Hiya!
Today marked our third and final day trip from York. We hopped on the coach at 8:45 and headed to the Yorkshire Dales, another national park. “Dales,” for our fellow Americans, are highlands and hills. As we passed what felt like 8,000 sheep on the endless windy roads, our lovely guide Johnny taught us about his experience on his Auntie Nelly and Uncle Harry’s farm. He also taught us (“us” as in the few that remained wide-eyed and bushy tailed) the road we took up was called A1. Evidently, it’s the British equivalent of Route 66! We then discussed Quaker-led businesses in York, which led us to discussing the dairy farm we were headed to visit. Once we arrived at Wensleydale Farms, the well-rested kids eagerly lined up to taste eight different cheeses (not to be biased, but the Yorkshire Wensleydale was our favorite). The group then split for a brief bit to see the town, with one group finding some friendly ponies on the side of the road. After spending an abnormal amount of time taking pictures and feeding the ponies grass from outside their fence, it was time for everyone to make the trek back uphill for the cheese-making demonstration.
At the demonstration, we watched how the farm made their famous cheese (the same cheese featured in Wallace and Gromet! Aka, the best show of our childhood). From fresh milk to curdles, whey, and finally cheese, the Wensleydale Farms uses all products involved in the process to their fullest extent to minimize waste. Only 15% of milk can be used for cheese, so as you can imagine, there’s a lot of byproducts. While the cheese production area was closed for the weekend (sad, we know), we were still able to view the intricate machinery from the viewing gallery.
As we boarded the coach once more, the still knackered kids (American tip: knackered means tired) fell back asleep to the sway of the rollercoaster roads- it was like we got a taste of amusement parks from home! As we drove through the tiddly tiny towns (Johnny’s favorite word), we approached the Fountains Abbey, which lived up to Johnny’s extraordinary description (“extraordinary” is his second favorite word, in case you were wondering). The Fountains Abbey, as Johnny informed us, was originally formed by a group of St. Mary’s Abbey monks who felt their first monastery was straying from their beliefs. They rebelled and were granted land to begin their own monastery, which is now the Fountains Abbey. Like the other monasteries, the Fountains Abbey was destroyed by Henry VIII during his war with the monasteries, but the ruins remain. Inspired by those in our group who went on the rock-climbing excursion yesterday, many decided to climb and explore the Abbey today, while others ventured on the well-vegetated path to the Serpentine Tunnel and the Octagon Tower. It’s safe to say that although we were a little discombobulated after our impromptu naps, we were ready for some activity (“discombobulated” happens to be Johnny’s word of the day, which is not to be confused with his all-time favorite or second favorite words). We all met back up by the Visitor Centre and got delicious ice cream (yet, arguably overpriced ice cream) before embarking on yet another thrilling ride on the coach back to York.
For our final night out in the extraordinary town of York (Johnny would be proud of our exquisite vernacular), the entire program went to an all-you-can-eat Asian Fusion buffet (we adventure-filled tourists are quite hungry at the end of the day). We also said our goodbyes to York St. John University by taking a group photo in front of the main university building. Now, the group is splitting again as some of us head to the Barbie movie while others spend the last night exploring and packing (again, not biased, but Barbie is clearly the better choice). The movie is starting, so we’ve got to wrap this up!
Cheerio,
Amanda and Kaylee