Thursday 9th June 2011

Our destination today was Skipton, North Yorkshire. We were staying in a bed and breakfast just outside the town. It was called Poppy Cottage, in the picturesque village of Carleton.

We left home just before 6am and drove up the A1 to an OK Diner near Peterborough. We arrived there before 9 and stayed a good couple of hours before travelling on to Knaresborough for lunch with my Uncle Rob. He made us his speciality, fish and chips. The babies had a good crawl about before we set off again for the final leg of our journey.
We drove up to Skipton and had a short walk round the market town before checking into our bed and breakfast.

Carleton (with an ‘e’) is a lovely village surrounded by rolling hills. Poppy Cottage is a pretty stone cottage with gorgeous views. We were made to feel very welcome from the start. After unloading the car we went out into the garden for a bounce on the trampoline and to meet the hens and lambs. We fed Esther and William in the breakfast room before putting them to bed in our room.

The room was fabulous! A gorgeous family room on two levels with an ensuite shower room. There was no bath so Esther and William had their first ever shower with Daddy.

David and I ate our picnic tea down in the breakfast room, we were able to use cutlery and crockery. We were also allowed to use the fridge and had access to free wifi. Brownie points all round!

We were up early in the morning with the bairns and so we walked round the village admiring the local primary school and beautiful church.
After our stroll we enjoyed a hearty Yorkshire breakfast; creamy porridge followed by a grilled breakfast with scrambled eggs. Poppy Cottage offers an extensive breakfast menu including pancakes which I am very sad to say I did not try.

Next time I will, as I would gladly go back again.

A great start to our first proper holiday as a family of four!