What better way to enjoy my last day of ‘freedom’ before starting a new job than a bit of retail therapy and mischief with ‘official partner in crime’.  Destination:  Ilkley, West Yorkshire. It was a very cold winters’ day and this photograph doesn’t do justice to how pretty The Grove can look with all the cherry blossoms out …

The Grove

The formula was simple …

Energy levels required to be at maximum so as soon as we were parked up, we headed for the first possible café (Smooth) for a compulsory coffee (or tea in my case) and, ooh, a bit of brownie testing while we were about it … would have been rude not to!  Besides, I had ‘official taster’ present to verify the findings.  (Yes, a very busy person being gainfully employed as official partner in crime and official taster!)

Tea, coffee & brownie tasting

Verdict on the brownie?  More chocolate bar than brownie and we agreed I have some better up my sleeve … see here for starters.

Warmed and sufficiently energised, we braced the cold and headed for some retail therapy of the fashionable kind but we got distracted by recipe books in the bookshop window and simply had to make a diversion in there to examine them properly.

Cake recipe books!

We lost tracked of time in there, having resisted the temptation to purchase (although I did order some books that weren’t in stock by Dennis Cotter) , it was outwards and onwards a few doors down to the sale racks ….

Retail therapy

Partner in crime was very successful here and this spurred us on to the next, equally important stop of the day:  Morten’s.  It’s the kind of place you find all sorts of things you never thought you needed!  Like …

Mini cake cases

And any sort of cake casing you can imagine …

Didn’t know I needed these but sure I can put them to use

Now you can never have enough tins ….

Baking heaven

My purchases …

My shopping basket

Energy levels from the morning coffee and brownie had now worn off by this stage and we agreed it was definitely lunch time.  Venue:  The Wells …

The Well’s

Recently refurbished, this little café has mixture of bites to suit any appetite.  Its tables are closely crammed in so one might struggle if you had lots of bags from retail therapy or buggies.  It’s cosy and pleasant and the service attentive and engaging.  It was a nice way to end our little excursion.