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’.

In search of veg

You know how it is when you’re a bit summer veg-ed out? I mean it’s been great to eat so many lush peppers, crisp courgettes, sweet sweetcorn and many and varied salads, which always taste better when the weather’s great, but I’m a bit summer veg-ed out. So feeling the need for something different, I decided to set out and try a new green grocers and to combine that with a walk to up my steps.

I even took the long way round and headed through Charlton Park. My plan was to stop off and explore Charlton House on the way back, but after being drawn towards the cafe and its elusive clientele I changed my plans.

The cafe wasn’t open sadly, but that’s a good reason to walk this way again surely? The path led me on towards Charlton House, a Jacobean building originally a residence for a nobleman associated with the Stuart royal family, then later a wartime hospital, then a museum and library and now a community centre. It’s also where we got our first and second Covid jabs during lockdown.

When we were there then we popped our heads around the garden gate, noting that there was a garden and most likely more there than we could see at a quick glance. It’s taken a while to get back there, and we were right. There is a lot more there and the Amnesty International Peace Garden opens daily.

I was quite taken with the sculpture and the ‘froth’ of plants that greets you as you enter the garden which aims to be ‘a place for quiet reflection and contemplation’ and which opened in 2006.

The paths continued to lead me through the garden, wandering around the beds. There’s plenty of places to stop and pause, and to sit and enjoy the space. There’s also signs throughout the garden explaining the watering strategy during the current drought, and which reiterate the importance of putting the right plant in the right space.

Even though many of the plants are perhaps browner than they would usually be, there’s still colour and texture in the space along with some great trees.

And while this is a fabulous space, it wasn’t getting me the veg I came out for. So while I could have stayed and enjoyed the space for much longer, I was off in search of veg. Inside the local green grocers I found more summer veg, but also the start of autumnal squashes. I left with more courgettes, sweetcorn, a cauliflower and an onion squash - and a resolve to seek out some new recipes and ways of making the most of the summer veg while it’s still around.

And the bonus was, I’ve found a local garden and a cafe to come back and visit.

A posh lunch out

Last Saturday MOH and I got our glad rags on and headed out for a posh lunch, we even put proper shoes on. Mine weren’t quite the heels I once would have worn out, but small steps and all that. As it turned out, it was a good test for the wedding we’re off to later this month, so that’s all good.

Lunch was at Gravetye Manor in West Sussex, and yes, we were back - it’s been a while, but it remains one of our favourite places. It’s not somewhere we go often and is definitely in the treat category, which makes it all the more enjoyable. The attention to detail is phenomenal, and nothing is overlooked. This small table decoration in the lounge is a great example of that - a yellow tulip, and leaves and flowers from a strawberry plant shows how simple can also be effective.

The menu cover picks up the detail of the image panels on the walls around the restaurant, and the view over the garden is absolutely stunning.

And the food. Well, I even managed to remember to take pictures before I started to eat. This was my starter of asparagus, it looks a picture and the taste was sublime. I followed this with hogget and wild garlic and finished with the intriguing fennel, honey and lime - which was nothing like you’d expect, or I’d be able to recreate. All of it was absolutely delicious, and it was great to see more dishes around the table as between our table we managed a good selection from the menu for each course.

The yellow tulips, along with gorse and the purple-blue irises formed another stylish but not dominating table centre.

As it was such a glorious day we opted to have coffee in the garden, which was full of spring flowers - and clearly is well looked after.

There’s plenty of grounds to explore, but after a good lunch and in our finery, a walk to the walled kitchen garden was all we were up for. But even so, the route there was calming and enticing. It was slightly further than I remembered, and previously I’d done this in heels, but we got to the iron gate and let ourselves in.

It’s another huge space, and needs to be as the produce from the garden is used in the kitchen - but what a space.

We headed back towards the restaurant taking a different route, one stepped and easier to navigate, but definitely no less colourful only to be greeted back at the stone porch by the cheeriest pots of fully in bloom tulips. They definitely make your heart sing, don’t they?

Throughout the public spaces there were large arrangements of flowers, all of which we’d seen growing in the gardens. We stopped for a picture making use of one of the large mirrors, and we just about snuck in alongside one of the large displays - so here’s us wearing flowers, in amongst the flowers.

We might not be back for a while, but I’m pretty certain we’ll be back at some point.