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Happy new year one and all, welcome to the twenties, at last a sensibly named decade again. Today to blow off the cobwebs and welcome in the new year, we headed for a wander around RSPB Fairburn Ings Nature Reserve. In addition to providing some fantastic views, it also gave me a chance to try out my shiney new lens!

The weather was bright and sunny, although a little cooler than the last couple of days, but still pretty perfect for a wander. We were pretty excited about the prospect of seeing a kingfisher and happily, were not disappointed with a couple of them flitting about. After a few attempts, we even managed to get a couple of half decent pictures.

There were plenty of birds about and we had a great day. I highly recommend a visit if you're ever in the area. Enjoy the photos.

Following the usual Christmas rush, we decided to have a little break, and so, now we find ourselves in a nice flat in York. We're actually right in the thick of it, only a few minutes walk from the town centre and pretty much opposite the Minster. We arrived on Sunday, just at sunset, and had a lovely sunset view of the minster from the lounge windows. Having settled in, we moseyed around York city on Monday, walkign around the city walls and pottering in the shops. We then went in the minster itself, a superb architectural construction - there was a short queue to get tickets and then we had a good wander round, taking lots of photographs and utlimately treating ourselves to a splendid replica of a gargoyle in the shop. It's hilarious!

Tuesday dawned a little cloudy. Ben went out quite early to catch a view of the minster in the frosty morning, and then cam back for breakfast. By the time we had got ourselves organised, the sun had come out and it was really quite a lovely day. We decided to head over the the castle area - we went up Clifford Tower for some views of the city and then went across the square to Fairfax House, which was really interesting, with glorious ceilings!

After a quite stop at Caffe Nero for a drink and a cake, we went over to the National Railway museum and were almost blown away by it - I'm not sure why, buut I'd anticipated glass cases full of memorabilia, but in fact, there were lots of actual trains! Amazing! There was lots that were only there to look at, but there were also many that you could go in. It was superb, and - for a free museum - absolutely superb!

And then, it was new year. Happy New Year, everyone!

Happy new year everyone. We went bowling on new year's eve but upon our arrival it turned out we had gone to the wrong place. Hollywood bowl were very good though and transferred us across rather than making us go to the correct centre. We hadn't played for ages but had a fun couple of games - I even managed a couple of strikes! We did a bit of shopping before heading back to finish off the side table that we made on Sunday. We did actually finish it on Sunday, but decided it was a bit tall so it needed a bit more work. It's our first experiment with copper pipe and uses one of the old table leaves for a top. We're pretty pleased with it really. We had steak frites for dinner which has become something of a tradition before seeing in the new year with fireworks on the TV and outside.

After a bit of a lie-in today, we headed out to National Trust Polesden Lacey. It was very busy and we were told as we queued in the car on the way in that both the main and overflow car parks were full and it was one-in-one-out. In reality, it turned out there was loads of parking (although we were directed in to a bit where it said no entry). We started with some lunch at the cafe, which, despite being very busy, seemed to be working better than most National Trust cafes we've been to and shared a cream tea and a sandwich. We decided to have a wander around the garden which was typically bare for this time of year, though we were impressed by the clever touches that included a Polesdon monopoly game that you could play and over by the bees, mini stockings as "even the bees have been caught up in the Christmas buzz".

We also got timed tickets for the house, going in for the last entry at 3. It was decorated up for a 1930s Christmas with at least one Christmas tree in each room, and an impressive tree in the entrance hall. There was lots to see including some amateur dramatics with several actors dressed up in period costume performing fictional scenes from the time period with some talk of the abdication of King Edward. We finished off our visit with a wander around the shop, before heading home for a bit of New Year bake off on the TV.    

This is just a quick note to wish you all a very happy new year. We celebrated last night with steak frites and a bit of fireworks on the TV, then had a lovely roast dinner today and built some Lego. What more could you want from a new year?