Manchester/Scotland 2025 - Elsecar

Finally reaching Chapeltown, the first place our friends took us to was to a park! Elsecar Park to be exact. We were going to have a morning tea there. But first, a walk around the park. I love the photos in this cover, of blue skies and trees and chairs at the park. Just imaging sitting there looking down! Lovely.

We managed to get some snacks and tea at the only shop at the park. It was pretty crowded inside, and it's dog friendly. Except for a short period where one dog couldn't stop barking inside the shop, the rest of the dogs inside were pretty well behave. We got some brownies, and I learned that a blondie was just a brownie without chocolates! Ha! We got tea too, but I think they ran out of ceramic cups, so we ended up with paper cups which wasn't ideal for my first tea in the British countryside! I think my friend was kinda disappointed with it, but it was alright, I was just happy to be there. It was only my 2nd day here, I'm sure I'll get a chance of some decent English Tea somewhere else along my trip.

We managed to see a lot of ducks during our walk at the park too. It was more of an empty ground area than a park. It looked pretty wild or 'natural' for me who comes from Singapore where every park is almost man-handle to some point. 

Just a short walk away near the park, was another open air industrial themed park which was free to enter. One of our friend was a History teacher, so I guess we're bond to learn some history along our trip!

Here is a map of Elsecar. I find it interesting when my plans for the day says 'visit friend' and I have no idea what my day would turn out to be. So being here in Elsecar was new to me! For a start, I don't even know anything about the town or it's iron and steel industry.

The park area was free to enter, mainly hosting old buildings that used to process iron and steel. But the minerals have all been mined, so now it's just a shell of it's glory days. 

Here's a photo of our friend Tom telling us a little bit of the history of this place. I quickly went to walk next to his wife Trish after that cause I didn't want to be quiz about the history at the end of the day!

Saw a red telephone booth there and had to take a photo cause it's so British!

There are shops and seats where you could have something to eat too.  It was such a sunny day!

Love chimneys, something I also don't see often. Scenes like these reminds me of Oliver Twist and the boys who cleans chimneys from my childhood books!

Noted also the lovely emerald-gold looking clock hanging at the old building. Love the colours!

We walked past some shops at one section, and it looked kinda like a thrift shop. 

I saw some lovely ceramic wares outside, selling by the boxes! And they were pretty cheap too! Like one pound, or two pound. Oh if only I could carry them back! I would love having these and using them for my tea ritual! I wanted to go into the shops to take a look, but I wasn't sure if we had time. I have no idea what our friends have planned for us. But luckily, Trish might have felt what I hoping for. She took me inside the shop. I guess she loves walking thru thrift shops too.

Inside the shop was an amazing arrays of cabinets filled with treasures! Everything was probably 2nd hand, but it was so fascinating looking at everything. And unlike a second hand shop in Singapore where it's cramped and dusty, the shop here was spacious and pretty airy. 

I thought the sign above was hilarious. Haha. And it looked like they do have everything!

Every corner, a treasure. Reminds me of 2nd hand markets in Paris, where everything there was filled with art and beauty for me that I wander why people threw these things out. I guess a westerner would feel the same when they come to the East and see chopsticks and rice bowls.....

It was a lovely morning, but soon it was time for lunch, and our friend drove us to a nearby pub for some local English food :P I saw some nice churches on our drive there. The roads were pretty unique too, with small houses and cottages and small alleys. But we didn't stop by any, only drove pass until we reached our next destination.