Beamsley Cottage

 Thanks to now knowing the local area we learned of The Beamsley Charitable Trust which is part of the Bolton Abbey Estate.  When we knew that the drainage work needed to be done we were fortunate to book this cottage, which is fully accessible and a 15 minute commute to Craven College.  The first night was a bit unusual as we were navigating the ‘lie of the land’ and once the staff had left the trust offices it is essentially us with no immediate neighbours save the small graveyard over the wall 😬

Thankfully we’ve settled into a good routine and as a result Pip is less exhausted from ridiculously early mornings and a two hour commute, and has had creative capacity to work on her sketch book in the evenings.  We are here until Friday so we are hoping to RHS Harlow Carr tomorrow.  

Since this visit has worked so well we’ve spoken with the wardens about accessing it for two night’s a week during term time until Easter and apart from one week in December the rest of the dates are available.  We’ve done the Maths and it isn’t much more to rent this place as opposed to diesel costs, wear and tear on the car, and extra hot drinks and occasional food throughout the day whilst car camping.  The non monetary benefits are related to improved health and well being and you cannot put a price tag on that. 

Here are photos of our week thus far: 

Sunday night was a late one with all the packing as earlier in the week was riddled with unforeseen hurdles, so a breakfast bun and cappuccino after dropping Pip off on Monday morning was the order of the day.  After fortification we ventured to a local supermarket to purchase necessary supplies for the week and then on to Bolton Abbey whilst waiting for Pip to finish college.

We accessed the cottage around 3pm and after unpacking and making hot drinks it was a case of reheat the frozen chilli (courtesy of Ben) and serve with pasta and nachos - not the normal combination but the pasta was quicker to cook than the rice and we were all hungry.

Whilst Pip was a college yesterday I had a lovely Facetime video chat with my dear friend Pen.  We've connected via our blogs, her writings and email over the years but this was the first time we'd met 'in person' courtesy of the interwebs. It was such a blessing to chat and share thoughts, ideas and general life updates, Pen is most definitely a Kindred Soul. If you want to know more about her and see her lovely smile This Post might be helpful.

The morning light after college drop off today was lovely so I thought I would share some snippets of 'our home from home.'

This adjoining field belongs to the trust and is wheelchair accessible, I can imagine it will be used a great deal in the summer for groups accessing the hall.

The hall itself was formerly a Methodist Church, hence the graveyard attached to the premises and just to the right of the building is the Trust offices - the lovely Sarah was on duty today.

 The front door to the cottage and ...

... the bench in front of the kitchen window.

During lunch Dave and I had an at home film treat and watched Ocean's 12 having watched Ocean's 11 the previous week courtesy of a local charity shop visit - I do love a good heist film!  I think the original Ocean film in 1960 featured the 'rat pack' - Sammy Davis Jr, Frank Sinatra and Gene Martin.