A trip to the Yorkshire Dales for birthday celebrations!

Once upon a time, Mummy used to throw me birthday parties. The last time was two years ago when I turned three  …Front Row (L-R): Phoenix, Darcy, Muffin, Rocko   Back Row (L-R): Dash, Rusty, Lucca, Rosie, Lola

We haven’t done so since for reasons such as – we haven’t found a place to have a party for 10+ doggy friends.  It might have been alright if we had a big garden and we could have the party outdoors.

And fortunately, Mummy became enlightened.  She realised that for me, a party with lots of dogs mean they all want a piece of MY birthday cake.  While there’s enough to go around, the whole party becomes the food!  And it’s really stressful. But all Birthdays are always great in the end. A friend of mine was telling me how great her son’s most recent birthday was. His main gift was having his moped insurance all paid for the first year (he had just passed!) Needless to say he was over the moon and the parents didn’t have to pay as much as you would think because they went online to compare moped insurance.

She had a little think and realised that the best birthday present for me was to be able to run with the wind, chase squirrels and rough tumble with Georgie. So last year she took us to the beach for my birthday.We were at Sandbanks and Poppy had come to meet us for a beach run. And it was also Miuccia’s first beach experience It was there that we learnt that George is not so keen about water.He kept to the sand.

As my birthday is in February, one can never predict the weather this time of year in good ol’ Blighty. We were lucky to have one good day and one very wet day.

This year, Mummy’s romantic notion of the countryside will take us to the Yorkshire Dales for my fifth birthday. So we’re all packed and ready to head to Yorkshire! Heathcliff, here we come!!!

May’s comment: Yorkshire, home to the Bronte sisters, Anne, Emily and Charlotte. The major setting for “Wuthering Heights” and “Jane Eyre“, the characters were set upon the windswept moorland.

One of my all time favourite books by Frances Hodgson Burnett, “The Secret Garden” was the story of Mary, a sickly and nasty child – who after spending time in the Yorkshire countryside became much improved – health wise and attitude.  Yay! Maybe also good for us too.

And how can we forget the comparison of Yorkshire and “The Shire” of J R R Tolkien’s books.  Other literary giants – Ted Hughes and Sylvia Plath, Caedmon, Laurence Sterne, etc, etc.

Have been meaning to get up to Yorkshire – and have this vision of Darcy, George and Miuccia running freely on the Yorkshire Dales – couldn’t be a better way to spend her birthday.  Will we be wind-swept? Probably. Will we be soaking wet? Hope not! But it’s another adventure.