The alarm seemed to go off very early this morning…

Mr C quickly did his packing before we went for breakfast.  There was a lot of banter as Toby served breakfast.  When one of the other guests asked him if he was alright this morning, he looked at us and said  ‘No not really’ and we fell about laughing, much to the puzzlement of the other guests.

After breakfast we loaded up the car and settled up the bill with Toby who then went to get Leona so we could say our goodbyes.  We exchanged email addresses and Leona said next time we are in the area, we must call in to have a coffee together, because at the end of this season they will no longer be running the Coach House  It was a sad moment that we were all rescued from by another client turning up to pay his bill.

We set off on our journey home via Mainsgill Farm thinking we might have lunch there.  It was very busy and crowded and not what we were in the mood for so we decided to drive on.   Whilst we were there I noticed that Kevin the camel was not around but I noticed two younger camels who turned out to be Doris and Delilah. Later I found out that Kevin was no longer with us.  He will be missed, he was a magnificent creature.

After driving a little further we arrived in Brough where we found just the right sort of tea shop for our mood.  It was small, busy and quiet.  Overlooking the tea shop were the ruins of Brough Castle which we went to explore after lunch.  We then resumed our homeward journey.

After saying goodbyes at The Coach House I drove across country and called in at Mainsgill Farm Shop for a cup of tea. When I arrived Kevin was there greeting all the ladies. He seems to have become a bit more gregarious since my last visit, he was posing in front of a row of ladies who were photographing him.

It had been the intention to to visit the farm for lunch on the way to Northumberland but the SatNav (human variety) malfunctioned and I ended up taking a ‘wrong turn‘, and going via Kirkby Lonsdale, which was a rather long detour.

On a recent post a comment was made about bears and seatbelts.  It reminded me of another incident that occurred last time I visited the farm.  When I got back to the car I noticed something on the back seat that took me by surprise….

For more of this weeks PhotoHunt pictures check out tnchick.

Northumberland ranks as one of my favorite places in the world. It has everything I love; dramatic landscapes, gardens, castles and history. But most of all I love the peace and tranquility, my favorite place to stay just adds to the experience.

On my journey down (or is that up?) I did have cause to wonder if I had been transported to a foreign land… I stopped off for afternoon tea and was greeted with Llamas and on closer inspection a camel!!! Apparently his name is Kevin.