First Blue Door On Tour Part 3: Bradford

Sadly we have almost come to the end of our tour. We had great times in Bedford and Sheffield in Parts 1 and 2. We start part 3 with our trip up to Bradford to Eve’s. We travelled up continuing to listen to Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone (I enjoyed listening to it so much while driving I had to borrow it for the journey home). 

Anyway, we arrived at Eve’s and had a tour of the lovely house. Then Eve and her sister Abi cooked us a BBQ, while me and Charlo played a bit of badminton. We then took a trip to the local pub for the evening. On our way back from the pub we decided to go try out the park, we were too old to go in the kiddy area but we did anyways :D As we went round the park we found some monkey bars which we all failed to do!! When we got back we prepared for sleeping in the caravan (Exciting!! Long time since I been in a caravan!!) There was a double bed and a bunk bed, the top bunk was literally a thin piece of board, Charlo tried it out but felt extremely unsafe!! So we settled down to watch Brave before going to sleep, ready for our last day on tour.

Our first trip of the day was into Keighley to take the steam train to Haworth. It was this train line that was used in the film of ‘The Railway Children’. But we had a bit of trouble finding the car park, so I now know the roads in Keighley pretty well as I travelled down some of them twice :) This did cause us to be late for the train we had planned to get so we had a little tour round Keighley while we waited for the next one and stopped for milkshakes. It was then time to make our way to the train station and take the steam train, it was rather exciting!!

Once we got to Hawthorn we walked up hill (of which there are too many up north!!) to go to the Bronte Parsonage Museum. This was in the house where the Bronte family had lived and mad their many creative pieces of work. It was very interesting. We then stopped off at a cute little café for lunch, Scones, Jam and Cream (had been wanting one of these for ages!!). We then ventured back to Keighley station.

From here we decided to travel to Bradford to go to the National Media Museum, where we had some great fun. We tried filming a set, and did a bit of dressing up, and rode in a pumpkin carriage… well sat in one anyway, I personally had a go at reading the news. It was a great place to end our fabulously fun filled tour. After this we went back to Eve’s and started the drive home, back down south dropping Charlo off on the way :)

It was a great couple of days, and will have to do it again!! Maybe you’ll hear about further tours and experiences as we go on in to our last year of uni :)

Good Bye for now

Sarah x     

First Blue Door on Tour: Part 2- Sheffers (Sheffield)

Hi guys!

Our sophisticated air con system began to fail on us on the way north and they were pretty much broken by the time we reached Part 2 of our road trip at Charlo’s home in Sheffield. It was a hot and sweaty journey as we didn’t want to open the windows or we wouldn’t be able to hear the Worst Witch and the Harry Potter tape. We arrived in hilly Sheffield late afternoon/early evening, had pizza for tea, popped over to the local pub and watched Sweet Home Alabama (“Just because I talk slow, doesn’t mean I’m stupid”). Sleeping in the spare home I was confronted with a gigantic moth which I ended up killing with a big dictionary and a Furby, which I had to put outside my room where it continued nattering to itself for a little while.

“Bright and early” the next morning, we set off for our Charlo’s tour of Sheffield! Woop woop!   

1.       Kelham Island Museum.

An extremely interesting steel industrial museum (very Sheffieldy ) to potter around in. There’s a huge engine which makes the loudest noise but sadly it was not on that day due to maintenance.  Sorry guys for changing the days... awks... Loads of stainless steel knives, forks, saws and engines.

2.       Around the city centre

A quick drive and we were in the city! We met up with a friend, who was in town, only for a few moments then we headed to get lunch. We popped by the winter gardens to get some lovely ‘Fancie’ cupcakes and ate our lunch by some fountains with pretty much everyone else in Sheffield. Those cupcakes were big and filling, it was possibly the first time we all struggled to eat a single cupcake! Then Sarah decided to run through the fountains and thus ran into a small child. After lunch, we explored the city centre for a little while and Charlo showed us her favourite independent shops.

3.       Botanical gardens

We headed to the very pretty botanical gardens, with its own mini Eden Project going on,  as Charlo wanted to show us a bear pit. There is no more bears in this pit after a baby fell into it and got eaten, way back in the Victorian times. There was a statue of bear there, it wasn’t a statue of a bear eating a baby. We were tired and hot so we rested under a tree where curious squirrel came uncomfortably close. After googling “what happens if a squirrel bites you?” we decided it wouldn’t be a good idea to get bitten by a squirrel...

We headed back to Charlo’s house to hose down Charlo and Sarah who (reluctantly) scoffed down the last chocolate ‘fancie’ cupcake. And then, with Harry Potter and the Philosophers Stone (read by Stephen Fry) blaring out of our windows, we said goodbye to Sheffield and headed off to the final stage of the first blue door on tour near Bradford.    

Until next time,

Eve xox

 

First Blue Door On Tour - Part 1: Bedford

Before I begin this tale of adventure I have promised a shout out for Lucy, this is her and her hubby's blog http://www.we-resolve.com/ they do wedding photos and stuff. You can go and check it out now if you promise to come back after, and read about our tour. Ok? Deal!    

Myself, Sarah and Eve went to visit each other last week, Katie couldn't join us as she managed to get herself a job! And I was really looking forward to going to that massive Decathlon in Stockport…not even joking. So 3 girls, 4 days and 350 (ish) miles. This is Part 1 the adventure.

Eve joined me at Sheffield and we ventured on the train to the South, via Kettering and it's lack of signs in the station. We safely arrived in Bedford where Sarah met us and drove us back to her village. At this point I should mention two things: 1 that Sarah lives in the middle of sodding nowhere and 2 her car is an old Corsa called Gary, which has no air con. We had our tea from a van that visits the village once a week to sell fish and chips. That's how small the village is, they don't even have a Chippy! I realised we were definitely in the South: they didn't sell gravy - having lived in the North all my life I was somewhat unnerved by this prospect. After tea we had a walk round the village (they have thatched roofs!) and watched Luther & How Harry Met Sally, I fell asleep so I still don't know how it ends. I presume they get together? 

The next day we ventured into Bedford itself, it's a pretty town with a river and "castle". Now if you've never been to Bedford I should inform you that the castle no longer exists, and hasn't done for around 800 years but it appears to be the only tourist attraction there… However the museum next to the site had some great historical dressing up props, I mean it was very informative and educational. After learning all about Bedford, the "castle" and its famous residents (of which I'd heard of two) we had ice cream on the Embankment. Interesting scenes on the Embankment included: a boat with a live owl on it (although the boat was not pea green and there was no cat), and knitted scarves round the lamp posts, obviously! Next we headed back into Bedford town centre in 30-odd degree heat before the long journey up North to Sheffield. Using my amazing engineering and diy skills, we created an in car air con system by tying battery powered hand fans from poundland, to the inside of the car. We also had some entertainment for the voyage: Sarah throwing a J20 on herself whist driving, The Worst Witch by Jill Murphy, & Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone both on cassette. Yes you read that correctly, on cassette.

I'll leave you with this from The Killers I think it perfectly sums up First Blue Door On Tour; the lyrics are from Enterlude

We hope you enjoy your stay

It's good to have you with us

Even if it's just for the day

We hope you enjoy your stay

Outside the sun is shining

It seems like heaven ain't far away

It's good to have you with us

Even if it's just for the day

Eve and Sarah will inform you about the rest of the adventure in Sheffield and Bradford.  

God Bless,

Charlo x