Mrs Hudson Says.... October 22

Every month, Mrs Hudson, along with her three children and Dinky the Irish Wolfhound investigate the best family and dog friendly heritage attractions that the UK has to offer.

Read on to see where the Hudsons have been this month.

It feels like only yesterday that the kids were heading back to school after the long summer holidays and yet here we are again – half term has rolled around and the kid’s list of things they want to do returns. Leading up to the summer holidays, we had the kids draw up a list of the things they would like to do and then let them take turns in picking the activities. Being autumn now and having more changeable weather meant that we had to once again go through the suggestions before letting the children near them. We also wanted to pick something that Dinky could get involved with, so after some consideration we decided on a three day break in Yorkshire. We found a delightful dog friendly lodge with some last minute deals on the outskirts of Ripon and off we went! I was particularly keen to visit this part of the world, partly because I haven’t been for several years and also because England’s first tourist attraction can be found near Ripon and once Florence knew this (and that it was said to be occupied by a witch!) she was keen too.

We arrived on the Tuesday and found our cabin which was very comfortable and was perfectly Dinky sized. As we were located between Ripon and Knaresborough, our first port of call the following day was to the Fountains Abbey and Studley Royal, which is managed by the National Trust. It’s also a UNESCO World Heritage site and with all the autumn leaves looked really spectacular. The gardens and trees were such a lovely backdrop to the abbey ruins, the boys had a great time exploring the various walls and doorways, while I tried to keep Dinky away from the resident pheasants!

There was so much to explore there and so much space we ended up spending most of the day there – luckily it was dry and fairly mild!

On Thursday we made the short journey into Knaresborough, which is a very cute town centre with some lovely street art and a beautiful viaduct. The town has a former medieval castle which was at one time a major stronghold. Sadly, the castle museum and courthouse were closed for the autumn and winter, but the grounds were open and we, along with Dinky, very much enjoyed having the chance to stretch our legs.

We stopped off for some dinner before heading over to our most anticipated stop over – Mother Shipton’s Cave. We actually booked tickets this time to avoid disappointment, which was lucky as it closes its doors to general entry at the end of the month! As I said, Mother Shipton’s Cave is England’s oldest tourist attraction and is where you can find out all about one of the most famous witches, or prophets in England’s history. She was said to have predicted the Great Fire of London, the defeat of the Spanish Armada and more, she was also locally known to have created traditional remedies to illnesses and lived to the grand old age of 73 – quite an achievement for someone living at the time.

All three of the children loved learning about Mother Shipton, especially Florence with her love of the Tudors – she was born during the reign of Henry VII, so there was plenty of references to the time period. According to the legend, Mother Shipton, who was born Ursula Sontheil,  was initially raised in the cave system on the site before moving into the home of a local family in Knaresborough. She was married and widowed in her twenties, but kept the name Shipton and was known as Mother Shipton to the locals and earned a living telling people’s futures. What is actually true about her life isn’t really known, but local records do prove that she lived in the town of Knaresborough and was well respected as a prophet. The boys loved the idea of standing where an actual witch had been born and the creepy Petrifying Well, which is the bit of the site that actually gives the whole place its name as the oldest visitor attraction. It’s been visited since the 1600s and literally turns objects to stone! I don’t think I’ve ever seen the children so fascinated! I had to bribe them to leave! The museum also featured a range of petrified items and Queen Mary’s shoe! The best bit for me – Dinky was welcomed on site too!

We spent the rest of the afternoon wandering around the countryside around the cabin and exploring the nearby woodland to burn off our energy (by that I mean, I kept an eye on Dinky while the twins declared that their sister was a witch and she chased them around the trees) and then headed back for an early night before our journey back to Wiltshire.

Despite being a flying visit and quite a long way to go for just three days, it was one of our most successful trips. The kids are still talking about it now and Florence even asked if she could change her Halloween costume and be Mother Shipton instead!