Not sure if many of you know this but I worked as a travel agent for many years, almost twenty years, in fact. (I left in 2000 since I could see that the internet would make my job obsolete. I was right!) Lots of people assumed that travel agents visited a lot of exciting locations. I did some traveling but mainly I would read as much as I could so that I would be able to advise my customers. I loved learning of so many destinations! I still do even though I no longer send people around the world. ("Where in the world do you want to go today?" I used to ask but no one ever got my humor!)
Just lately, I have been reading about Yorkshire. Specifically, a town in Yorkshire by the name of Pontefract. (It is also called "Ponte" or "Ponte Carlo" just to be funny! And Shakespeare called it "Pomfret".) It is well known for ...wait for it...licorice or as it is spelled in England, "liquorice"! Want to read the strange story about Britain's oldest sweet? I have a link to a great piece on the BBC. You may read it here.
The Queens Hotel in Pontefract was built in 1901 and the theme was based on the calendar of the year. The building has four turrets, one for each season and 52 doors (weeks of the year). It also has 366 windows and 7 staircases. (Sure you can work that out!) The Queens Hotel was originally built for the patrons of the Pontefract Racecourse (horseracing) who would arrive at the nearby railway station. No longer a hotel, it has now been converted into flats. (Anybody want to buy me one?)
Another building in Pontefract...the Buttercross. Now, this is very interesting to me...in English market towns and mostly from medieval times, there would be a cross in the middle of the town. On the circular steps around the base of the cross locally produced butter, eggs and milk would be sold. Many of them are covered by a roof as protection from the elements but in most cases, the roofs were added at a much later date. From my reading, it appears that the cross in Pontefract was actually taken down in 1734 and replaced with a stone shelter with a roof and wooden benches inside. That is the best description that I can give you from my reading. If anyone else has seen it, please let me know.
Never been to Yorkshire...but I kinda like the tea.
I LOVE that tea!
ReplyDeleteI just bought those two boxes with 240 teabags per box. We love it too!
DeleteGrow a lot of tea in Yorkshire then, do they?
ReplyDeleteHa! It is the number one tea in Britain and if they want me to advertise for them, I will do so! They don't know me from a used teabag, by the way.
DeleteI’ve been to Spain, but not to Yorkshire. Hmmm... I’d love to go back to England and check out so many more of the towns and cities. My sister in law loves black licorice. I like red ones, but never did like the black ones.
ReplyDeleteHey Kay! If you get yourself to England, let me know and I could meet up with you! Two Kays in one English village, they won't know what hit them! LOL!
DeleteThe place I want to visit most in the world is Yorkshire. I want to see all of England, but for me, Yorkshire is most important.
ReplyDeleteLove,
Janie
I knew it first from the books by James Herriot. Fell in love with it then, in the 1970's.
DeleteKay, this is exactly the kind of post that makes your blog so popular, I believe: There is a little bit about yourself (your former work), a different place (Yorkshire/Ponte), facts about something quirky (architecture based on the calendar), and of course in the end you connect it all with a song, and, in passing, tell us about the songwriter and his mother. Wonderful!
ReplyDeleteAs you know, I spend a holiday in Yorkshire every year, and although I am familiar with the name of Pontefract and its fame as "Liquorice Capital", I have never atcutally been there. As for Yorkshire Tea, of course we take packets of it home with us every time :-)
Thank you, you are so sweet! And that means a lot to me because YOU are such a great writer!
DeleteI meant to mention you in my post, Meike, because you know I thought of all your visits to Yorkshire! And I knew you would know the Yorkshire tea!
I love the history lesson!
ReplyDeleteThanks, Pam! And I won't make you take a test on it!
DeleteNot a fan of Elvis, but interesting information nonetheless. I have never been to Yorkshire either.
ReplyDeleteNot a fan of Elvis! Say what?!! Oh well, nobody's perfect! HA!
DeleteOh, and I meant to say, you can look that song up by 3 Dog Night, it was a big hit for them. Hoyt Axton also wrote another one of their big hits, "Joy To The World.". I am sure you remember that one!
DeleteI liked Elvis and dream of someday visiting England...someday.
ReplyDeletehughug
Hey Donna! Glad you like Elvis and I hope you get to England someday too! xx
DeleteGood info there I didn't know. Been to Yorkshire a few times hill walking and caving and Spain which is really wild and beautiful away from the coast. Yorkshire is one of the areas hit by bad flooding in England at the moment as many of the pretty towns sit beside rivers. Put me in the mood for a box of liquorice allsorts now and another example to prove my theory that a ship carrying all the Q's between the UK and USA sank without trace in the Atlantic Ocean halfway across.
ReplyDeletePretty towns beside the rivers, I bet they are nice to visit in the summer! (Not when flooded though, that's terrible, the flooding, I have seen photos on the BBC.) And Richard said he used to enjoy the Liquorice Allsorts too! Maybe they will find that ship one day that was carrying the Q's! HA! You are funny, my friend.
DeleteAn interesting post, as always, Kay. :)
ReplyDeleteI've always been a fan of Elvis...The King...the one and only!
Thanks, Lee!
DeleteI have written of Elvis before. He was from the American South, of course. That is one of my reasons for liking him so much.
Dear Kay, thanks so much for the link to the licorice site. What I know about licorice is that is was my favorite candy when I was in grad school at the University of Minnesota. While studying one weekend, I ate a whole bag of licorice that had come from the Netherlands. I put on 10 pounds in two days and my eyes swell shut and my torso swelled so that I couldn't zip my jeans. A friend took me to the campus doctor/infirmary. There, the doctor thought I was pregnant! I told him it would be a "virgin birth." He refused to believe me and called in another doctor--a woman. She asked what I'd done over the weekend; I told her. Suddenly the lightbulb went off! That is, she remembered her husband reading an article about licorice and its possible side effects. They did a lot of tests and discovered that the candy had affected seven different major aspects of my body and said that if I'd continued eating it for another day, I'd have died. So since then, no licorice in my diet!!!! Peace.
ReplyDeleteOH Dee, you had a SEVERE allergic reaction to licorice! Poor you, thank God that friend took you to the doctor! No licorice for you ever again! Try the Yorkshire tea, I think you will like that. xx
DeleteGreat post.
ReplyDeleteI love Yorkshire tea too...
All the best Jan
Hey Jan,
DeleteA nice cuppa tea for me! Make it Yorkshire and it is even better. xx