I had a lousy night’s sleep. I woke in the dark, sweating like the proverbial. Mirinda had shut the window. The room has a real zoobie feel about it, so I didn’t dare open my eyes. This, of course, prevented me from opening the window. And so, the window remained closed and I kept sweating.
Breakfast was massive, with about a dozen loaves of toast. Very nice coffee, which makes a change. We sat over breakfast and watched great and blue tits at a feeder hanging outside the window.
It was a nice day – sunny, though a bit prone to hazy cloud.
We attempted to go for a walk to the nearby village of Kislingbury but the path vanished under a mire of nettles. So we turned back. We decided to drive out and see the castle instead. The one at Castle Ashby via Denton.
It was a bit of a disappointment. The castle (or what appears to be it) is actually a stately home that is now an expensive looking guest house – you’re supposed to pay £2.50 just to walk through the grounds. We couldn’t find the hut, so we did it for free.
We did, however, pay for a nice bit of banana/walnut slice at the craft shop.
We then decided to strike out for Canons Ashby, the only National Trust property within any sort of cooee of Northampton.
It was good, but not one of the best. A bit dour, if anything. There was a non-church which turned out to be a sort of fake.
We had a coffee and I enjoyed a very nice piece of apple cinnamon cake while Mirinda thoroughly enjoyed her ember slice. We then decided to go to Northampton.
It was unavoidable because we needed an ATM.
Talk about ghastly. Way yuck of a town. Sort of like Penrith to the power of ten. The only appealing thing was leaving. Interesting that it’s so crowded because I can’t imagine why anyone would want to live there. In fact, I feel I’ve already devoted far too much space to it and will now cease.
Canons Ashby had no postcards. Odd. So I made my own.
