Our Visitors Arrive

This morning Brad and I drove to Manchester Airport to pick up Domenica and Brenda, who arrived at 8 a.m. on an overnight flight from the U.S. They'll be staying with us for about a week. I had warned them to get plenty of sleep on the plane as we planned to hit the ground running upon their arrival. They managed to stay awake for the 1.5 hour drive from the airport. We served them a selection of Yorkshire cheeses and crackers and biscuits and then, after a short nap, we headed out to Bolton Abbey, one of our favorite spots in Yorkshire. It was a chilly gray day but the Abbey and village were charming as ever. Thanks to recent rains, the river was quite high and the water rushed under the wooden bridge completely covering the stepping stones. We wandered through the abbey ruins and took a brief tour of the Parish Church that is attached to the abbey. We stopped off for a bite to eat in the Tea Cottage and D&B had their first taste of Welsh rarebit. From the Tea Cottage we drove over to the Cavendish Pavilion for a short walk through the Strid Wood. By then our guests were mighty tired, so we headed back home, only telling them afterwards that we had just driven on the most dangerous road in the UK. I served homemade lasagna for dinner, Domenica helped with the salad and then it was off to bed.