A Ribchester Ramble.

The weekend saw us head to the Ribble Valley village of Ribchester for a 5.5 circular walk, taking in squelchy fields and country lanes. Ribchester was the site of the Roman fort Bremetennacum and there are ruins of a Roman Bath House in the village. Take your wellies if you do this walk. 😁

An old cottage in Ribchester.

Love this Autumnal wreath.

Corpse Bride.

Pub sign for the White Bull.

We left the village by following the private road to Parsonage farm , where a bridleway took us into waterlogged fields.

Parsonage Farm.

Hugo loved this rainwater pond.

View through the trees.

After squelching through the fields there was some country lane walking. We kept Hugo on his lead, though we didn’t see any cars. Hothersall Lane eventually joins the Ribble Way.

Beef cows at Butchers Fold.

Butchers Fold.

Someone’s watching me…

Look out for those ducks.

Hothersall Lane winds its way down to an Outdoor Centre and then Hothersall Hall. Apparently just past the entrance of Hothersall Hall Farm there is a stone head wedged in a tree. But we couldn’t find it!

Hothersall Lane.

Autumn Leaves.

Hothersall Hall.

We climbed uphill to some trees and there were great views over the Ribble.

Hugo watching us eat sandwiches….

Heading downhill.

Fungi on a tree.

Spot the fieldfare. ❤️

We followed The Ribble Way back to the village. There are lots of interesting old buildings in Ribchester ,so it’s definitely worth a look around.

Fishing on the Ribble.

Love this house gateway.

St Wilfred’s Church, one of four local churches here.

Ribchester Roman Museum.

A column depicting Ribchester’s history.

Potters Barn Cafe is open for takeaways. I can recommend the cake. 🍰

Roman Bath House remains.

Roman Bath House remains.

It was good to visit a village less than ten miles from home, that we have rarely spent any time before.

Find this walk in Guide to Lancashire Pub Walks by Nick Burton.

Spring walks, a Nature Diary and an Easter treat.

The Easter Weekend so far ~ a Good Friday walk with friends, spring shoots and wild flowers and a visit with my lovely friend Lisa to Stydd Gardens in Ribchester. 😁

Blackthorn blossom

Good Friday Walkers assemble in the Calf’s Head Beer Garden.

Stydd Gardens.

Nutella Hot Chocolate and an Easter treat. Rosie Duck at Stydd Gardens.Soo good. 🙂

Lovey Dove.

Treats for the dog at Rosie Duck.

My Ladybird book What To Look For In Spring helped me identify some of the spring flowers below.

Butterbur by a stream.

Golden Saxifrage.

Wild garlic leaves. I do have a recipe handy for wild garlic leaves & cheese scones!

I am going to start a nature diary for my sightings. 🙂

The Easter Weekend has been lovely so far. 🙂

Roll on the next two days. X

Afternoon Tea at the Glass House in Ribchester.

Just in time to post for Afternoon Tea Week here is a quick review of a gloriously decadent afternoon tea in Ribchester! My sister, our friend Becky and I booked in at the gorgeous Glass House at Stydd gardens last Sunday. It was actually a treat paid for by my work ( Thank you work!) to help celebrate my long service award ( Yikes!) and what a lovely way to celebrate it was. 🙂

As you can see the restaurant is inside an old Glass House which is home to lots of beautiful tropical plants and eclectic furnishings. We were shown to our table and after choosing our drinks, English Breakfast tea for the girls and a glass of Apple juice for me, we chatted away whilst waiting in anticipation for our Afternoon tea. By the way free drink refills are encouraged. 🙂

As you can see the two tiered cake stand that the sandwiches and cakes came served on was HUGE. It was gold coloured and my photo doesn’t really do it justice. You can’t really see but it is topped with a majestic crown!

Sis can’t wait to tuck in. 😉

The top tier contained an abundance of tasty finger sandwiches on white and brown bread. There were four choices of fillings ; Smoked salmon and cream cheese, Roast ham, Egg and cress, and Lancashire cheese. All were super substantial. No delicate cucumber sandwiches here!  Although i’m not a smoked salmon fan these ones were proper delish.

And look at the cakes! These beauties on the bottom tier were absolutely sublime. As you can see there are lush lemon cakes, delightful chocolate cakes, magnificent looking fruit scones with jam and clotted cream ( topped with strawberries and blueberries) and the little pots contain a fabulously fruity Eton mess. Yummy!

All this deliciousness came for only £16.95 each so it was very good value for money indeed. We couldn’t eat it all so the friendly staff boxed up any leftovers for us to take home. Afterwards there was time to wander round the gardens a little bit but unfortunately as it was Sunday the  pretty gift shops in the grounds were closing by this point. If you would like to see more piccies of the outside check out this previous post.

Birthday lunch at Stydd Gardens.

As my other half is busy watching that crazy Yorkshireman/speeddemon Guy Martin on the telly, I thought I would share a few pics from my Birthday lunch today at the Glass House in Ribchester. The Glass House is literally a tropical greenhouse that houses a sublime yet quirky restaurant. For me it was love at first sight. 🙂 We enjoyed scrumptious food in eye catching surroundings, then had a nosy round the grounds ( Stydd gardens is also a garden center) and browsed the eclectic collection of gift shops in brightly painted cabins. Hope my pictures give you a little idea of the ambience of the place. The Birthday Girl ( and her guests ! ) aprove. 🙂

My Portobello Mushroom Burger. 🙂

Cheeky monkeys. 🙂

Coffee and walnut cake. Yummy!

I really loved my visit and The Glass House is somewhere I wouldn’t hesitate to return to. What a Birthday treat!