Month: March 2016

Lotherton Hall

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A photo of flamingoes at Lotherton Hall Bird Garden

On Saturday, we went to Lotherton Hall, which, like Temple Newsam, is a stately home with parkland near Leeds. Whereas Temple Newsam has a farm, Lotherton Hall has a ‘bird garden’ – effectively a zoo specialising in birds.

I’ve been quite a few times before, as it’s on the York side of Leeds and therefore very easy to get to from York. I have vague memories of going on a school trip when I was in primary school, and one of the birds doing its business on the head of one of the teachers.

The majority of the birds are not native to Britain, so there are plenty of flamingoes, cranes, ibises and emus. Some attempt has been made to theme the areas, so most of the ducks are in one place, and the parrots and cockatoos are grouped together. There’s also a walk-through area with African birds. Highlights for us were the kookaburras, the owls and an agouti – one of the few non-feathered animals there.

The estate also provides a large playground, café, gardens, and the house itself. We had a stroll through the gardens but didn’t go into the house – bad weather was expected in the afternoon and so we wanted to be able to head off home.

As we’re staying at my parents’ house, I haven’t had chance to edit the photos and upload them to Flickr, so the photo above is as it came off the camera (albeit resized). We’re in York until Tuesday, and so hopefully I’ll have chance to work on the photos later this week.

York Model Railway Show

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Today, I accompanied my Dad to York’s annual model railway exhibition at York Racecourse.

It’s an event I’ve been going to from a very young age – both my Dad and I have an interest in railway modelling and there’s a large train set at my parents’ house in York. Although it’s gathering dust and hasn’t been used much over the last 10-15 years – I imagine that Dad planned to work on it in retirement but he’s been too busy doing other things.

So, the model railway show. It takes place over the Easter weekend and has run every year (I think) since the 1960s. Whilst I used to go every year, this was my first visit since 2013. There are a mixture of layouts, built by individuals and societies, as well as many trade stands.

The layouts vary greatly in size. Some are huge, requiring multiple people to operate, whereas others will easily fit in the back of someone’s car. The smallest was in a flight case, which used the diminutive ‘T gauge‘. Whilst many layouts used ‘OO’ gauge, which is the most widely available to those with trainsets at home, there were many others with bigger and smaller trains.

As you can imagine, model railways attract a predominantly older, male audience, but it’s popular with kids as well – footstools are available for hire for those otherwise unable to see the layouts. We didn’t take our baby this time as they’re a bit young, and it can be rather crowded – not ideal conditions for a pram. Maybe next year, when they can take an interest in what’s going on.

York is one of the larger exhibitions, both in terms of the number of layouts on show and also in length, as it runs over three days. Opening yesterday, it runs until tomorrow.

Home Farm at Temple Newsam

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Pig and piglets

On Saturday, Christine and I took out little one to the Home Farm, part of the Temple Newsam estate near Leeds. It’s a working farm with many rare breed animals, that is open to the public for visits. And, with it being the springtime, it was also full of cute baby farm animals.

Although much of the Temple Newsam estate is free to access, including the parkland, gardens and an accessible adventure playground for kids with disabilities, entry fees are in place for the farm. But it’s free for the under-5s and it’s only £3.60 per adult, and you’ll probably spend over an hour there so it’s good value. There’s also an additional playground that’s only accessible to those who have paid to enter the farm, and a lower field with donkeys.

Goat and kid

At three months old, our little cherub is a bit too young to appreciate the farm (and was asleep most of the time anyway) but it’s great for families with young kids. Most of the animals are willing to be petted, and there are information boards and staff on hand to talk about the animals. Many of the animals are ‘rare breeds’ – breeds that are less common in British farming, and, in some cases, under threat. The pigs, for example, are British Saddleback, Tamworth and Middle White breeds, and the sheep include Manx Loaghtan which are native only to the Isle of Man (although I don’t think any where publicly viewable when we went).

With it being the Easter holidays, I expect the farm to be really busy at present, but it’s well worth a visit, as long as the weather is okay. There are some indoor bits, but most of the farm is outside so it’s probably not the best way to spend a rainy day. Also, if you’re pushing a pram or wheelchair like we were, be aware that there are a lot of uneven cobbles, and that the farm is on a hillside.

Vaccinations

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Our baby is now 12 weeks old, and has had their first round of vaccinations. These should have been given at 8 weeks, but our town was flooded out at the time of birth, and this included our GP surgery.

The first round is four individual vaccines. One of these, the rotavirus vaccination, is given orally as drops, but the rest are needles. These are the 5-in-1 vaccine (diphtheria, tetanus, whooping cough, polio and Hib), Pneumococcal, and the brand new Meningitis B vaccine. Sadly some older children aren’t and there is pressure for it to be made more widely available.

As you’d perhaps expect, our little cherub wasn’t very happy about the needles, although it can’t have been worse than the various blood tests in their first week of life. This was as a result of developing jaundice, which required regular blood tests to monitor. Some pre-emptive Calpol (or rather generic-brand Paracetamol Suspension for Infants – it’s the same thing) hopefully helped. Later on, our baby was a little feverish, but more Calpol helped and has been fine since.

Whilst we didn’t really ‘choose’ to vaccinate our baby, there is no way that we would have opted out of the vaccinations. Christine and I are both in favour of vaccinations and the protections it gives people. I always have the ‘flu jab every year, which I get free because I’m asthmatic, but also because ‘flu is horrendous. Christine gets it free as well, as she is professional healthcare worker.

By ensuring that our baby is vaccinated, we’re not just protecting them, but others as well; not everyone can receive vaccinations, either because they’re too young or have compromised immune systems. Herd immunity is important.

The next round of vaccinations will be in a few weeks, for the 5-in-1 and rotavirus vaccines again, along with Meningitis C. Whilst it won’t be a pleasant experience at the time, it’ll be far better than for them to contract those diseases.

The Guilty Feminist Podcast

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Hi, I’m Neil, and I’m a feminist.

A cursory search of my previous blog posts suggests that I haven’t really talked about feminism on here in the past (this bit about one of Caitlin Moran’s books was all that I could find), but both myself and Christine strongly believe in the equality of the sexes. With this in mind, last night I went to a recording of The Guilty Feminist, a weekly podcast hosted by stand-up comedians Sofie Hagen and Deborah Frances-White.

The Guilty Feminist is a relatively new podcast with the sixth episode due to be posted this week. Each episode is recorded in front of a live, fee-paying audience, and focusses on a particular topic. Last week was advertising, and this week will be about exercise. Last night’s recording, at the Waterside Arts Centre in Sale, near Manchester, was for two episodes, on womens’ magazines and on self-worth. There’s always a special guest and Sarah Millican, one of my favourite stand-up comedians, was at the recording I went to. She founded an online womens’ magazine called Standard Issue (which I read from time to time) and she explained her reasons for setting it up on the show.

I’ve been listening to The Guilty Feminist since it started, having been aware of Sofie Hagen from some other projects – she has her own podcast called Comedians Telling Stuff and she’s won a couple of prestigious best newcomer awards over the past couple of years. It’s a good show – around 45 minutes, with a mixture of stand-up and discussion around the topic of the week with the special guest. Because the audience pays to see the recordings, there’s no advertising or plugs for Audible or Squarespace, or requests for donations, which is refreshing. And there were free macaroons for the audience too, but you’ll have to listen to the podcast to find out why.

Unfortunately I wasn’t able to bring Christine with me to the recording. We weren’t able to arrange any childcare, and, as the show was being recorded, it wouldn’t have been appropriate to bring a baby with us in case they became disruptive. So, it was just me, on my own, in a predominantly female audience. Still, I had a good time and was really pleased that I went.

The shows that were recorded yesterday will go out at different times – the first in a few weeks and the second in the summer. I’ll tweet about them when they’re up, but in the meantime, you can listen to the other episodes on iTunes. There are further recordings coming up – one tonight in London, and then some in Denmark and Australia – and I’d recommend checking them out.

Kate Lycett’s Lost Houses

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Bankfield Museum

Running a stately home is a lot of work – you only have to watch shows like Downton Abbey to see why. (note: I have never watched Downton Abbey.) Organisations like The National Trust spend millions every year to keep their properties going. Not all houses are lucky enough to have someone maintain them and some have fallen into disrepair or been demolished.

With this in mind, artist Kate Lycett has painted a series of pieces called the Lost Houses of the South Pennines, which has gone on display in Halifax’s Bankfield Museum. All of the paintings are of houses and stately homes in Yorkshire which are no longer standing, such as Manor Heath in Halifax (now Manor Heath Park) or Horton Hall near Bradford.

What makes Kate’s paintings stand out is her attention to detail. All of the paintings show the houses as if they were still in their heydays – lights on, and with an almost ethereal glow, giving them life again. Gold leaf has been woven in to good effect.

Alongside each piece is a description of the house – who built it, what it was used for, and its ultimate fate. Photographs are also provided, as are Kate’s scrapbooks that she used during her research. Ironically for an exhibition at a Calderdale Council venue, many of those houses were demolished by its predecessor organisations. Dry rot seemed to be a major problem in several properties but I think money (or the lack thereof) has been the major factor in most of the houses’ demise.

We’ve visited twice – Christine and I were lucky to be invited to the opening night by a mutual friend of the artist, but we also popped in with my parents at the weekend. It looks like it’s been pleasingly popular.

All of the paintings are for sale by sealed auction bid, but you can also purchase limited numbered edition prints that are signed by the artist. These include the gold leaf that the originals have. The exhibition runs until early April, and is free to visit.