" A Star Spa: Discovering Ilkley"

WHAT have the following folk in common: Jilly Cooper, Charles Darwin, Colin Montgomerie, Alan Titchmarsh, Richard Whiteley and Ricky Wilson??

(I've seen one of them in the flesh....Ricky, of Kaiser Chiefs fame, when playing L'pool McCartney gig last year...)

DO you give up?? They're a motley( but talented) crew, are they not??

But the answer is: all have been resident some point in their life in Ilkley, Yorkshire....a lovely Spa town in Wharfedale on the southern edge of the Dales, which I visited for the 1st time ever yesterday. Friends are moving there ....so we went to inspect this new territory. And the verdict was wholehearted approval!

AND NOW I'm remembering: Until she married, my mother lived on the borders of Yorks/ Lancs. And she often talked about trips to Ilkley with its wide streets (almost "promenades") its Victorian architecture......and my mother described her walks on the moors, the delight of rather juicy shops, even Ilkley's famous teashop: "Betty's", ( there for decades!) .......

AND BELIEVE ME, IF you've never scoffed a Fat Rascal from "Betty's" ( when it's slathered in butter, jam AND cream!)....THEN YOU'VE SERIOUSLY MISSED OUT....

THE SNAP: A Bandstand ( beyond the flower market) where yesterday South American musicians played fabulous music from the Andes....while we sipped Polish beer and chattered in the sun..