A Yorkshire garden, and a ramble in the Shambles

We took to the road for the first part of our last full day in Yorkshire. We'd been listening to The Secret Garden in the car and were all keen to smell the gorse on the moors. I think we ended up being a bit disappointed in that quest, but we found a garden all the same: the Helmsley Walled Garden, just a 45-minute drive north.

It's a delightful English garden, with lovingly-cared-for beds full of all kinds of wonderful blooms. Here are a few of my favorites:

The kids were excited to see that this gorgeous iris variety is named after the Harry Potter character everyone loves to hate. I just thought the incredibly deep purple-black color merited a shot.

no clever names for this, that we saw

unusual, and prolific, succulents

There were also other welcome features of the place, like open spaces for running around...

...unusual sculptures it was fun to imitate—even the almost-3-year-old got into the act...

...and hungry chickens the kids were happy to oblige:

fan of all things purple found her happy spot

And not only Henry and I were inspired to snap, snap, snap those photos:

We had a tasty lunch at the Vineyard Cafe on the grounds, too, before heading back to town. There is also a castle on the grounds, but since we knew we'd be seeing lots of castles in a few days, we opted not to take time for theirs today. But we liked this one, Rievaulx Abbey, seen on the way home to York—so many castles—and churches that look like castles!

I should tell you how we happened upon this "secret" garden: Hal used AI, asking where you could go if you had some extra time in North Yorkshire. So this new technology can come up with useful information!

Back in town, we made our second visit to the Minster, then opted to have dinner in the interestingly-named neighborhood of The Shambles. The kids had seen it on their ghost tour and thought we should take some more time there. The name comes from an old word for butchers' displays or meat market, but now it offers a more varied range of products. Our group was particularly interested in a couple of magic-themed shops (yes, the English do wring as much out of Harry Potter's popularity as possible!):

a shop full of wands and brooms

sweets, not meat

remember that "gate" means "street"

Sure, The Shambles is a little kitschy, but still has fun things to see and I'm glad we didn't miss it. We wouldn't have had time the next morning, as we had a ways to drive and places to stop along the way to our next destination. I'll tell you about those interim stops in my next post.