After a 5.45am set off from Somerset, it only seemed right that as it was just after 10am we need to stop for a coffee on route to the North East. Everything stops for coffee in our world. Julie had been kindly given a commission to paint a pet portrait of a dog called Tess who lived in Northumberland, something I wrote about on May 16th. What we only found out this week was that Tess had recently died, so it was a memorial portrait. I digress. Making good time on the 318 mile journey I took a detour at Thirsk and headed to Julie's favourite tea rooms, at the Black Swan at Helmsley. We go to a lot of tea rooms but there is hardly a week that goes by when I'm not being asked if we can go back to Helmsley again. I love it there too, as it has managed to mix the formal with the informal well. Possibly the only tea room I've been to recently where the young man arrived with my loose leaf tea and said "this is freshly made, I recommend waiting 3 minutes for the full flavour to come out before pouring". He was right, it was a refreshing brew - their own Black Swan blend and went down a treat with my bacon roll (or bun as we Geordies calls it) eaten with a knife and fork. We like it here.
And the pet portrait? Delivered safely later in the afternoon to Bob from Rothbury, who absolutely loved it. Well done pet, you're a canny artist.
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