Good Friday arrived and we thought we would have a drive over Yorkshire way. I had done some research and found out there was a good bike shop in the market town of Otley. My other half enjoys road biking and mountain biking so armed with this info, I can coax him to take me somewhere which might coincidently also have a lovely vintage shop say….or a pretty tea room. 😉
So off we sped over the moors along snow drift cleared roads ( My those drifts were high!), big blue sky full of puffy white clouds and Jake Bugg playing on the car stereo.Happy days!
Otley is a thriving market town in beautiful countryside only ten minutes from Leeds. The river Wharfe passes along the edge of Otley and there is a rather unusually named park which runs by its side. Titty Bottle Park was so named in Edwardian times due to nannies perambulating their charges up and down the river side path.
In Otley we had a nosy round the market, found the bike shop ( which went down very well with the bf by the way) and I purchased a couple of gorgeous tea cups from a darling little vintage shop called ‘Browse time’ , a treasure trove of old books,mismatched crockery and even retro sweets. Then we went for a sandwich in a cute little coffee shop and gift shop called Heebiesnear the market.Children may enjoy Heebies as it is an official stockist of Harry Potter merchandice.It even serves Butter Beer.:)
Seven miles from Otley is the equally picturesque Ilkley. Ilkley is a spa and festival town under the wild and beautiful Ilkley Moor. It also has its own 1930’s built lido. The lido is unheated though so we thought we would give that one a miss! Maybe in the summer time hey……
My actual reason for wanting to visit Ilkley is that I had heard that there was a little vintage tea rooms there. Unfortunately when we got to where the tea rooms were supposed to be ~they had shut down. So sad 😦
Ilkley is however one of the homes of a popular Yorkshire institution Bettys 
The first Betty’s tea rooms was established in 1919 in Harrogate by young swiss baker and confectioner Frederick Belmont who fell in love with the scenic Yorkshire countryside.These were eventually followed by others in York, Northallerton and Ilkley. Betty’s are a delighful combination of switzerland and Yorkshire. The tea rooms in Ilkley have an elegant interior with mirrored walls,art deco lamps and the waitresses wear clean crisp aprons,buttoned up blouses and vintage brooches. We did have to queue twenty minutes for a table but the delicious tea and cakes we ordered were well worth the wait.:)
HOpe you are having a lovely Easter weekend.X
sunshine and celandines 