Posing in the Crathorne Arms- the local pub at Crathorne, Yorkshire, July 2016
This post has been written for the theme “26 Places, 26 Memories” for the #AtoZChallenge.
Y FOR YORKSHIRE:
Yorkshire is a county in North England. Known primarily for its Roman and Viking heritage, it has beautiful Norman castles, medieval abbeys, cities from the Industrial Revolution as well as national parks. The county town of York has gorgeous Tudor houses with noteworthy medieval walls.
My husband’s sister-in-law is British and her family hails from Crathorne in North Yorkshire. Though they live in London, summers are usually spent in the beautiful, sleepy environs of their country home. The river Leven flows through a magnificent valley, and words can’t describe the serene beauty of this part of the world.
I visited Crathorne in Yorkshire with my husband and 4-month-old son in July 2016, while vacationing in England. This was our first overseas trip with our son, which made it very memorable. However, today I’ll narrate one incident that really stood out.
YOUNG’UN YAPPING AWAY IN YORKSHIRE:
My sister-in-law runs an NGO to help children from marginalised communities in Delhi, by teaching them various forms of art. To raise funds for it, she organises an annual cricket match in Crathorne. Her family members and friends sign up to play and each player donates money for the cause, corresponding to the number of runs they score. We timed our trip with this cricket match, so my husband could join in the revelry and contribute as well.
July is the best time to visit Yorkshire, when the days are long, the sun shines bright and the weather is agreeable. The match took place on a lovely sunny day. While the men played, the women chatted and the children ran free on the open grounds, enjoying each other’s company and the delicious food.
My son, being the youngest of the lot, was on a feed-sleep-poop schedule, and life was predictably easy. He enjoyed being outdoors, and promptly passed out when he’d had his fill of milk. Once the match was over, everyone returned home to take it easy. My brother-in-law had volunteered to barbecue our dinner, which we were excited to eat outdoors in the fantastic weather. We sat with him in the front lawn for company, while he cooked. My son was comfortably perched on my husband’s lap.
As with most 4-month-old’s, the extent of my son’s vocabulary at the time, was the occasional “goo-goo-ga-ga”. You can imagine our immense surprise then, when our sweet little baby launched into a loud and vociferous commentary of gibberish! For a long interlude, he prattled on with noises that made sense only to him, maintaining a serious look on his face throughout. My brother-in-law whipped out the phone to record him, and by the end of the video, the whole phone was shaking as we all burst into uncontrollable laughter!
The video was circulated among family members, and was aptly titled “FP’s cricket commentary” 😉
Come back tomorrow for the letter Z, the last in this series, and another story!
Walking in beautiful Yorkshire
Enjoying the cricket match!
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*The copyright in all pictures belongs to nooranandchawla.
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A for Amritsar, B for Bhopal, C for Cambodia, D for Delhi, E for England, F for France, G for Gwalior, H for Hemkund Sahib, I for Italy, J for Jim Corbett National Park, K for Kamakhya Devi Temple, L for London, M for Munich, N for Naples, O for Odisha, P for Prague, Q for Qila Mehrangarh Jodhpur, R for Rishikesh, S for Singapore, T for Tarifa in Spain, U for Udhampur in Jammu & Kashmir, V for Velassaru in Maldives, W for Westminster City in London, X for Xi’an in China