February Holiday Part One - The Journey to the North

 Thankfully I was soon testing negative for covid, and after 5 days of being negative, I could finally leave my bedroom! Hurrah! It did mean however that most of the two weeks I had booked off as holiday had already gone. Isn't that just bloody typical? Anyway, we decided to make the most of what was left, and got planning that night. 

We were not wanting to abroad just yet, so we decided to do the next best thing and head North! We'd wanted to go to Nottingham for a while, so that's where we decided to head. We also wanted to do a few bits around Sheffield too. There's always so many things on the to do list!

We decided first of all to head up to Doncaster, there was a castle & a farm there we had meant to do last time we were in the area but ran out of time. We stayed at the Old Police Station Hotel in Retford for the two nights we were there. I quite enjoyed it, I thought it was nicely decorated, fairly clean and with a good menu, James wasn't overly impressed and felt it wasn't the best of value. We stayed for two nights, the first night eating in the restaurant which was good, the second nice somewhere else in Retford (Sorry I didn't write down where!)

It was a bit of a mammoth drive up there, partly due to the insane amount of traffic, the whole world and their families seemed to be going the same way as us, but also partly because we kept having to stop every now and again for various things. The first time was to charge the car, then I needed a wee, then I needed paracetamol, then James needed to eat, then something else. It felt like it was a journey that would never end! 

Made worse by James driving behind this. Anyone else seen final destination? Anyway, I made him overtake it, because it was causing me a severe amount of stress following it. Anyway, we went to overtake, and then missed the junction we needed, which then added even more time to a very lengthily journey!

Anyway, after twelve years of driving we made it to Retford, checked in and dropped the bags off, before heading into the town for a little look around. It's a historic little town, but not an awful amount to do there on a late afternoon.

Things got a bit better the next day, with a visit to Aston Springs Farm. It's a vast farm, built up around a large lake, with plenty of different animals and things to do there. I'm not going to lie, it was close to freezing and there was nobody else there, so we had the place to ourselves, and also hypothermia by the end of it.

There was a wide range of animals, although a lot of them were hiding away due to the cold temperature. But we got to listen to the budgies chirping away in the aviary, and the goats calling out to us for food. 

Are these not the most beautiful sheep you have ever seen? They even let us feed them, which is quite unusual for sheep. They weren't fussed about the cold weather, but that's because they had thick wooly coats on!

We then headed over to Conisbrough castle for a look around. It was one we had meant to do previously but ran out of time, as per usual!

The castle for me was your average fare when it comes to ruined castles, although some of it's history was quite interesting. John de Warenne married Joan de Barr in 1304. It was an unhappy marriage, and in 1316 his request for a divorce from Joan was blocked by Thomas, the Earl of Lancaster. In revenge John abducted Thomas's wife Alice, in order to force a divorce from him. Interestingly, Thomas never asked for Alice to be returned to him. It was the quite the scandal, and continued until Thomas was executed for treason in 1322. Alice de Lacy had quite the colourful life, with scandal after scandal, including yet another kidnapping in 1336. 

The castle gives you amazing views across the landscape, including the Conisburgh railway Viaduct.

Amazingly, most of the staircases are easy to use, and resulted in a safe journey for myself to the upper floors, normally I end up bashing elbows, knees or ankles on something as I try to make my way upstairs!

The castle was also the inspiration for Ivanhoe, by Sir Walter Scott (I will confess I have not read it, yet!). Tickets are £9 for adults, as always English Heritage members visit for free, and there's a discount if you book your tickets in advance.

We had planned to do some more that day, but it was the most activity I had done since having covid, and I was feeling myself becoming more and more exhausted as the day went on. So we headed back to the hotel in Retford. James went out for a wander around the town, whereas I settled myself in for a nap, which actually lasted until breakfast the next morning. Maybe the world's longest cat nap?