It’s been half term here in Yorkshire this week, and the mixture of bad weather and Little Miss being unwell for much of it, meant that it hasn’t exactly panned out how I had planned. Thankfully, I’d learned from last Year’s trip to Harrogate , which was plagued with illness, not to make too elaborate plans for October half term.

Sunday, we had a quiet day at home carving the Halloween Pumpkin. When I’d left the chap, Little Miss and Grandma to choose the pumpkin a week or so earlier I was moaning about the size of it. Turns out, carving a large pumpkin is easier than a small one because it’s easier to get your hands into. Now, there’s a boring bit of information you didn’t know you needed! Anyway, I was very relieved when of all the options on Pinterest, Little Miss chose a cat! It turned out lovely.

The rest of the day was spent lazily watching films and eating slow cooked chicken casserole. The next morning though, I needed to drop my car off at the garage for some very minor bits of work before my warranty expires. Not like me to be so organised, but at least it’s done now. As luck would have it, it also turned out to be the Chap’s day off, so once I’d dropped my car off, he picked me up. We pondered where to go, maybe Malton, or Pickering, but we decided in the end to drive over the Moors to Whitby.

I love Whitby, but haven’t been in some time. Goth fest had just finished the day before, and so there were still some Goth’s wandering the streets. To be fair, there are always Goth’s wandering the streets of Whitby, but there were noticeably more on Monday. I’ve recently been drawn to some more Goth style clothes, and so once we’d warmed up with a coffee in ‘The Coffee Shop’ we had a wander around some of the boutiques selling gothic and alternative clothes.

I put my eye on a few things, but decided that we’d wander around more of Whitby, and maybe come back for something later. We carried on, stopping off at my favourite herbs and oils shop, Totally Natural Skincare before deciding to climb the 199 steps to the Abbey.

It’s years since I’ve done this, but the views at the top are amazing and for any Dracula fan, you’ve got to sit on the bench in the churchyard and look out over the harbour and out to sea (if you know you know).

Perhaps if I’d known it was going to be quite so muddy at the top, I might have wore different shoes, but no matter, I had boots on at least!

It was a rare clear day, and the views of the town and the North Sea was absolutely stunning. The Abbey itself was closed as I think there had been events there for Goth weekend, but we still managed to bag some nice shots outside.

Once we’d took a slow wander back down the 199 steps, we took in a few more Goth shops, and then agreed that all of those steps had worked up our appetites. It was time for a fish and chip stop, before heading back to the first boutique we’d been in for me to try on several gorgeous items of clothing, one of which the chap has bought for me and put away for Christmas so you’ll have to wait a while to see what that is!

We finished up with a coffee in Weatherspoons enjoying a coffee, before heading off for the drive home via the garage to collect my car. It wasn’t until we were almost at the garage that I realised I’d left my favourite Lulu Guinness umbrella at Weatherspoons. The chap offered to drive back for it, but I resigned myself to the fact it was probably long since gone, and stopped him from making the journey back.

By that evening, little Misses cough that she’d had, descended into a full blown illness complete with high temperatures and lethargy. The next morning, she was still unwell, so it was a day of watching DVD’s and napping on the sofa for her. Meanwhile, I revisited my decision about my umbrella being gone, and phoned the pub to find out it was still there. Through the power of the internet and the lovely Mum of one of Little Misses school friends, who happened to be in Whitby that day, I’ve since been reunited with my favourite umbrella.

Wednesday came, and while there was some improvement in Little Miss, it wasn’t enough to go anywhere. It was enough for her to be bored though, so in between watching Disney DVD’s, we baked a delicious cake.

And painted some pebbles using a pebble painting kit that the chap had bought for her the week before.

Thursday was another lazy day, and thankfully I’d stocked up on craft kits. This time we were making lavender bath bombs from a kit I’d bought on Amazon last week, when little Miss had spotted bath bomb making in one of my craft books. It turns out it was cheaper to buy the kit than to buy all the apparatus separately.

Whatever nasty bug she’s had, it’s definitely written off the whole week and so we finished up yesterday by baking our Christmas cake. I used to bake Christmas cakes every year, but I haven’t baked one since moving to Yorkshire a decade ago. Given little Misses love of baking, I thought it would be a nice tradition to get her into, and we both had great fun making this one.

She’s just about starting to get on the mend now, just in time to go back to school. Typical! I have to say, despite the enforced ‘lockdown’ though we’ve enjoyed baking, crafting and spending dedicated time together where, otherwise, we may have been out filling our days with stuff.