Aldborough and Spofforth

With the afternoon free we headed off to do some archeological sightseeing.

First stop, Boroughbridge where we had lunch in The Crown. Not brilliant but we needed refuelling. Luckily, after 3 of them popped in for a pint, the other 50-odd Blues Brothers decided to move on to another pub. There was a whole coachload of late middle-age 'John Belushis' complete with trilbys and sunglasses out on a pub crawl!

Next stop Aldborough Roman Town to see a couple of in-situ roman mosaics. The one pictured below is basically intact and is the floor of one room in a villa. The young lady on the Museum desk was very welcoming and had never seen a New Zealand Heritage card before - this gives us free entry to English Heritage sites. There isn't much to see here as the original Roman Town is built over by the later village. Mind you there were pillar bases littering peoples gardens. The photo is of the intact mosaic, the other one has a big hole in where the innkeeper 'discovered' it while burying a calf in 1832.

 

Sofforth Castle

We then went on a bit of a tiki-tour (because our sat nav managed to get us a bit lost - not sure what happened there) to look at Sofforth Castle. This not really a castle, more a fortified house dating from the 13th and 15th centuries. It belonged to the de Percys (mates of William the Conqueror). Very impressive and just stuck in the middle of a small village only 10 minutes drive from where we are staying in Wetherby.

A perfect fit!

Back at our accommodation, I felt like having a proper drink that night so we walked the 1km into town to go to a fancy Italian restaurant. It was very busy but we managed to get a table in the bar and had a lovely meal and a nice bottle of Sangiovese.