Grace Dieu Priory

Toad of Toad Hall

 Sunday August 15th 2010

After a holiday, its back down to earth...and in just a few short days again you wish you were back on holiday again. This sadly wasn't going to happen anytime soon, so next best thing is to go geocaching. We had tried to go and do these caches the day before...but the summer rain continues and so we tried again today. Today our journeys would take us a short journey up the road back to the village of Thringstone. The couple that had given us some frogspawn earlier in the year had set a very good local cache in a well known spot....Grace Dieu

Rusty Mary

 Priory. Grace Dieu Priory is in ruins, but provides plenty of stories even to this day. For example the BBC investigated whether ghosts lived here. Well no ghosts today, but we did find a toad....granted a small one, but a pleasant find none the less. The cache takes you on a sad tale around the priory. It appears that when Henry 8th was on the throne, this priory was under threat of closure by the king. It had evaded this in the past by being a good place....however it appears that one of the nuns that lived at the priory ended up with an illegitimate child by the local land owner. The King was not best pleased and used this as an excuse to put to end the 2 lovers lives. A little ironic for a man that had 6 wives and created his own religion to marry another woman. What is more interesting is that it appears that this local spot may have been used as a religious site before the priory even existed. Theories go that a pagan site once lay here because of natural occuring phenomenon. In fact the priory ruins lie on top of a geological fault known as Thringstone fault. What is exciting to

It had been in 1 piece before Josh arrived

 think about is that there may be a genuine reason why so many people claim to see strange things here. I will leave it up to the reader to determine what exactly is the truth...but either way makes for a great place to put a cache. And further proof to an earlier post that this village is very interesting. Anyway the cache took us to Rusty Mary where we found something on the floor...it wasn't supposed to be there and we were fortunate to find it. This then led us to another part of the ruins where we learned more about the place. Finally with all this information at hand we were able to put our hands on the cache.

Josh wants to take some stones home

 We had other ideas for where we would like to put our hands....and that was in the brambles, thats right folks this is blackberry season and the first were up for grabs. Those nappy bags came in handy as we filled them up with black goodies! We then went to the village of Thringstone to find a couple more caches in the area...those blackberries were crying out for some companionship...they were lonely already. The blackberries were in luck...we found an apple tree that was on public land, and we soon found some more uses for those nappy bags. Sadly we had to use one for Joshs stinky nappy as well, but hey you win some and you lose some.

Not impressed with the hedge...

That meant only one thing...a crumble, which at the time of writing has already been consumed and a mighty fine one it was too! Another cache that finished us off the day took us out to the rural Leicestershire countryside and into a hedge. The co-ords were a little way out for us, which led to quite a search....but Mr Shiltonpig came to the rescue and saved the day.

Nappy bags helped make our crumble

Little Quest - South Yorkshire

A map in case you are lost?

 Sunday 8th August 2010

Thats right folks...we were about to attempt 2 little quest caches in one day. Team Shiltonpig had arrived in South Yorkshire...the 2nd of the Yorkshire little quests.....and our 14th in total so far...still another 34 to go. Well South Yorkshire is known for a few things...Meadowhall...Steel and that famous 1997 film The Full Monty. But you have no need to fear Mr Shiltonpig will not be pulling his pants down on this blog anytime soon. So where would you place the little quest cache in this county? The answer of course if Doncasters Premier beauty

Team Shiltonpigs house?

 spot. Now you might be forgiven for thinking "does Doncaster have a beauty spot?". But you would be wrong....because nestled near the M18 you will find Cusworth Hall and Park. And what a lovely place it is. We are glad that someone has placed a stateley home near the little quest. For more information on this place click on the now legendary linky poos. The hall itself is now just a museum and also houses a rather fine cafe. The cafe sells rather good cakes....it seemed rude not to try them out! We would like to point out that traffic wardens patrol this area so don't skimp on the amount you put into the car park fees otherwise you might have a nasty

why is everything always on a hill?

surprise for you when you get back. The house is on a hill and you need to walk to the bottom of it and then turn right and start walking through the fields. We were fortunate that the fields are a glorious colour at the moment as the barley?wheat? (or any number of crops) are being harvested and leaving opportunities for some great photos. (See photo 4). The cache was quickly found and we moved back to have a walk around the two nearby ponds and immaculately trimmed gardens. The ponds are crammed full of fish...I was surprised to see how many there were and Josh loved it. After all he loves fish, and in particular whales. He only has to see a

Fields of barley...

 pool of water to shout shouting "whale". It seems rude to correct him, so Josh will grown up thinking that perch fishes are actually whales. Mrs Shiltonpig would like the whole world to know that it was her and not the thicky thicky Mr Shiltonpig that correctly guessed the species of fish in the pond. Mr Shiltonpig would like Mrs Shiltonpig to know that "he aint boverd". For those purists amongst you all it should be pointed out that you can also see Doncaster from this place...but it will be quickly forgotten (team Shiltonpig would like to apologise to the residents of Doncaster if any offence was caused by the last few comments). Our travels so

Wave at Josh!

far have now taken us 959 miles, which if travelled from where we live would take us to near Salzburg in Austria. Just grateful that they haven't invented a little quest for Europe yet....just imagine how many miles you would have to do to get that bonus cache. This cache has a very sedate and graceful feel about it....Josh was a welcome addition to this area. Josh would like to point out that the play area is not very good for toddlers his age.

Doncasters premier beauty spot

Little Quest - Durham

Look how peaceful the river is

 Sunday 8th August 2010

Barnard Castle? ever heard of it? well to be honest we hadn't really heard too much about it. County Durham is not a county that we know too much about....having said that it does have the fantastic High Force as part of it. High Force linky poo County Durham takes its name from its famous city further north. But team Shiltonpig roll into town to find the little quest. This cache is a tell tale story to all would be cachers. We parked the car which said the cache was just a mere 0.24 miles away...

Mr Shiltonpigs trousers had shrunk in the wash

 we started following the compass and we got to a point where it said it was 230 feet away. We suddenly realised it was on the other side of the river...at first glance you would think we would be disappointed. But the only way to cross from where we could see was a quaint little bridge. Mid way on the bridge we took the first of he photos on this post. What a great site it actually turned out to be....even though we ended up walking far longer than we had intended. If you would like to know more about Barnard Castle then I suggest that you read this link here. 

Josh throwing stones again

I would think that team Shiltonpig picked the right time of day to come here, about 9am on a Sunday morning. The town hadn't woken up from the night before....nobody about and it was peaceful. The cache itself provides the best view of the ruined castle in the whole town. Not that too many people would know that judging by the fact the footpath to the cache is hardly used. This rates very highly in our little quest journey so far and rates very highly as a cache in its own rights. Josh loved this place as well, partly due to the fact there was water about. What is it about kids that as soon as they see water they want to jump right into it. (I would like to whole heartedly apologise for the poor formatting in this post...I wish Google would get it sorted)

The plants in the nearby field were huge and something out of the land of the lost...some might say that team Shiltonpig would fit into the land of the lost as well...and thats just our family that would say that!!! We have added another 45 miles to our grand journey so far which means that 874 miles have passed since we 1st set out in March to attempt our first Little Quest cache...and what a journey it has turned out to be. We are glad that one of the Little Quests have put a castle into the view...after all England is world famous for its castles!!

On the wasy back to the car it is also worth pointing out that Josh went on some swings and slides...his current favourite pastime at the moment....well that and pooing!

Look at the legs on that!

Josh looking at the croak croaks

Day 15 - Redcar

The council is unsure if you know where you are!

 Saturday 7th August 2010

Ok, ok confession time for all those that want to know about the geocaches in the area. It was the final full day of our holiday and while pretty much everything else has been planned to the letter this particular day was left to chance. We had finished a little quest cache in the morning, and decided that as the sun was shining we would need to see the sea one last time. This was one of those ideas that came to us at the last minute and because Mr Shiltonpig doesn't have a fancy gps...(though if anyone reading this would like to donate theirs to us, we would be

£2.50 for a 50 metre donkey ride?

humble and gratefully accept) it meant that we didn't have any caches to do in this area. We had never been to Cleveland before, particularly as it sounds better suited to being in America. Redcar can only be described as a typical english seaside resort. Donkeys...tick...512 fish and chip shops...tick...council desparately trying to big up the town...tick...amusement arcades lining the promenade..tick. I suppose what makes Redcar different is that its doesn't have a pier....it did have one though and this is its story. Basically in the later half of the 19th century Redcar had 2 piers. For

Confused? so are we..

some reason every time they built a pier, a large ship came crashing through it. They would rebuild the pier only for another ship to come crashing through it. Finally they learned their lesson and didn't rebuild either of them again. It should be of note however that in 2010, the local council have decided to build a pier. Team Shiltonpig predict that in the next few years a ship will crash into....when will some people ever learn. Team Shiltonpig without any caches to hunt for, were forced to go looking for other things to do. This meant they found a couple of chairs, gave Josh a bucket and spade and enjoyed a last

Bad hair day...

few moments by the coast. I am sure I have said this before but the taste of ish and chips by the coast is one of the greatest culinary delights these great British Isles can offer...and while it may be poo pooed by other nations, we all know the secret. Anyway here is something for you to discuss with your family? Is £2.50 for a 50 metre donkey ride worth it? This was the subject of a conversation with another family we had. The family ironically were from Derbyshire. (Had the entire county vacated for the day perhaps lol?). Josh loved it here, and while he will never remember this

Not a care in the world..

particular day, his father will. Mr and Mrs Shiltonpig have never seen him happier than today...just playing and enjoying what nature has left for us. Oh if only he could stay this age forever...happy family memories indeed. So we hope that you have enjoyed reading about our family holidays and perhaps just perhaps given you inspiration for places to visit yourself on your trips....in the meantime with a heavy heart and a full belly we start to make the long trip home!

Batman will be along soon..

Little Quest - North Yorkshire

Greasy Joes Cafe

 Saturday August 7th 2010

So it is probably time for Mr Shiltonpig to have a bit of a rant....so team Shiltonpig roll into North Yorkshire...the first of the 4 yorkshire little quests to get. In our humble opinon North Yorkshire may be known for many things....the moors, Whitby perhaps? but come on lets face it everyone knows it for Heartbeat. The TV show that is stuck in the 1960s. So let me get this straight...Heartbeat started in 1992 with Nick Berry? Do you remember him? so that means that 18 years has passed in the town of Aidensfield (which is actually Pickering), so even

Have you seen Heather? We can't find her?

if the programme had started in 1960, it should now be 1978...but somehow it is still the 1960s???Perhaps this is some strange time wormhole, where people have to relive and relive events??? Anyway I suppose that I should get to the story of the cache....so we pulled up at the car park, and to our great surprise there was a greasy spoon van/cafe parked there. It was a welcome sight...especially as we ordered the last 2 bacon baps...most annoying for the person behind us in the queue....(but why would a greasy spoon cafe run out of bacon...but that question will have to be left unanswered, like all

Josh and his new found friend

big questions in the universe). It had started to rain, and lets face it this summer, that is hardly big news. But the shower stopped after we had the roll in our bellies. The possibility of rain gave Josh the cahnce to explore something new....the umbrella, lets face it he is going to get plenty of chances to become acquaninted with them over the next few years. But in the meantime he dragged a brolly that was bigger than him all the way to the cache. This meant that a very easy 0.22 mile walk suddenly became a long hike, as every 2 minutes we had to stop and wait for Josh to keep up with us. In the end the very

Still can't find Heather?

impatient Mr Shiltonpig just carried him on his shoulders. The moorland was absolutely beautiful and you could see the coast so easily including several large ships on the sea. Always a plus in our humble opinion. When we found the cache which was very easy, adn looked inside there was a log book but no co-ordinates. Aaargh! On closer inspection it appears that another cacher had replaced the logbook....we took a photo of us and the cache to prove we had been there. At the time of writing you will be relieved to know that we were emailed the co-ordinates!!

Josh prepares to attack

So another little quest and another thumbs up from team Shiltonpig. It has a very barren feel to it this cache...and sums up what most people think of, when they think of North Yorkshire...this now means on our little quest trek around England we have so far travelled 829 miles. Wow thats a very long way do you not think?

Police would like to speak to these 2 suspicious people

Day 14 - Beamish Museum

A genuine 19th century child mine worker

 Friday August 6th 2010

Yes folks in the last few posts on this blog we have taken you back to Roman Times, we have taken you back to a time of knights and dragons and now its time to get into our time machine and take you back to the 19th century. Yes thats right folks we have gone to the Beamish museum. Before we tell you about that, its only fair that we mention that the only cache we did today was right outside the museum....we don't mean literally on the middle of the floor on the road...but as close as you are going to get!

Simple things and all that...

 There are quite a few caches in the woods next to this museum, but thats for another day. The Beamish museum is brilliant. The official linky poo to the museum, check it out...or else. But while we are on the subject of similar museums check out the other websites below which are also great days out even if you have to travel a little further.
This one similar to the Beamish museum is in the Black Country.
This one tells the story of Irish people moving to America...cool.
This one is the swiss equivalent of all the other 3...superb.

Mrs Shiltonpig on the toilet 19th century style

Ok so now that all that blatent advertising has finished...we would like to point out that we are not getting commission for any of the above...however if someone would like to pay us commission then please feel free to contact us!!!! Beamish is split into different areas ...if you have never been to an open air museum then let us explain....the musuem takes genuine buildings, and other artefacts from that period of time and rebuilds them exactly as it was at that time. It makes for literally stepping back in time. Beamish is split into a coal mine village where you get to go into a real coal mine. Another area is a working farm, and you can see rural life at the turn

We want to drive one of these!

 of the 20th century. Another area they have recreated an entire town with loads of shops (including a sweetie shop....totally overpriced though!!!!) the town has trams and buses in full working order and you have to queue up for them. Of course everyone working in the museum is dressed up in period dress, and it is a strange experience as you feel you are the one dressed inappropriately! Finally the last bit of the museum takes you back further in time to the 18th century, there is a rural manor house and they have rebuilt one of the first steam trains ever invented at a top speed of 5 mph. For some reason this was Mr

Choo choo

Shiltonpigs favourite part as this was totally unique. However Mrs Shiltonpig and Josh clearly enjoyed the tram ride the most. It is not a cheap day to get in...£16 a person. However you will not run out of things to do in the day...having Josh meant we missed out on a lot, but if you are in this area check out the caches and check out the museum. These living museums need to be kept alive, as they record our history...(Mr Shiltonpig realises he has gone all serious on his readers!!!)

And so do the shilton kind...so watch out!

Day 13 - Hadrians Wall

Josh as a roman guard

 Thursday 5th August 2010

Please please listen to us...we have travelled all over Europe to see Roman sites, little did we realise one of the best of them all was sitting in our very own country. Housesteads in Northumberland is a fantastic place and even though English Heritage and National Trust seem to be fighting it out as to who owns what don't let that put you off from coming here. For example you park the car in a National trust car park, buy your sandwiches from their cafe and then go to the shop to purchase your tickets, only to be told that you can't buy them from here. You climb to the top of the hill only to find that English Heritage have the smallest shop at the top...crazy...anyway ignore our weird ramblings. So Hadrians wall...surely you have heard it yes? well if not click here on this corporate linky poo.. Earlier this year they set beacons off all along the wall at night and that would have been amazing to see. So lets hone in on this part of

Smile as you are trapped!

 Hadrians wall. Yes another linky poo, but make sure you look at all the photos as they are better than ares! Housesteads has it all...well ok it doesn't have everything, but when you are 2000 years old I hope that you look as good as this place. What amazes us about this place is that you really get a sense of how hard life must have been like all those years ago as a roman soldier. Its so barren, cold and windy in the 21st century...let alone what it would have been like in the 3rd century....and when you take away all the roads you wonder how the heck they got all that rock up there in the first place. I am sure that our roman ancestors would have

Travel bug central

found it intriguing that geocachers would place caches in this area. And what a great selection of caches they are in this area. The caches themselves are easy to hide and easy to find, there are so many rocks around that I would be surprised if these get muggled easily....and as you start walking down the Hadrians wall path you will start to see some glorious views and lovely paths. We had collected a whole stack of travel bugs and geocoins on our 2 week  tour of the UK and it seemed a great place to take a photo of them all...and here is that photo. I can see a tear in your eye already, I know it.

Josh using his mommy to climb

 The ruins themselves show just how advanced a civilisation they were....they had central heating (and I don't mean they had radiators) and they had flushing toilets (no not quite like we had today) and 2000 years later we still can see them. Josh was loving it today, he had small walls to climb up and down and also plenty of hills to climb up and down. He was literally jumping off all the walls which was crazy for a 2 year old. Josh loves climbing and climbing and did we mention climbing? This is the second time we have been here and I would be shocked to think it will be the last...you quickly forget what it is like....plus we didn't do all the

Mr Shiltonpig and his arty photo

caches and lets face it, thats a good enough reason to come back too! The photo to the left is Mr Shiltonpigs attempt at being all arty in a photograph and so please feel free to be shocked, stunned and amazed. Well done to all those people who placed caches here....we thank you!!

Mr Shiltonpig on the toilet

Little Quest - Northumberland

Barrasford Park

 Thursday August 5th 2010

Wow...2 Little Quests in the same day...we were on a roll so we were! After completing the more urban little quest in Tyne and Wear later that morning we travelled 30 odd miles to the north west and found ourselves in Northumberland. This now means we have travelled 748 miles in order to get just 11 little quest caches so far....plus to be honest there is heated debate in the team Shiltonpig household as to which little quests are the best ones. We actually are that sad that we rank in a league table. At the end after we have completed all 48 of them we

Remote Northumberland

 will share that with you....anyway onto Northumberland. Mr Shiltonpig has a confession to make after many many years of his favourite county being Devon (partly due to those amazing tors in Dartmoor, cream teas and happy childhood memories) it has now been knocked off the top by this amazing county Northumberland. It has pretty much everything you could possibly want....if you could buy shares in a county...I would own them all...if I was on commission I would clearly be earning loads. It has it all amazing beaches, history coming out of its ears (does a county have ears????) and finally moorland and lots of Hadrians

2 suspicious characters...

wall. The Little Quest cache was located in Barrasford Park, which was very very quiet and a rather unusual as its seems nobody has walked down this footpath for ages...and perhaps the only ones that do are the people who come for this Little Quest. Its hard to describe it...but here you go, a quarry is in the distant, there is moorland all around and there is a small woodland around. The cache is down a very grassy path...and Josh enjoyed running through the long grass. To be honest this cache was nice and easy to find...and that is a welcome feeling. There is nothing worse than travelling a long long way to find those all

Need to move the camera nearer I think

 important co-ordinates inside the cache only to find that you can't find them. Not sure that this represents the best that Northumberland can offer...try the Bamburgh 360 cache further north which is truly amazing. This cache however is nowhere near the worse of the little quests and Mr Shiltonpig loved the remote feeling of the cache that some of the others haven't done so far...and so a thumbs up from this small band of travellers...so if you find yourself up here, you could do worse than to come here!

The self timer button strikes again...

Little Quest - Tyne and Wear

Not at actual location

 Thursday August 5th 2010

"Why aye man"....Ant and Dec...Geordieland....Cheryl Cole....yes thats right folks team Shiltonpig have entered the world of Tyne and Wear. Having visited this part of the world many times, we were intrigued as to where the Little Quest cache would be placed. After all when you think of Newcastle upon Tyne you tend to think of a sprawling city (albeit a very nice one). We were stopping in Gateshead and you will not be shocked to find out that it was in a travelodge.

Lets go fly a kite

 The cache took us to an area that in a large way reminded us of home...the National Forest. Reason being was this is reclaimed land, and you can tell if you know where to look. But the good news is that as you walk around, you can hardly think that you are anywhere near Newcastle. For more information on this park, I suggest you click on this link. A short walk to the cache site, then had a small delay as we bumped into one of the many muggles in the area, a dog walker. This created 2 problems, firstly the fact that Josh absolutely loves dogs at the moment and secondly the woman then decided to talk to us for ages. Which to be honest yet again

Is this really Tyne and Wear?

shows why we think Northerners are more friendly...anyway after that lady disappear. We started looking for the cache...Josh was playing up so Mr Shiltonpig had to look alone. Problem was that the co-ordinates kept bouncing and bouncing around. The clue was a little vague and for the life of me I could not find a stone. Then all of a sudden Mrs Shiltonpig shouts up...Mr Shiltonpig rushes towards her expecting to find the cache. Instead they are looking at across the river. And there for the first time ever team Shiltonpig see a Kingfisher in the UK (we once saw some Amazon Kingfishers but thats a long story and we would hate to

Mrs Shiltonpig dragging Josh as usual

 detract from this particular one). It was so bright, thats what was so surprising...sadly we didnt get a photo and sadly it didnt say around for too long. Having said that we will always remember this cache as the Kingfisher cache. Anyway shortly after the Kingfisher Mr Shiltonpig was getting very stressed about finding this cache...and then under a stone he found it! Yay...we made a note of the co-oridnates and made our way back to the car. Mr Shiltonpig has had his camera for 5 years and while there are now phones with higher megapixel capabilities he refuses to upgrade....but he discovered a new feature....the self timing button.

No Kingfishers in site boo hoo

Could have done with this for years....and so from now on hopefully you will get to see more photos of the 3 of us! Perhaps thats not a good thing for you dear readers....but tough...you are going to have to swallow your pride and look at a few more photos of us. So another little quest down and we add a further 112 miles to the journey so far...current total 718 miles...wow that is a long way!  Thanks for reading...

Happy family photo