In early October we headed to Skipton for an excellent five day break staying at the Rendezvous Hotel, located right on the banks of the canal.

We had planned to visit Scampston Hall on this itinerary, however circumstances were to conspire against us! Scampston Hall were only able to accept our booking on the day we were travelling to Skipton, due to limits on the number of coaches they can accept each day, so we duly planned early pick up times to allow for travelling an ample time at the stately home.

However - the week before we were due to visit Scampston Hall, they contacted us to advise that the road was being closed on the day of our visit and would entail a 45 minute detour!! Sadly this made our visit unviable as we would have had no time there.

So - with a week to go - what to do? Nigel came up with the inspired idea to see if Harewood House would be able to accommodate us, and luckily they had availability.

Our visit to Harewood House was excellent, with a free-flow tour around the house, gardens and grounds, and a delicious cream tea booked for mid-afternoon. Our visit also coincided with the latest part of their Missing Portraits exhibition, featuring a portrait of actor David Harewood.

The Missing Portraits exhibition has the aim of acknowledging that the galleries of Harewood House mainly include artwork featuring white men and women, which doesn’t reflect the diversity both of society and the estate as a whole. David Harewood has the Harewood surname because his ancestors were slaves on plantations held by the Harewood estate in Jamaica, so seeing his portrait was very thought-provoking!

With one of our planned excursions taking place on the outward journey, we decided to add an extra excursion on what would have been an extra free day. In the morning we headed to Thirsk, which is famed for its connections with vet James Herriot, who lived and worked in the town, and is home to the James Herriot Museum. It was also market day, so we had some free time exploring the town before heading back to Ripon for some more free time.

The following day we headed up to the pretty village of Grassington in the Yorkshire Dales, which is full of historic cottages and was used as the filming location of the fictional town of Darrowby in the recent TV series, All Creatures Great and Small. From here, we continued to Harrogate where our group had free time to explore the shops and museums, as well as a visit to the famous Betty’s tearoom.

Our final day included a free morning in Skipton - another market day in town - before returning to the hotel for a canal trip on the afternoon. The hotel has its own canal boat called the Graceful Swan, and we were presented with a superbly sumptuous High Tea onboard as we meandered our way up the canal to Skipton canal basin and back, enjoying the sights and sounds of the waterways. Our High Tea included sandwiches, cakes, scones and desserts and we were all pleasantly full by the end of our canal trip.

All on all we all had an amazing time on this superb holiday to Skipton!