A Mini Tour of Britain Part Two

So are you back for more? Sorry if part one was too long but there is so much I wanted to share.

So Stow on the Wold is very close to Cheltenham which is where the inspirational Bex , formerly one half of Stuffed Nonsense and now Ampersand & Commodities opened a shop which I mentioned last year so I made OH make a diversion so I could pop in say hi.

And it was incredible. So many tempting things to buy. If you are in the area you must go there! Was great to see so many familiar works from Crafty Fox regulars as well as artists I'd not see before. And Bex is such an inspiration as she essentially created the shop from a disused building at the back of a cafe but it is now full of light, colour and creativity.

After I parted with some dosh with a new stash of brooches we jumped back in the car and headed cross country over to Stamford. You may recall we stopped off there on the way to York last year but this year we decided to stay over night in a very nice pub and explore a bit more.

Stamford is home to Burghley House which is one of the finest Tudor Mansions in the country. We were only one mile away for it and I'm a sucker for historical houses but when I mentioned the entry fee was £15 OH pointed out that it was quite a lot of money for something he wouldn't enjoy. So Burghley House was out the window for a trip. Looking at the map I realized we could go to the Yorkshire Sculpture Park on the way to York.

I visited the YSP about 10 years ago with my friend Bill as we were  up in Harrogate for a wedding but had forgotten how stunning it was.

The YSP is a major collection of Henry Moore's work which is stunning in the landscape

But there were so many other pieces - here are just a few !

Oh and another cheeky OH shot through a Hepworth!

And so we reach our final destination, York. Do you remember Skylon, my BFF from last year? Well here she is again! We went on a fair few dog walks I can tell you!

The boys suggested going to a Cold War Bunker run by English Heritage. Now the Cold War does that, kinda leaves me cold so I wasn't overly keen but this was fascinating! You have to go on a tour which is about an hour but it was really interesting. Here are a few arty shots! 

And of course we couldn't help but notice that something was coming to Yorkshire soon.

Yes OH and I completely messed up by coming to York the week before the Tour de France was coming to town. It was even going past our friends' street! Gutted but still we did enjoy watching it on TV on the sofa.

So that's it, this year's road trip. I love pootling around the UK