Interiors inspiration from Yorkshire

One of the things we enjoyed on our weekend trip to Malton was browsing around the independent shops - and there’s plenty of those. What I realised afterwards is that it’s not only the interiors store which provided interiors inspiration, so in this post I’m sharing photos from our mooch around the shops, and more.

But let’s start at the interiors shop Interiors at Nine to Eleven who had planned a ‘yard sale’ for the weekend, but had valiantly moved that inside given the weather forecast - that’s where I found my £1 fabric sample. Around the shop there was a riot of colour and pattern, and I was smitten with the green sofa pattern, MOH less so. I’m less sure about the wallpaper but the bold prints definitely do it for me.

In another section of the shop it was the black and white wallpaper that caught my eye. I think it’s too ‘tame’ for what I have half an eye out for, mainly as I think this will be an even harder sell than the patterned fabric above with MOH who already thinks our house is too white!

Heading back to the stairs and the main shop I did stop and admire the fun carpet, and I mean if you can’t have fun in an interiors shop trying out things to assert your style and brand, then when can’t you?

I kept coming back to these ‘cheeky’ plates by Yvonne Allen, as they just made me smile - and in fact I’ve since bought a set and am keeping up with my ‘making cake era’ just so we can use them, though I did resist the matching cake forks - mainly because they weren’t dishwasher safe and I can’t be doing with that kind of faff, and reminding MOH every time we use them.

Looking around the curios shops in The Shambles we found plenty of tins, too many to make a choice (or even photograph) decanters and a gorgeous wire chicken.

Our next stop was the secret whisky bar at McMillans, and there was plenty of good looking interiors there too, no really there was.

Our hotel was it seemed prepared for the weather with a selection of wellies for use in the entrance lobby, as well as chest of dreams (for me at least) which doubled up for room key storage.

We’d struck it lucky with our hotel room which had a lounge for our use - and with the weather on Saturday, that was very welcome and very much used by us. Though we still didn’t use the TV, something about being away - we just don’t, I don’t know why.

So if you’re looking for interiors inspiration and getting stuck, then think about looking in some less expected places - you never know where you’ll be inspired.

If you enjoyed this post and/or are looking to visit Malton and its surrounding area, then check out all my posts from our impromptu weekend away.

Malton, a reminder of how ‘to weekend’

We had a last minute, impromptu weekend break to Malton, or Yorkshire’s food capital, and we had a great time. It feels like a while since we’ve had a weekend away from it all, though I’m sure it’s not that long really. It was a bit of a stab in the dark as to where we ended up, but we struck lucky.

I wanted somewhere not too far away, but far enough - it’s about a two hour drive for us, but neither of us fancied the Cotswolds this time round. It wasn’t until after we booked it that the weather forecast started to look decidedly dodgy, but well, I’m sure the weather wasn’t that great anywhere on Saturday tbh!

As we left home early Friday afternoon it didn’t take too long before we were in queues of traffic just north of Newark, and we remembered that travelling on Fridays isn’t always a good thing. The SatNav then shared that the A1 was shut further up, and did its thing and took us on a wild and wonderful route, which meant we saw parts of the country we would never have seen otherwise. But we arrived at our hotel, The Talbot in good time and settled into our weekend.

We ate in the hotel the Friday night, and following a really good meal and seeing the weather forecast for Saturday afternoon/evening opted to do the same Saturday night too. We didn’t do much on the Saturday apart from wander around the town and acquaint ourselves with many of the local independent shops, including the secret whisky bar at McMillans where we stopped to sample some of their wares.

We looked around the lush interiors shop, Interiors at Nine to Eleven and poked around the antique and craft shops in The Shambles leaving with some pretty hand painted cards, a vintage table runner and a pre-loved wine coaster. MOH found the local bike shop, Northern Ride who had an elusive ‘gadget’ mount that he’d been after. Purchase completed we headed over to the shops at Talbot Yard, stopping for a coffee at the Roost Espresso Bar, tasting (and leaving with) some Spiced Gin from the Rare Bird Distillery and buying a meat pasty for lunch at the butchers, Food 2 Remember - checking their opening times to make sure we could pop back and buy some of their produce before heading home.

A VINTAGE TABLE RUNNER AND SOME PRETTY HAND PAINTED CARDS

A FABRIC SAMPLE WHICH I FELL IN LOVE WITH - A BARGAIN AT A £1

And then we settled in for the afternoon back at the hotel with our new purchases, the newspapers and a book - and working out our plans for the next day.

The Walled Garden at Scampston Hall

This hadn’t been on my list before we got here (but then again not much had) but it was just over ten minutes drive away and looked a good bet, but it’s only open Wednesday - Sunday, so that was our plan sorted for Sunday then.

There’s twelve different areas in the walled garden which was designed by Piet Oudolf in 1999, and this is his largest private commission in the UK. It was great to be able to wander pretty much everywhere, including the Gardeners’ Yard. I’ll share more in a future post, but here’s a snippet from our visit.

THE CONSERVATORY

CHARD IN THE VEGETABLE GARDEN

THE SERPENTINE GARDEN

We also headed out to explore the parkland, though with the sky looking decidedly dodgy again, it was only a brief wander down to the Palladian Bridge (from where the photo below was taken) and along the lake to the cascades and then back across to the cafe.

LOOKING DOWN THE LAKE FROM THE PALLADIAN BRIDGE

THE CASCADES

It was a good choice, and a good way to walk off the cooked breakfast. In fact we didn’t even have a cake in the cafe we’d been so well fed since we arrived. The hall wasn’t open when we visited, but I’d be interested to peek inside if we’re ever this way again.

Our hotel deal included a cream tea, and we opted to have that in the hotel’s lounge when we got back that afternoon - that’s also a reason why we didn’t have cake in the cafe, but after a scone with jam and cream we were fully topped up again, and skipped dinner as neither of us really needed any more food.

A day at Castle Howard

I did know that we were staying about fifteen minutes from Castle Howard but I wasn’t sure if we’d visit or not. We ummed and ahhed about whether to go for the gardens only ticket, or to add in the house too - in the end we opted for both, and it was good to see the house again (we last visited in 2018) and to see how it had changed, including a couple of rooms which had been refurbished since we last visited.

It is expensive, but it’s cheaper to buy the tickets online - 10% cheaper - which is something. Though it’s not clear that the prices shown are the reduced price, and so I didn’t follow through on the purchase. As we were queuing we realised the prices at the venue were higher, so we ducked out of the queue and used the free wifi to buy our tickets online at the cheaper price. Well, it would have been rude not to!

THE VIEW FROM THE BOAT HOUSE

We opted to start our day by walking down to the Boathouse, an area we’d not been to before, then skirted round the boundary past the Temple of Venus along to the Temple of the Four Winds which I posted about after our last visit - it’ll be interesting to compare my photos from this visit, then we wandered past the lakes and up past the Atlas Fountain to the house.

THE ATLAS FOUNTAIN

Yes, we decided to do both - and I wasn’t disappointed. The Turquoise Drawing Room remained one of my favourites…

THE TURQUOISE DRAWING ROOM

… but there’s a new kid on the block, with the recent unveiling of the Tapestry Drawing Room, which if you look at the second photo below is even more remarkable given its state just two years ago.

THE TAPESTRY DRAWING ROOM

A PHOTO SHOWING THE STATE OF THE TAPESTRY DRAWING ROOM IN 2023 BEFORE RESTORATION

With the house tour completed, that just left us the Walled Garden to do - two walled gardens in two days, what’s not to like?

DAHLIAS IN THE WALLED GARDEN

It was full of dahlias, berries and so much more.

BERRIES IN THE WALLED GARDEN

And once again we were treated with the bluest of skies for our visit. I’ll definitely share more from our wander around this part of the garden, as looking back it doesn’t appear to be something I shared before - and I’ve no idea why as it’s a gorgeous space.

CLIMBING SWEET PEAS AND THE BLUEST SKIES

We finished our day with a visit to the Thai restaurant, Tuis of Malton, just along the road. The food was good, the portions were huge and I’d hate to think how many chillies they get through in a day, let alone a week!

Then it was almost time to head home, but not before a visit to the butchers and the bakery over the road. My freezer is now very full, and so’s my heart actually. Malton’s a great place to visit, and a great place to remind us how ‘to weekend’.

A week in the North East

Well, where to start?

As you may have guessed from the title of this post we’ve been to the North East. It started in Yorkshire for a family wedding, one that was on its third date - thanks Covid. But this time it happened and it was great. The journey there took us a little longer than we expected, and it did for quite a few guests, but that was pretty much forgotten once we saw the view looking over Robin Hood’s Bay from our hotel room.

The hat bought in 2020, only slightly just before the pandemic, finally got its outing - though it was pretty windy outside so I mostly held it, or held it on my head, just in case. My dress had cape sleeves, and luckily they were attached, but during my reading I’m sure they were making a bid for freedom.

I told you it was a stunning view.

OVERLOOKING ROBIN HOOD’S BAY

Northumberlandia: The Lady of North

Once we’d caught up with family, friends and the newly weds over breakfast and said our goodbyes, we had an overnight stop close to Morpeth. We didn’t have much planned and it wasn’t until the next morning we realised we were staying right next to this large land sculpture. It’s the largest in the world - and in our defence it wasn’t visible from where we were staying!

It’s really quite enticing and shows a reclining female, with viewing points and paths around and up and down the sculpture. I’ll share more on this in another post, but it really was quite a lovely thing to find and to explore, and if you’re close by it’s worth a stop.

Cragside

Our plans for the day, before checking into our accommodation for the week, was to head up to the National Trust’s Cragside - billed as Britain’s original smart home, being illuminated with hydro-electricity and powered by hydraulics. It was fascinating, and beautiful too - and lots to see, and share!

After learning more about how the hydro-electricity system powered the house we headed through the woodlands and approached the house over the iron bridge and up through the rock garden, which made for quite the entrance - a more usual route is also available! Inside the house there was so much to see, so much that I’ve struggled to choose the photos to share with you in this post.

The kitchens are, for the time, high-tech but there’s also the traditional butler’s tray and so many copper moulds, and some so, so tiny!

In the dining room they had what looked to be a very patriotic table, but one which extends to sit many more than you’d think. Out in the hallway, and an entrance hall that was added later on are arts and crafts style tiles, which wouldn’t look out of place in a modern day home.

And still there was more to explore, and so we headed off towards the formal garden with its Edwardian glasshouses which are currently being repaired. There were some surprises in this part of the property too, but I’ll save that for a fuller post.

The Treehouse, Beacon Hill Farm

Cragside was slightly north of where we were staying for the rest of the week, so after a stop for tea and cake we were able to jump back in the car just as the rain started. By the time we arrived at Beacon Hill Farm after a quick shop for supplies the rain had stopped, which made unloading the car into the golf buggy a lot easier task. It was great to get a lift down to the Treehouse, but it actually wasn’t that far we discovered quite quickly!

The treehouse was stunning, and just as we expected it to look. It was much warmer inside, which was a pleasant discovery and useful throughout the week where the weather had everything: wind, rain, hailstorm and even some sun. While we got out and about, we did spend quite a bit of time mesmerised by the views and on cow-watch.

Alnwick Castle

I was keen to get to at least one castle on our trip, and we did. And if you’re going to chose a castle then why not Hogwarts? And so that’s where we went. It turned out to be the only castle on our trip, but I’m sure we’ll be back to this part of the world to visit some of the others - there are many!

Alnwick Garden had been on my list to visit too, and even though they’re next door to each other, each was charging its own entry fee - and both were pretty steep, but I couldn’t help but try and sneak a look at the gardens as we walked past. In fact of all the places we visited on this trip Alnwick, while great, is the place I have the most criticism for. The double entry fee which I’ve already mentioned, without even a discount for visiting both felt a little too one-sided and grabby. I know these places must cost a small fortune to upkeep, and the past few years have been tough, but even so.

In the Castle pictures weren’t allowed in the State Rooms, but you could buy a guide book for £5 and throughout the rooms there were banners promoting their new book. I’m pretty sure that the pictures I’d want to take wouldn’t be in the guide book, so it’s a shame not to be able to have taken any.

The gates though, on part of the garden boundary, were pretty spectacular.

Barter Books, Alnwick

Now this wasn’t on my list before we arrived in the North East, but it is one of the Alnwick attractions and I’m glad we went. The bookshop is in the former train station and has pretty much every genre of book you could ever want. And there’s model trains running overhead, and much more. Definitely visit here if you’re in Alnwick.

Wallington

My photos might show bright sunshine, but we arrived in a torrential shower. One so heavy that I was surprised that the National Trust man came out of his hut to share information and zap our membership cards - we were happy to have waited, we waited before we got out of the car in any case, and were grateful that our walking boots remained in the car.

You wouldn’t believe how quickly the weather changed, and how quickly it started to dry out - by the time we reached the Walled Garden, having decided to head there first in case the rain came again, the sun was out and the warmth was so welcome.

The walled gardens were spectacular, with many more plants than you’d expect from the shot above. I’ll definitely be sharing some more from the gardens so look out for those. Back in the house the dining room was set for an afternoon tea party for the upcoming jubilee, which made me smile.

It was a lovely house, with the rooms set around a central hall and the decor was simply stunning. The ceiling in the Drawing Room took my breath away, MOH was rather taken with the library and I’ve a feeling he’s keen to have one in our new house!

The painted panels in the central hall were also stunning, and there were at least twelve panels each one different.

After seven nights away we spent Friday travelling back south, knowing that we’ll be back to explore the North East at some point again. There’s so much to see, and our four nights there meant we only scratched the surface. If you’ve been to Northumberland where would you recommend?