No3 - Ruby Anniversary Weekend

A very uneventful drive up to Bedale saw us arriving at the retirement home where Marion's mum now lives at shortly after 3 o'clock. We found Mum in very good health, she has put on some weight, and she was very lively. I had a cold so I didn't stay long as the home doesn't welcome visitors with colds but Marion spent a good hour and half with her Mum before we left to go to Thornton Steward, a small village about 6 miles out of Bedale further up the dale. To get there we had to pass through Thornton Watlass, where Marion used to live and where Alan, Marion's brother still farms. We actually drove directly past the church where we were married 40 years ago.

We shortly arrived at Thornton Steward to be met at the door by Alan's partner, Janet. It was a cold November night and it was great to see a cheerful traditional fire burning in the main room. Janet was in the middle of preparing a meal of both grouse and pheasant, no doubt the spoils from Alan's many days of shooting at this time of year. Apparently there are lots of grouse this year.

The meal turned out to be fantastic which we started after Alan got back from shooting and putting the farm to bed for the night. The grouse were the best I have ever eaten and the pheasant were excellent as well. We ate the meal accompanied by SE Australian wine which I think was a Cabernet Sauvignon/Shiraz blend and which was just right with the game.

During Saturday Marion caught up on all the farm paperwork. I went up to Leyburn, poked my head into Tennants, the auctioneer, where an auction was in progress, and then on to the shop, Serendipity, where Janet works. The shop was very busy but I managed to persuade Janet to wrap up my present for Marion for the anniversary. In the afternoon Marion went off to see her Mum again and I sat down to an afternoon of international rugby.

In the evening we went out to dinner with some very old friends to tghe Blackwell Ox in Sutton-on-the-Forrest a small village just north of York. We were joined by Ann and Alan, and Ruth and Guthry. These friends were at our wedding and indeed had known Marion all her life. It was great seeing them and they were all in good spirits. The Blackwell Ox Inn( http://www.blackwelloxinn.co.uk/ ) was unknown to any of us and I had selected it off the internet followed up by some checking through Joy with some of her York based customer contacts. It turned out to be a great choice and the food and service was very good. We all had different food choices so I chose a red, 2005 Gevrey Cambertain, and a white, the ubiquitous Cloudy Bay Sauvignon Blanc. Both were excellent and helped the flow of the conversations as we all caught up with what we, our friends and friends of friends were all doing.

Sunday saw us start very lazily. I was able to give Marion the ruby ring that I had bought on my recent trip to Jersey. I had an anxious time in the past few days trying to get hold of Marion's ring size and had to do it by comparing it to my signet ring. Triumph!. The ring fitted pretty well and Marion was completely surprised by the present and had no idea that I even had a presemt for her.

We had planned a family sunday lunch at the Friars Head restaurant at Akebar ( http://www.akebarpark.com/ ) between Bedale and Leyburn. We were joined by Mum, Alan, Janet, Jean who is Marion's cousin plus her daughter Angela and June and Mrs Broadwith long time friends. Everyone chose to have a traditional roast choosing either the roast beef or roast pork. We complimented the meal with some pinotage and riesling wines which both went down very well. It was an excellent way to clebrate our 40th anniversary.

After the meal we dropped off Mum at the retirement home and said our goodbyes. We then went back to Janet and Alan's house to collect our cases. On the way we stopped this time at the church where we were married. In spite of the rain we took some photos before going on to Thornton Steward and the back down the A1 and M1, through some very hard rain to Milton Keynes and to Giles and Karen's house where we are staying until we leave on the trip proper on wednesday evening.