Skipton Beer Fest

Just got back from a lovely few days in Skipton. It was the traindrivers birthday so we went to the Beer Festival, my first and I really enjoyed it, I tried  Mary Jane, Golden Pippin, Wild Swan and Manifesto Stout, all good except the stout which wasn't like Guiness at all. I also tried a Perry called Two Trees which I didn't like.  I kept the glass, its a rite of passage or something.

Skipton is a pretty, busy town with lots of nice shops and eateries. We stayed at the Woolly Sheep, well we had to didn't we and it was comfortable and central. This was important as we went by train so needed to be in walking distance of everything. I was able to visit Purl and Jane while he was in the pub and bought some BFL 4 ply for dyeing.

We didn't spend the whole time in the pubs of Skipton, we visited Ilkley and had tea and cake in Betty's, it was so quaint with the waitresses wearing broderie anglais blouses and black aprons. The cake was delicious. We needed a walk afterwards and found ourselves down by the River Wharfe where the crocus' and daffs were struggling to make an appearance.

We also went to Settle, this place has to have my all time favourite station, it's quirky, olde worldy and pretty with lots of tubs of daffs, pansies and violas. It has amazing views across the moors from the platform. Had we stayed on the train and not got off in Settle we would have gone over the Ribblesdale Viaduct.

I was able to get a bit of my Folded jumper knitted on the train, this is my attempt at stash busting. I proudly told my sister who keeps on about the size of my stash that I was using some of it, only to be reminded that I bought yarn in Yorkshire, not only the BFL but also this:

How could I resist? It's just crying out to be socks, I couldn't leave it on the shelf in the shop. 

We had a really lovely few days away, can't believe it's back to school tomorrow, heads down for the long stretch to the summer holidays.