England Day 5

Today was such a good day!  We slept in and had a nice breakfast, then drove about 30 minutes away to have lunch at Liz's friend, Heather's, house.  She and her husband, Mike, live in a house that was built in 1469!  They have obviously made some renovations, but the old bones are still there.  The whole countryside where they live is so picturesque.  Their daughter, Charlotte (23), and grandson, Toby (8) were also there and the girls loved, loved, loved playing with them all day.  I expected that we would get there, visit for maybe 30 minutes, then eat lunch around noon.  Nope, we didn't eat lunch until 2:30!  We were starving!  Late lunches and dinners are definitely a cultural difference between England and the US.  Thankfully the girls were having so much fun that they didn't whine too much about it.  While Liz, Paul, Heather, and Mike visited at the house, the rest of us drove about a mile to the Wharf River to see the sights, run in a field, and throw rocks.  It was so pretty! 

Farmer's fields are fair game for people to walk through.  

You don't see many of these cool, old bridges in the states.

Delaney and Toby strike a pose.

Charlotte took this picture of our family.

I like this one of them all throwing rocks at the same time.

My favorite family picture of the trip.

Both girls took to Charlie right away.  We were so thankful that she was willing to keep them entertained!

Last one to the bridge is a rotten egg!

This wall is part of Heather and Mike's property, but they are all over Yorkshire.  The are dry stone walls and are hundreds of years old.  No mortar is used to keep them together!  It takes great skill to make one.

The view from their backyard.

The kids eating Easter cupcakes.

The front of their house.

L-R Heather, Toby, Allan, Harper, Delaney, Charlotte, Paul, Liz, Mike

We went back to Stephen and Gaye's in the evening for more dinner, fun, stories, and laughter with the family.