Real Ale and Cider Weekend, RHS Harlow Carr, England

We attended the Real Ale and Cider Weekend at RHS Harlow Carr Garden in June of 2014. In addition to sampling some fine local brews, we enjoyed activities for the kids and live music as well.

The live music was provided by FiddlersWreck Ceilidh Band who played traditional folk music. They played wonderfully and we enjoyed listening.

FiddlersWreck Ceilidh Band

Later on they had a duo

Just across the lawn from the band was some giant garden games for the children (and young of heart) to play, including tether ball, jenga, and other over-sized games.

Play area

J and L at the tether ball

J tries a bowling game

A couple of tents were set up by retailers hoping to sell their wares. They fit thematically with the weekend--a home brewing kit seller and a beef snack seller!

Abbey Homebrew tent

Barefoot Biltong British beef booth

Of course, the children were only interested in one snack on a hot June day--ice cream from the garden's kiosk!

In line for ice cream

I stayed in the other line to sample some of the brews.

Line of brews

The ales I drank are (in chronological order):

• Railway Porter by Five Points Brewery, described as "A Porter in the classic London style with our own twist. Aromas of chocolate and coffee with hints of caramel, brewed with British East Kent Goldings hops." The train name is suitable, because I found it a bit sooty. There's too much roasting or coffee flavor for my taste. It had a bitter, burnt taste that was not to my liking.
• Three Swords by Kirkstall Brewery--described as "Very pale and spectacularly thirst-quenching. Three different hops give this beer a delightful citrus nose." This ale is light and refreshing but not too distinguished. Great for a sunny summer afternoon.
• Native Storm by The Celt Experience--described as "Sharp body meets orange, citrus with a touch of delicate spice at the eye of the storm. Inspired by Owain Glyn Dwr Welsh ruler, conquering spirit. A dry-hopped ESP style with only Euro hops." I liked this. The epic description is a bit grandiose. Native Storm is more of an everyday ale.
• Wild Mule by Rooster Brewery--described as "Brewed using New Zealand's Nelson Sauvin hop, which creates a white wine fruitiness that's backed up by a lasting grapefruit bitterness. Wild Mule is a new world, session-strength, pale ale with a kick." This was a nice ale to finish with. I found it refreshing and flavorful.

We also explored the gardens, which included some tributes to the upcoming (as this is published) Tour de France in Yorkshire.

L and J appreciate the smells of spring

Pretty flowers

Biking bunnies?

November School Report

I've been thinking that I should be writing about all the little stories from school, but they never seem big enough for their own post and I don't have a Twitter account. To fix this, I will write monthly reports, collection bits as the month goes by. Here's November!

This month saw a big step forward for J and for L--homework! Also, they had a school trip to Harlow Carr Garden.

J had been bringing home "talk homework" on Thursdays, suggesting topics to talk about so the students could write about them the next day. Now he has written homework too. The book says it is spelling homework, but I think it is just as much about practicing writing (his handwriting, like most boys his age, is not very good) as it is about remembering how words are spelled. J initially wanted to write one word a day. The only problem was there were too many words for him to finish. So in a burst of enthusiasm, he finished it one Saturday.

J proudly shows his work

L also has writing homework, though hers is focused on letters not words. She's better at writing than J, mostly because she loves drawing and crafting.

L does her homework

Comment by the teacher, not us!

I was asked by J's teacher to help on the Harlow Carr Garden trip. A few days later, L's teacher asked me (both Reception and Year 1 were going) and I had to say no since I'd already agreed to help the other class. There may be some class warfare in my future. The trip itself was fun, though the morning was cold and almost rainy. The plan was to have one class do indoor activities for half the day and then explore the gardens the other half. L's class did the indoor stuff first, which meant J and I and his class had the cloudy, misty morning to explore the gardens. We found a bunch of leaves, sticks, and nuts to use for crafts back at school. We also searched for different animals and sights with an "I spy" sheet. The morning was fun but chilly. I had a group of five children and they stayed together for the most part.

We had lunch in a greenhouse that wasn't heated but at least it was shelter. One parent went for hot beverages while everyone started their pack lunches (including me!). The children were very well behaved for lunch, I was impressed. Eventually they became antsy and wandered a little bit, but not too much. Once done eating, we returned to the learning centre and heard some stories and information about trees. We went out briefly to look at some trees, including one that was planted in King Henry VIII's day. The garden staff gave us a sheet with different leaf shapes on it and we learned to identify trees by their leaves!

It was a fun if exhausting day. Everyone slept well that night! Sorry there were no pictures from the trip but that's the way school trips go.

L was star of the day twice this month, one time for crafting a book and the second time for sitting well and trying hard at all her work. The reception class has been really great for L even though she is often reluctant to go first thing in the morning. Not because she is not a morning person, just from general resistance.

She has turned into a arts-and-crafts-aholic. No room in our house has been spared some drawing or painting. Luckily she has put her work on paper and then hung it up rather than drawing directly on the walls. Some other three-dimensional art has come home from school. I got in trouble when I put this item in the recycling bin:

L's art

L scolded me, "Why are you putting my bread-stick maker in the bin?!?!?" We had to take it out. It has since been surreptitiously buried at the bottom of the recycling bin.

The PTA hosted two cake stalls (that's a bake sale to you Americans) this month. During the first one, I decided to pick up the kids first and then they could pick out their baked treats. Unfortunately, by the time we got back to the stall everything was sold out! At the second cake stall, I purchased first and picked up the kids second.

December may be a shorter report since school finishes on the 20th, but there are a lot of things going on like the Christmas Fayre and the Reception Nativity.

Harlow Carr Chickens and More

We made another visit to RHS Harlow Carr Gardens. This time they had some chickens in the kitchen garden section and were asking visitors to suggest names. We went to look but couldn't come up with anything original. They were pretty cute, though more full grown than we expected.

Chicken yard

Classic white hen

Eating out

The nearby signs explained a lot about the life, diet, and value of chickens. And how to grow an egg head, as seen in yesterday's post. All that I am reproducing from that treasure trove of information is the jokes they had as sidebars:

Q: How did the egg get up the mountain?
A: It scrambled up!

Q: What do chickens serve at birthday parties?
A: Coop-cakes!

Q: What do you get when you cross a chicken with a cement mixer?
A: A brick layer!

Q: What did the egg do when the other egg told it a joke?
A: It cracked up!

The kitchen garden also had a few useful plants.

Pear tree

Roughage

Portable greenhouse!

We saw a smattering of spring flowers too. First is the tulip sylvestris or mountain tulips as they are commonly known, lording it over some pansies.

Tulips and pansies in the greenhouse

Outside more interesting flowers were found, like fritillaria imperialis or aurea.

Aurea

L enjoyed some of the larger beds of flowers.

Colorful patch

L wanted to take some home!

Relaxing by the bench

We did go to the tree house and the playground, but the logness monster was the most popular kid attraction by far.

Bridge to logness

J and the logness monster arch

Green man tree decoration

We also saw a giant shovel which we thought belonged to a giant.

That metal bird is weird too.

We were glad to see Spring finally showing up after a long, cold, snowy winter.

RHS Harlow Carr Gardens in Lent

On a recent Sunday the weather seemed bright enough to go to the gardens after Mass, so we went to our old standby, RHS Harlow Carr. They had some seasonally colored flowers and an orchid show on in one of the buildings.

We are still amazed by all the hearty flowers that can survive in this Yorkshire "springtime" which includes plenty of snowy days. The flowers are perfect for Lent since they are mostly purple, just like the liturgical vestments the priest wore at Mass earlier in the day!

Field of purple

Ericaceae (known as heather or heath!)

Some white flowers anticipating Easter

In the Bramall Learning Centre and Library was an exhibit of orchids. The organizers looked like they were gearing up for a lecture so we only stayed briefly to admire the sights and smells.

Epidendrum stanfordianum and friend

Beallara Tahoma (white on top) and unidentified (below)

Lots of orchids

We managed to see some wildlife while we were at the garden, including some real ducks and some unreal rabbits (or possibly hares).

If a duck crosses your path, does it mean anything?

At first I thought these were deer, but clearly those are ears, not antlers!

No trip would be complete without a visit to the playground and the tree house. I took the obligatory tree house shot.

Would anyone notice if I kept using the same photo?!?

We had a fun visit to the gardens, even if we did have to wear winter jackets and gloves. Come on, Spring, we are waiting for you!

RHS Harlow Carr Garden in the Almost Spring

We had a bit of not so cold and damp weather here in Yorkshire and decided to take advantage by visiting our old favorite, RHS Garden Harlow Carr. The vegetation is just starting to show (we went at the beginning of March).  Some early bloomers include this Rhododendron praevernum.

Rhododendron in early March

Primula vulgaris is a yellow blooming flower that was found among the Galanthus nivalis, or snowbells.

Primula vulgaris

Primula with snowbells

No visit would be complete without visits to the kid-friendly parts of the gardens. We are sad to report that the outdoor musical instruments are gone. J was quite upset. Luckily, we still had the playground and the tree house (with its obstacle course) to visit, so his mood improved quite a bit.

J jumps off the climber

J on a roll

The now required picture of J looking out the top of the tree house

On our way out we saw a silly sight. Apparently, if you are desperate enough, you'll brew tea with any old leaves you can find.

We keep adding water, but the tea never brews!

We also bought some seeds and some potting soil to start growing some plants at home. They will be sure to show up soon enough on the blog if they grow anywhere near half-decently.

Halloween Trail at Harlow Carr Garden

Since the children are off school this week (it's half term), we have been having adventures in the mornings. On the eve of Halloween, we went to RHS Harlow Carr Garden for their monster trail and spooky story time.

We arrived just after opening, so not many people were wandering around the gardens yet. We found the display of activities and picked up a map so we could find all the scary monsters in their various hiding spots. The map had a spot for stamping as we discovered each monster.

Lucy poses in front of the display

Initially, Jacob wanted to wander all over the gardens and not go hunting monsters. So we wandered on paths and grass, admiring the plants and the waterfalls.

The gardens with fall foliage

Gooseberry plants (hopefully the berries will be here soon!)

A small waterfall

A satisfyingly larger waterfall

Finally I got him back on task and we went after the monsters. The first monster was hiding in the Alpine Zone, which is named after the sort of plants there, not for the fabulous mountains. Jacob was the first to spot this three-eyed critter. The stamp for the map was on the little red post on the right of the picture.

Monster #1 and Jacob looking down the slopes of the Alpine Zone

The next clue on our sheet took us to the Scented Garden, where a thirsty bug who, according to the clue, is "Drinking nectar, or is it blood..glug glug?" Lucy said she thought he was drinking blood. He does have those hypnotic Dracula eyes.

Jacob, Bug, and Lucy who is perilously close to the blood-sucker

The scented gardens

We continued on the trail to the Kitchen Garden, where we not only discovered Monster #3 but also a little yard for hens. All the birds were hiding under a tree, maybe because it is warmer there.

Monster #3

Hen in good camouflage

The next set of monsters was across the gardens by the tree house and the log maze. Unfortunately, the log maze area still had a lot of the rain water from the past seven or eight days, which made it very muddy and very slippery.

We're all happy right now to find Monster #5 (who came before #4 through a geographical goof)

Jacob did slip here and got a little upset at being a mess, especially since his trousers were dirty and a bit wet. We had to go find the toilet to clean up. Fortune favors the prepared and I had the backpack with the spare outfits in it. We were able to change him to clean trousers. We went back to get our stamp from the one-eyed purple monster. Fortune changed her mind pretty quickly because Jacob slipped again and had to soldier on with dirty, damp pants. He wasn't as upset. He wanted to find the last monsters so we went faster but also more cautiously.

We found Monster #4 by the tree house. The ground was especially muddy and yucky here. We had to choose our path carefully. Unfortunately the picture did not come out. We then searched out Monster #5 who was just beyond the log maze. Jacob didn't want to go that way. We made a bit of a detour around the side and made it to the last monster.

Monster #6 poses with Lucy

Jacob asked to go home at this point and I agreed. We skipped the spooky story time in favor of our warm home and dry jeans. We had fun anyway, though I promised Jacob that future trips to the gardens would be after some dry weather.

And, of course, I had to do laundry when we got home:

Pantspocalypse, or mudpocalypse