Glenn and Nic in England: Hi Ho, its off to Leeds we go

So begins a week of induction, taking place in Leeds, about 130 Kilometres north of home, we decided that we would stay up there for the week rather than drive back and forth after days of searching we find a cheap hotel in wakefield about 15 minutes from the office.... but we shall discuss the hotel later.

First, the trip up, we left sunday morning to take in a few sights on the way, our first stop was Stainsby Mill an old water powered mill, apparently there was some form of mill on the site from the 13th century... and the mill we saw was built in the 1700' a lovey old building, mixed with such clever engineering.

Iterestingly we have come to the conclusion that volunteering at old buildings etc.. has a particular effect on men... apart from making them ALL really old... it seems to cause their noses to grow in direct correlation to the age of the building.. eg building, 200 years old = big nose... 300 years old = big red nose, 500+ years old = masive red bulbous nose that actually seems to have a head attached, as opposed to a head with a nose.

From the Mill, we went on to "Old Hardwick Hall" yet another stunning old ruin from the 1590 and was built by Bess of Hardwick, at the time the 2nd richest woman in england behing queen Liz 1st, just a fantastic ruin with some lovely old plasterwork and fabulous thick walls etc etc.

Right next door is "New Hardwick Hall" also built by Bess (she really was cashed up this lady), she began building the new hall before the old hall was completed, she then passed the old hall on to her son and moved into the new hall which is a grand total of 300 metres away. This building however was not in ruins, iyt is in fact still in almost perfect condition and is simply beautiful, both inside and out... pics are probably better so see below...