Waking up in Shipley

 We woke to sunny skies, even though the forecast was threatening snow or sleet in North and West Yorkshire. The sky didn’t stay blue all day but a weak sun shone on and off for most of the day. Breakfast consisted of a buffet affair where you helped yourself to whatever you felt like and it was all laid on. Cereals, fruit, yogurt, bread for toast, bagettes, croissants, juices, yogurt drinks, tea, coffee and cooked sausages, bacon, baked beans and scrambled egg, there were a variety of spreads and fresh fruit. We ate a hearty breakfast and seeing as how check out time wasn’t until 12 noon, we went for a walk. Initially we wanted to find a car hire place but there aren’t any in Shipley, the closest is in Bradford. We walked along the canal, which is iced over with varying degrees of thickness in the ice, there were very few parts where the surface was free of ice but you could see that some parts were quite thin while others the ice was almost white it was so thick. Lots of people use the canal path and the British love of dogs was obvious as we passed several people walking or jogging with their dogs.

We woke to a sunny day.

These red rose hips caught my eye.

The Brits love their dogs

A barge moored in the icy river, with a mini iceberg in the foreground.

There are several barges moored along the canal and signs read “visitors mooring” and there are metal rings or bollards beside the canal for this purpose. Today however it seemed that the barges were stuck fast in the ice, several had smoke coming out the chimney, so obviously they were permanently occupied while others advertised cruises on their sides. There were some lovely vistas along the canal and I now understand what artists mean when they talk about the soft light, it really is a beautiful light here in England, not harsh at all. Along the way, I photographed old buildings and vegetation that really had a very British feel to it. The skyline testifies to Shipley’s industrial textile heritage, with tall chimney stacks reaching skywards, some still obviously operative, but many are dormant and some lie in ruin. As in most cities where  time or technology has sounded the death knell to the local industry, the buildings are put to different uses.

Looking over the rosehips to the old mill chimneys.

old cottages beside the canal

Ivy on a tree trunk

I could hear ducks up ahead and they soon came into view. There were three swans and  groups of ducks. One of the swans floated serenely with wing feathers fluffed up making him look larger. He was accompanied by another snow white bird. Up ahead a little way there was another swan who seemed by his indistinct markings to be a juvenile. It seems however that he was another male, as the bird who had been cruising around with wing feathers fluffed up, now approached the ‘juvenile’ swan and chased him off! After watching the birds for a few minutes and a lot of photos we turned back for the hotel.

This beautiful fellow was floating around like he owned the place and apparently he did!!!

I thought this swan was a juvenile

the swan King and his mate

"Were you looking at my bird?!"

"Well bugger off then!"

"I told him!"

Did I mention there were ducks among the icebergs too?

The bloke on the desk phoned the hire company in Bradford for us and we arranged to hire a car for the duration of our stay. It is comparatively cheaper than hiring a car in Australia. So we were quite pleased when the bloke at the hire firm said the cheapest car would be 71 pound 93 pence, when I asked was that per day, he said it was for the week and we could reduce the 600 pound excess to 100 pound for an extra 10 pound per day!!! That’s still a good deal. When we went to pick the car up we upgraded and added an extra driver and it still came in at under 2oo pound for the week, which we reckon is about half what we have paid in Australia. We caught a taxi to the hire car place and went up past the area where Nannie and Granddad Ambler used to live and Michael was pointing out different streets that he remembered and directions to where his family had lived, it was quite steep and overlooked the hotel and canal area. About an hour or so later we were mobile and lost. The hiring system is a little different, you pick up and return the car with about the same amount of petrol in it and our little car was almost empty so our first stop was a petrol station, petrol works out at about $2 Aus. per litre. We were soon on the right track and the car was fully tanked and we headed back to Shipley and Michael got a feel for the car and the traffic as we drove around the streets of Shipley looking for somewhere we could park, when what do you know we found a little pub with a car park! It was after all time for lunch, so that would suit us just fine.

We found a pub for lunch!

It was called the Ring of Bells

Chimneys catching the sun, through the pub window.

Over lunch we decided to find Calveley the village we were staying at next, we couldn’t book into our Landmark, heritage listed home until 4pm and it was now about 2.30, but we wanted to find out where to go before the light faded as the directions I had been sent were a little confusing. Calveley Old Hall is in the village of Calveley, about 4 miles from Shipley and we were looking for the ‘Welcome to Calveley’ that we’d been told to watch out for. We thought we had probably driven past it as it seemed we’d gone at least 4 mile, maybe we should stop for directions. There was group of shops up ahead and we pulled in there to get directions and stock up with staples, bread, milk, cheese, a few vegies and some jaffa cakes. We hadn’t missed the sign, Calveley was just up the road a bit and with only a few wrong turns we found Calveley Old Hall and the key where the housekeeper had told me I would find it. It was about 20 to 4 but I’d retrieved the key and the housekeeper had obviously already left so we were able to go straight in. we had just finished unloading the car and were trying to work out how to lock the back doors (there’s always something with a hire car!) when a friendly face appeared at the door. It was Jill one of the house keepers, she lives just down the road, and had just popped in to make sure the heating was working and explain its idiosyncrasies to us. She obviously loves this place and told us she used to live here as her mum had been housekeeper here before her, from 1963 until her death 10 years ago. We were blown away by this place, it is set out and decorated keeping it as authentic as possible, with old furniture and ornaments. The main bedroom is huge, we reckon it is the size of the flat we rented in Paris, and we were not cramped there, the space was just utilised very wisely. You can imagine though, coming from such compact digs as we have had in all our stays up until now, this place feels like a mansion. There are two other smaller but still good sized bedrooms upstairs and a decent sized bathroom/toilet as well.

Calverley Old Hall where we will spend the next 6 nights.

A welcoming tea tray!

One end of our very large bedroom

With a little (6 foot deep) alcove. That is beams of wood in the rendered stone wall behind Michael.

Downstairs there is a small back entry coat room before you enter the large kitchen, then through a door past the stairs a small front entry hall and into the massive lounge dining area. There is also a downstairs toilet off the front entry hall. We were like kids discovering all the little treasures of this lovely home. We sat at the scrubbed wooden table in the kitchen and had cheese sandwiches and a cuppa from the lovely blue and white china that Jill told us Landmark use in all their heritage properties.

Yes folks this is the crockery we use every day!

The large fire place in the loungeroom.

One end of the dining room, the table seats 8, the lounge is to the right. 

This sideboard is at the other end of the dining room

The stairs leading down from the bedrooms, into the front hall, the front door is to the left . Note the funny little window at the foot of the stairs, and the depth of the walls into which it is set!

 Later as I worked at my computer on the eight-seat dining table and Michael read some of the history of this place in the ‘study’ at the end of the dining area, we talked over our plans for tomorrow and the next few days. First stop tomorrow will be the Laundromat. There was a menu in the stuff Michel was reading for one of the local pubs, The Calveley Arms and it is a cert that we will be visiting there. Lots to explore and we are thinking we may extend our stay in Yorkshire, though it may not be at this dwelling, we are not booked anywhere after we leave here and still have a further 10 days to fill.