Yorkshire Autumn - Oct/Nov 2019

Sunset on the river Ure

We arrived a couple of days early, by invitation to our sit in Lower Dunsforth, North Yorkshire.  We were met by a very friendly couple, homeowners David the Kiwi and Caroline.  The resident gaggle of very cheerful doggies, along with Lucky the three legged cat, were to be our charges for the next month.

Willow (Labradoodle), Eti (Golden Retriever), Misty (Labradoodle)

Lucky, who was found as a tiny kitten with a badly broken leg

The house was large, very comfortable and warm.  Dave had recently renovated Caroline's family home and what a splendid job he had done.  Caroline's parents, Peter and Val moved into a new cottage on the back of the property which David also built for them.  What a lovely arrangement this was.

We were technically only responsible for Eti and Lucky.  Whilst Willow and Misty resided at the cottage with Peter and Val, all three dogs roamed freely between both houses, gravitating toward wherever the action was likely to be.

Every afternoon we took them all for a river walk.  What well behaved, responsive and exhuberant girls.  Such a pleasure to take out and about.

It didn't even matter that there were so many mud puddles along the way. 

 Once we got home, caked in said mud, there was a special doggie shower to wash the girls off .... everyone loved it except Misty, who really needed it the most!

Before ..... 

During

After ....

Just like magic really!

Air drying method

No  excuse necessary ... this is just Eti's favourite pose

Lucky took a couple of days to come round to having new 'parents', as cats generally do, but once we made friends there was no stopping him.  What a character he turned out to be!

He also loves his sister.

And helping Clare with a spot of knitting!

Spotted skipping across the stones in the pond.  Quite a brave activity for a three-legged boy!  Then again, he loved nothing more than being out in the rain, coming in dripping wet.

James was pleased to be able to walk down to the river Ure where he spent many an hour fishing.  He is fairly familiar with the area, having been a member of a local(ish) fishing club for a number of years.  However, he had not fished this particular river before.

The girls and Clare would visit him on the daily river walk.

Not sure if the girls had seen a fish up close before!?!?
Misty was pretty keen to fetch them back as James released them :-)

 James was pretty pleased with his takings: barbel, bream, roach

Caroline's Mum and Dad came over for Sunday dinner each week and we helped them out with some lifting work for a charity with Peter is heavily involved in.  PhysioNet gathers discarded NHS equipment (crutches, wheelchairs to name but a few) and sends them to countries in need ... Ghana, Nepal etc.  What a fabulous and worthy cause indeed.

We had some beautiful autumn days and the girls just loved to be out in the yard.

When the weather was not so great, where else would they rather be?

Watching the Rugby World Cup

Sunday morning snuggle, of course

Time for bed

And then there was always this one ....

*Contented sighs all round*