CORRECTION - sometimes Nice Young Men do run antiques shops. Here is a delightful new shop in Knaresborough, as picturesque inside as it is outside.

Downstairs is a repository of elegant accessories and gifts for the home and up the spiral staircases are two pleasing rooms, furnished with antiques and works of art. Look carefully into the window above - the proprieter decorates antique boxes, on commission, to look like a miniature of your own beloved residence.

We love old ruins (we love each other!) so we wandered over to Knaresborough Castle - a hop & a skip from the shop.

All at once the skies darkened and a mysterious figure came into view

only to vanish, as quickly as he had appeared, around a corner...

Hungry for luncheon - and our appetites whetted for more ruins - we decided to head for Ripon for refreshment and then to explore The Deer Park at Studley Royal.

                        A dreamy ruined Georgian gatehouse at Studley.

                         A rare sighting - an old bat in a hollow tree trunk.

Edwardian graffiti on a gnarled tree trunk - was this mischievous foursome responsible..?

We ended our jaunt with a few moment's peaceful contemplation of Studley Lake at England's greatest Georgian Water Garden.