Bowes Museum

The incredibly impressive Bowes Museum at Barnard Castle. I walked down to the museum early this morning when everyone else was asleep. I wanted to try an experiment with the camera. This shot, believe it or not, is made up of 91 photographs!
There's a woodland walk round the park, some tennis courts and a play area. There's also room for outdoor performances and this afternoon there was also a mass picnic, which I am too tired to go to.

http://www.thebowesmuseum.org.uk/

Darlington

This last Saturday we went to Darlington. It reminded me a lot of some sort of mix between Newport & Cardiff in South Wales. So much so, that when this procession came down the street I had to take a picture because I have seen many like this from my Dad's pictures when the procession would come down the streets in Cardiff when I was a nipper.
I'm still getting used to the accent here, and I have to stop myself smiling when I hear Nicky getting called 'Pet' by the shop assistants. There is quite a bit of shopping to be done in Darlington and we bought loads of clothes for my work wear and some BluRays and DVD's from the many 2nd hand media stores.

Richmond

We've not been to many of the towns and villages on the outskirts of 'Barney' (as all the locals call it) yet, but we did take the kids to a youth club on Friday in Richmond. About 16 miles away, it's a lovely little place with lot's of churches, a castle and some falls (which I heard but didn't get to see). There was a cricket match going on in the park, and after a stroll, a pint of Guinness and a flapjack we settled down on the grass to wait for the club to end and take the kids home.
The picture is of the setting sun, taken walking along the castle walk.

Sports Day at the Cricket Club

This is Nicky at the Sports Open Day. A blazing Sunday from 12 - 5pm.
There were loads of sports clubs present for you to try your hand at. Obviously you can see the Rugby & Boxing club, but there was Football, Tennis, Taekwondo, Table Tennis, Cricket and probably some others.
Nicky was the only female I saw though put the gloves on and take on the boxers!

We Are Here

June 7th 2013. We have moved from Merthyr Tydfil in South Wales, where we have lived for the last 13 years to Barnard Castle in County Durham where I started my new job with GSK on Monday 10th.
It's a big move, but after being made redundant in Merthyr and applying for 40 jobs locally I thought it was time to look elsewhere. What a beautiful place to end up.