It is Ilkley

I had hoped to show you the delights of our little spa town but the weather has been a bit grey since the weekend and though I have been down to the centre several times, its just a 10 minute walk after all, I haven't taken any photographs yet.   So instead I'll show you some of our immediate environs. 

Across the road from our building we have a private gated garden for the residents complete with two little lakes, some might call then ponds but we are in Ilkley. 

Every apartment has a key and residents are free to stroll round or sit a while on the benches.  I'm hoping if I get gardening withdrawal I might do a bit of weeding in there and depending on what comes up in spring I could be tempted to plant a few interesting bulbs. We have a lovely collection of rather over fed ducks who I'm sure are very respectful of the plants.

Across the road from the garden is access to the moor with a small car park for walkers.  A good path leads up to White Wells, a pretty cottage that is an occasional cafe and houses the baths for taking the healing spa waters. 

Apparently it's a local custom to take a dip in the baths on New Years Day, I'm also told that the water temperature is usually about 4 degrees so I may give that a miss.

As I said the cafe doesn't have regular opening hours, the owners fly a flag that can be viewed from some distance to indicate they are serving which saves a wasted up hill walk, we were there on Sunday afternoon as they closed and the flag came down.

Its a lovely view from White Wells back down to our building, we really appreciated how grand it looks.  You can see the detail of the internal glazed atrium quite well. We had to resist the temptation to tell anyone who would listen that we live there and felt quite smug walking back home. 

So hopefully you will get to see the town soon and I also need to tell you about how we've adapted to apartment living over the past couple of weeks.  Its all very exciting and very different but so far its all very good.