Shildon Railway museum

On an overcast Saturday morning we decided to go and visit Shildon. 25mins away and host to the Railway museum. It's quite impressive, you can get in the drivers seats on a few of the trains and get up close to nearly all of them. Oh, and it's all completely free!
One thing we did find out though, the cafe doesn't take cards. So after buying all the hot chocolates and cakes we than couldn't pay for them! Nicky had to nip off to the local garage to get some money out, so be warned to take some cash with you for that.

Fairy Castle

While we were at the top of Richmond Castle we noticed a folly in the distance. The Castle guide said it was called the Fairy Castle, so we walked over to see it. It looked like it was actually someone's house when we got close. An amazing place to live in!

Richmond Castle

We've been waiting for a bright sunny morning to go to Richmond Castle. Saturday, although it started with a blizzard, cleared up nicely so we went for it. The castle tower is very high, but as you can see the view is worth the climb up.

Cotherstone

On Saturday morning we carried on our exploring along the Tees Railway Walk. We started where we left off at Romaldkirk and walked to Cotherstone. A lovely little village. A lot of the places around Barney feel like something from the 70's, and it doesn't take a lot of imagination to picture them 100 years + ago.

Romaldkirk

My first day off this year. We went with our friend Michael on the Railway Walk to Romaldkirk. We got there about 11, and nipped into the Rose & Crown where we had hot chocolate and found they had just made some scones, so fresh from the oven with strawberry jam and clotted cream all round! Fantastic.

City Vs Stoke

A sort of belated Xmas pressie for Nathan. 2 hours down the road to the Etihad for the Stoke game. City won 1-0 which is a bonus.

Aguero, still on injury leave arrives.

 The rest of the team turn up in their luxury Starliner coach.

 We were there quite early, the stadium was almost empty when we sat down.

 The 'City' boy & his Dad.

 The team came out to warm up. We could have reached out and touched them from our seats.

 Nathan really wanted Nicky to come too this time.

 The 'Beast' Negredo.

 Flag waving, music & singing before the start.

 When it finally filled up it was a sell out attendance.

Egglestone Gardens

Winter is slowly coming to an end and today we had a big enough break in the weather to visit Egglestone gardens. There is a garden center in the grounds and that itself leads off to 'The Old Church' which is completely overgrown and has a tree growing right in the middle of it.
After that, we took a walk down the road, followed the river and ended up in the hills following all those wooden steps yo can see.
A nice morning for the boots to get muddy.