are some pictures of that lovely day out:

This man was just a statue all made of wire and working in the vegetable garden.

View through the gate

Crybbe and me setting off into the maze

Me just checking that we hadn't been through this bit of the maze before :-)

Back in the gardens - phew! - and some beautiful roses

A pretty butterfly...

...and an unusual fountain.

And then we spied the 'games gardens' - there was chess

draughts

and snakes and ladders - as you can see I landed on a snake and Crybbe got the ladder!

Then it was back to the cafe for a rest - and a bowl of water

The kind peeps at the cafe brought this specially for me - they must have thought I was VERY thirsty :-)

Hope you enjoyed these pictures - I will back soon with more adventures to tell you about.

Happy World Animal Day!

Affens at the Abbey

Leigh; I would like to say thank you so much for all your kind messages after my last posting. They were all greatly appreciated. Judith & I are still struggling with our emotions but I must admit a cloud has lifted here as far as our other dogs are concerned which has also been a bit shocking to realise how Caoimhe's illness was affecting them on a daily basis. Crybbe the 'top boy' affen clearly recognised his inability to challenge a dog twice his size and had withdrawn from much contact with the other dogs; Magic too had become more of a snoozer than an active girl and of course little Aoife was living with anxiety. Crybbe and Magic have suddenly become much more playful; Trilby is  calming down and re-bonding with her mum and Aoife. But Aoife is still suffering from the trauma and our priority now is to try and give her back her self confidence and reduce her fear. At present she is running upstairs to hide when anyone comes home until she knows Caoimhe is not with them and even when we take her out she runs to hide when we get back until she feels safe. Out of the house she is more confident so at the end of last week we took Aoife and Crybbe out for a trip to Fountains Abbey and they really enjoyed themselves in the magnificent ruins. Here are some of the pictures:

2 tiny dogs in the arch

A close-up

Stately ruins

Crybbe & Aoife

In the Abbey grounds

Affens by the lake

Magic will be back blogging very soon and is bursting with energy wanting to tell all her friends about her days out and other activities...:-)