Let it snow, let it snow, let it snow...

We spent a lovely family weekend in Durham, which is blanketed in snow at the moment. It was quite exciting travelling north on the train and waiting for the first white fields (just north of York). Ella saw her first snow!



Dad had organised a visit to the Tanfield Railway Santa special - you take the steam train, powered by magic coal of course, to the North Pole, where little ones get a present from Santa and grown ups get a mince pie and sherry :).



The snow made it really magical, and it ran as usual (the car park was closed so we had to park at the 'North Pole', but I don't think Logan noticed!). Logan was nonplussed by Santa, but he loved his present (a cuddly owl that he christened Tallulah) and he was thrilled with the train ride.





A really lovely Christmassy trip out.



Logan built a snowman with Grandad - with freshly picked carrot arms instead of a nose.



After a really nice catch up over lunch with my aunts, uncles and cousins, Mum drove us back to London yesterday through blizzards and traffic jams. It's so cold that there's still Yorkshire snow on the roof of the car 24 hours on - the only snow in north London (so far)!

Homeward bound

With Gran and Grandad at Durham station, looking for choo choos.

Tube art

Saw this at Highgate tube yesterday, I like the idea that taking the underground is a lottery though I'm not sure that's the intended meaning! It's by Stuart Cumberland.

Five go mad in York

Spent my birthday weekend with some schoolfriends in York, had such a good time! I've not explored York properly before (Jo's hen night and our two-hour visit on honeymoon don't count) so it was good to see the sights.

We spent ages (maybe a bit too long, sorry!) in the Minster, which is stunning but not as good as Durham of course. Those of us not hampered by pregnancy/dodgy hips made it up the 275 steps of the minster tower. It was a bit parky at the top but we could see the snow on the distant dales and moors. Christine also spotted a 32 carat diamond embedded in a chalice in the undercroft, but we couldn't create enough of a distraction to filch it sadly. My birthday cherry necklace made up for it though!

It was a freezing night for a ghost walk but we're northerners so we battled the elements, along with at least a hundred other hardy souls. Our guide, an incredibly hammy Victorian gent (well they are Equity qualified..), took us on a whistlestop tour of York's many gruesome sites (my favourite was the greedy orphan owner who slit the throats of his (weirdly Cockney) young charges in a drunken moment of madness; maybe favourite isn't the right word but never mind). Definitely worth doing but maybe wait for spring!

We warmed up in several of York's more reputable (for which read: cask ale serving) pubs, including the Yorkshire Terrier and The Last Drop Inn (both owned by York Brewery) and the Tap and Spile, which hosts a regular folk jam session on a Friday. The Yorkshire Terrier definitely gets my vote - good beers, tasty food and a lovely old pub decor.

I rather spoiled my birthday treat of afternoon tea by having two over the weekend, but neither of them came with clotted cream so Liberty's still had something to offer! And we managed to fit in a tasty curry too (not a neon waterfall in sight).

If you're thinking of visiting, I'd definitely recommend the Monkgate Guest House, just outside the city walls at Monk Bar. It was only about £40 a night based on two sharing, we all got our own beds and as long as you don't have a teddy bear phobia it's lovely.