Days Out Archives - Page 12 of 16

Home Farm at Temple Newsam

December 29, 2024March 22, 2016 by Neil Turner

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.

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.

Kate Lycett’s Lost Houses

December 29, 2024March 1, 2016 by Neil Turner

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.

Yorkshire Wildlife Park

December 22, 2024February 15, 2016 by Neil Turner

Yesterday, Christine and I took our little cherub to the Yorkshire Wildlife Park, near Doncaster. It’s one of Britain’s newest zoos, having opened as recently as 2009. It’s been on our ‘to-do’ list of regional attractions for some time, but it’s not the easiest place to reach by public transport – from Sowerby Bridge, we’d need to get a train to Leeds, another train to Doncaster and then a bus, and then the same going back. Now that we have a car, it’s only a little over an hour’s drive away, and gave us something to do out of the house on Valentines Day.

Despite the name, the Yorkshire Wildlife Park is more like a zoo than a safari park, so you park your car and head in on foot. The park covers a large area, and unlike some zoos, has a narrower range of animals but larger enclosures with bigger groups of animals. Whilst one zoo might have one or two tigers, the wildlife park has six spread across two big enclosures. And there are some animals, like polar bears and an armadillo, that I haven’t seen in other zoos. No red pandas though.

Some of the enclosures allow you to walk through, but those that don’t usually have dedicated viewing platforms without metal railings in the way. Consequently it’s popular with photographers with some very large camera lenses and tripods around. As with most attractions, photography for personal use is fine, but commercial use requires a license.

My personal highlights were the tigers and the polar bears, although I also enjoyed the talk about the lemurs. Again, like most zoos, there are talks throughout the day, every half hour. Although we got there quite early, we didn’t get chance to see everything as what started as a very sunny (but cold) day turned to snow by the mid-afternoon. But I’m sure we’ll be back, especially as our little cherub gets a bit older and is able to appreciate it more. As it was, they were asleep in the pram most of the time.

Another thing that sets the wildlife park apart from its rivals is its range of food outlets; each one has a different focus and it’s good quality. We went to the Safari Cafe by the entrance and were impressed with the food and drink on offer, much of which is from local suppliers. Entrance to the wildlife park is, like many zoos, a bit pricey – we pre-booked online which cost £13.50 each for adults, but children over 2 will be charged £11.50. Tickets booked online are a pound cheaper, but make sure you check the weather first as almost all of the park is outdoors. And there are annual passes available for those who visit regularly – I expect we’ll be back quite a bit in a year or two as it’s our nearest outdoor zoo. We really enjoyed our day out and I strongly recommend it.

Thought Bubble 2015

March 10, 2024November 16, 2015 by Neil Turner

Christine and I at this year's Thought Bubble

After enjoying it so much last year, Christine and I made a return trip to the Thought Bubble Comic Con at the Royal Armouries in Leeds yesterday. I wore basically the same steampunk outfit as last time, but Christine had to wear something rather different as she’s now seven months pregnant. Sadly, her octopus headpiece (called Derek) was not playing well with her and so it was left in the car this time.

As with last year, we spent rather a lot of money, although our most expensive purchase was a babygrow from Genki Gear, so technically it wasn’t for us. We also picked up a couple of books, some comics, some decidedly bizarre Christmas cards and a few small pieces of artwork that we’ll frame and put on the (still mostly barren) walls of our new house.

We saw some great costumes – the £4 entry discount for cosplayers once again acting as an incentive to get people to dress up. I saw at least three female Thors, suggesting that Marvel’s decision to pass Mjölnir to Jane Foster has been well-received, several Starlords and a small boy dressed as a TARDIS. There was also a Hogwarts cosplayer with an actual owl, although I understand she was a paid professional. And the owl later did a poo on the floor.

It was great fun, and I’m sure we’ll be back again next year – all three of us.

The Old Brewery, Greenwich

October 25, 2025October 27, 2015 by Neil Turner

This is the second in a series of posts about what we did on our recent trip to London.

After visiting the Cutty Sark, we took the short walk to The Old Brewery. Originally, this was the brewery of the Old Royal Naval College, opened in 1836 in Greenwich. In 2010, the Meantime Brewing Company moved in; at first, this was their main brewery but nowadays most of their beers are brewed elsewhere. Some brewing equipment remains, but the rest of the brewery is now a bar and café, owned by Meantime.

Meantime is one of my favourite brewers, and I’ve sampled most of their range of beers before. So I was pleased to have the opportunity to visit, even if it was just to have lunch in the café. As you’d expect, the full range of Meantime’s beers are available, either on tap or in bottles, and we had a happy couple of hours getting merry on good beer.

A northerner like me would find the food and drink a little pricey, but then it is in London, and slap bang in the middle of a UNESCO World Heritage Site to boot. Meantime’s beers are on the expensive end of the spectrum anyway.

The Meantime Brewing Company had humble beginnings, back in 2005, and was one of the first ‘craft beer’ breweries in the UK. However, this year it was taken over by SABMiller, the world’s second largest brewing conglomerate. This has seen some of its production moved to the Netherlands, where its beers are produced alongside Grolsch. SABMiller is itself in the process of being acquired by its largest rival, Anheuser-Busch InBev.

Whilst Meantime may no longer have its hipster credentials, they still produce good beer, and The Old Brewery is worth popping in to if you’re in Greenwich. You may struggle to get a seat at lunchtime, although there is plenty of outdoor seating if it’s a nice day.

The Cutty Sark

October 25, 2025October 25, 2015 by Neil Turner

Slightly later than planned, here is the second in my series of blog posts about our recent trip to London.

On the Saturday, we went to visit the Cutty Sark, a ship in a dry dock in Greenwich, east London. The ship was built in the late 19th century, initially to deliver tea from Asia to Britain. In 1954, the ship was moved to a dry dock in Greenwich, and became a tourist attraction. I first visited it with my parents in the 1990s.

In 2006, the Cutty Sark was closed to visitors to allow it to be restored; forty years of standing on its keel meant that the ship began to sag. Despite a major fire, the ship re-opened as a museum in 2012, now raised on a series of supports. The dry dock has been glassed in, to make it an all-weather attraction, and to mimic the effect of the ship on water. This also means that visitors can walk under the ship for the first time, and there’s now a café at the bottom of the dry dock.

The tour starts inside the ship’s hold, with various displays telling the history of the ship and the cargo it carried. Some of these are interactive, and I particularly enjoyed the bench seats which simulate the swaying of the boat on rough sees. You then climb up to the top deck, which has been extensively restored, and you can pop into the captain’s quarters.

At £13.50 per head for adults, it is a little pricey for somewhere that most people will spend a couple of hours at, but discounts are available. We used a 2-for-1 voucher from Days Out Guide as we’d travelled to London by train. Cutty Sark DLR station is just around the corner so it’s easy to reach by public transport.

It was nice to see the Cutty Sark again, having been as a child. The restoration has been done very well, and the glass enclosure is a nice touch.

A weekend in London

October 25, 2025October 12, 2015 by Neil Turner

A photo of the Union Flag flying in front of Tower Bridge in London

This weekend, Christine and I went to London to visit friends, and tick off a few places off our London to-do list. It’s quite a long list, as there’s lots to do in London and we only get to visit once or twice a year. Indeed, this was my first visit since February last year, although Christine managed a brief overnight trip last month for work.

I took quite a few photos, but as my computer at home is still boxed up (and likely to be until the weekend at the earliest) I’m only uploading a select few at this stage, and editing them using Aviary, the photo editor built-in to Flickr. It’s not as good as the tools I have on my Mac, but it’ll do for now. I will be posting about the things that we did over the next week or so.

It will probably be the last major trip we do this year. Christine is now entering her last trimester of pregnancy and so she is becoming less mobile as time goes on. Whilst she managed okay in London, I don’t think she will be able to do many big days out in future, so this was something of a ‘last hurrah’ for us before the baby is due early next year.

All in all, we had a good weekend, and it was nice to see our friends again.

Tropical World

December 29, 2024May 26, 2015 by Neil Turner

Yesterday, as a birthday treat, Christine and I went to Tropical World. It’s effectively an indoor zoo, housed in a series of greenhouses in a corner of Roundhay Park, in the northeast corner of Leeds.

Whilst I’m not sure of the full history of the place, I get the impression that it was originally designed to house tropical plants (of which there are many – Tropical World has one of the largest collections outside Kew Gardens in London), and has later had butterflies and other animals added to it. These include a crocodile, various fish, frogs and snakes, bats, jerboas, a slow loris (allegedly – it was hiding when we went), a wide variety of birds and the ever popular meerkats. There’s a photo of one above; cute, but it didn’t offer me a great deal on my car insurance.

Tropical World is not a big place and we got around in a little under two hours, but it’s not expensive either: £5 each for adults, with discounts for children and local residents. It has also recently re-opened after a refurbishment, and now sports a much larger café and gift shop, along with a central American themed zone. With hindsight, yesterday wasn’t a great day to go, with it being a bank holiday and also the school half term holiday – consequently we had to queue for half an hour to get in. There were plenty of kids there – who were fine on the whole. Shame that couldn’t be said about some of the parents.

This was our second visit to Tropical World – the first time was three years ago, prior to the refurbishment. I’m sure we’ll be back again sometime – it’s a nice place to go, easily reached from Leeds city centre by the number 12 bus from outside the top entrance to Leeds market, and it’s not too expensive either. And it’s indoor, so great for even the most foul, cold winter days.

You can view the photos that I took this time on Flickr, and those that I took in 2012 as well.

Being a train driver at the Foxfield Railway

December 29, 2024May 19, 2015 by Neil Turner

My dad reached the grand old age of 70 a few months back, which begged the question: what do you get for the person who has everything? So we clubbed together as a family and bought my dad a train driving experience at the Foxfield Railway, near Stoke on Trent in Staffordshire.

Like me, my Dad has a keen interest in the railways, although unlike me he actually worked for the railways for many years, as a civil engineer. Whilst he’s designed many structures for trains to use, he’d never actually driven one before, so this was to be a new experience for him. And, fortunately, we have family in Stoke so getting to the railway for 9:30am was not a problem.

The experience lasts all day, and the railway can accommodate up to 4 people at a time. The training is provided by the volunteers who run the railway, many of whom are retired from the mainline. The train for the day was W. G. Bagnall 0-6-0ST No. 2 “Florence”, and initially the ‘students’ took it in turn to practice driving the engine out of the station and back again. Later on, each of the participants got to take it in turn to drive the train all the way along the line, with passenger carriages. They also took the role of fireman, which included learning how to couple and uncouple the engine from the carriages, and got to use the levers in the signalbox.

Pleasingly, friends and family were also allowed to be part of the day – I was able to follow my dad around with my camera for almost the whole time, and consequently took over 100 photos. And we brought part of the extended family along with us to ride in the carriages whilst my dad drove us up and down the line.

The volunteers that run the driving training experiences were great – friendly and accommodating, and ensured that participants and their families all had a good day out. At the end of the day, those that took part are presented with a certificate and there were more photo opportunities to be had.

I had a great time, but, more importantly, so did my dad. It’s something that I’d definitely recommend for those with a similar interest in the railways. Foxfield are now booked up for the rest of 2015 so you may need to wait until later in the year for their 2016 dates, if you want to try it for yourself.

The Bradford Brewery

December 29, 2024February 20, 2015 by Neil Turner

Last night, I went along to the opening night of the new Bradford Brewery. Once it’s fully up-and-running, it’ll be the first brewery in Bradford city centre since the last one closed in the 1950s.

Whilst the brewing equipment is still being assembled, the Bradford Brewery’s brewpub, The Brewfactory, opened yesterday. As well as various beers and ales from other local (and not so local) breweries, there is the first of the Bradford Brewery’s own beers available to purchase, called The Origin. It’s an IPA – smooth with a slightly spicy after-taste, although overall I found it a little bland. It’s being brewed at the Baildon Brewery for now until the on-site equipment is up and running, which should be within a couple of weeks.

The brewery is located in a small former factory building on the corner of Westgate and Rawson Road, behind the Oastler Centre, with the pub occupying most of the ground floor. As a factory, moisture meters were built there to measure moisture in wool (to discourage dampening the wool to increase its weight), and its industrial past is reflected in the decor. It’s a bit sparse at the moment, but then the place has only just opened after all.

North Parade

The Bradford Brewery is just around the corner from North Parade, home to Bradford’s independent quarter and an increasing number of bars. I wrote about the Record Café last year, which joined The Sparrow and Al’s Dime Bar on the same street. The Brewhouse is another bar due to open there shortly.

Good quality new bars are always welcome in Bradford and hopefully a sign that the trend for pub closures might be easing, at least in certain areas. The Brewfactory certainly has a great selection, with eight handpulls for cask beer, several more keg pumps and a variety of canned beers. It’s aiming towards the top end of the market – the only mainstream beer available on tap was Amstel with most of the rest coming from independent microbreweries.

Whilst The Brewfactory will be the home of the Bradford Brewery’s beers, the brewery has ambitious plans for production once its equipment is commissioned – with the aim to produce over 10,000 pints per week. So hopefully their beers will be widely available across the region, and maybe even further beyond. And conveniently, they’ve been able to start production (albeit offsite) just in time for next week’s Bradford Beer Festival in Saltaire.

I wish the team behind the Bradford Brewery the best of luck – their plans have been in the pipeline for a long time, and it’s great to see them finally coming to fruition. It was busy when we visited last night and I hope that it remains so.