The Hall at Abbey-cwm-hir

Day off yesterday and an unexpected invitation to join a bus trip to The Hall at Abbey-Cwm-Hir. The best way to describe where it is and what it's about is to click on the link below:
http://www.abbeycwmhir.com/

It was amazing and the sun shone all day. When we arrived we were taken through the garden room and the proprietor and his wife sat us all down with a cup of tea or coffee - best china cups and saucers. Then before taking a tour of the house, 52 rooms, we were asked to remove our shoes to protect the floors and coverings. I don't think I've ever seen so many collections of memorabilia under one roof. And the décor was style with a capital 'D'. Everything was immaculate and beautiful. Somebody had put in an awful lot of hard work and it showed.

Here are some of the photos I took of the gardens - 12 acres.

The lake was beautiful with a little boathouse and small boat on the left hand edge of it.

These are beach huts nestled in the woodland. All individually furnished and decorated.

There's a Shepherd's Hut there too. If you click on the picture it does say 'No Riff Raff'. They didn't mean me did they?

That's the interior - isn't it fantastic. I love it.

The mistress of the house accompanied us on our tour. She happily made herself comfortable on the four poster bed in the Master Bedroom. (All the bedrooms seemed to have four poster beds but this one was really posh). She's the owners' much loved beautiful dog.

Guess what her name is ...... 'Abi-cwm-hir'. Well they couldn't really call her anything else. I love her.

Aberystwyth Re-visited

At the beginning of the year, all along the south and west coasts Britain was battered by storms. Seems such a long time ago now. Hard to imagine that only nine months ago, it was all like this.
Aberystwyth on the South Wales coastline was one of the many little towns and hamlets to feel the brunt ....



We live inland about 60 miles away. Last Monday we went out on a day trip. It's funny, when it's winter you can't imagine the summer and in the summer time, winter seems a million light years away.



The sun was shining, but most the holiday makers had packed up and gone home. The children, back in school. The uni and college students not yet back. The boats in the harbour, hunkered down and not a fisherman in sight. The walkway through the castle ruins all but deserted. The last remnants of the wild little pink thrift growing in clumps by the castle wall. Rock pools with fronds of trailing red and green algae and limpets. The sea endlessly swishing as the tide idly ebbed and flowed. You could breathe in the pungent smell of  seaweed trapped on the shore. Just a few of us and the seagulls and I loved it.

All the way to Hereford

We went down to Hereford last week. When I'm somewhere where I'm not sure of my bearings, I take a picture of the street where I'm starting out - I find it helps you to find your way back.

We were near to Hereford Cathedral. The wrought iron and

the architecture were just amazing.

A heavy studded wooden door from the Cloister Cafe led out into a small courtyard.

A saint in the garden - but I don't know which one. An ancient stone too.

  We went back through the narrow passage way to the library. (Not allowed to take photos in there) But we saw 13th century Mappa Mundi - Map of the world as it was understood then. Went through the chained library. The books were chained on the shelves by their spines. Learnt a little of the history.   The cathedral had  been built as a dedication to St Ethelbert who was beheaded by King Offa. 

Hereford Cathedral link can tell it better than I can.

We wandered down into the crypt. Stone cold in Hereford

We were told how the cathedral had flourished on the wool trade. The colours of the wool displayed in a glass case were beautiful.

 As were the stained glass windows.

We stood on the bridge and watched the rolling waters of the Wye

in the November sunshine.

Silence of the Trees

Went for a walk today


No sound, except a rook for a few seconds warning its predators to keep away.  It was wild.

Aberystwyth

We went to Aberystwyth for the day yesterday.  It's a little seaside town on the Mid West South Wales coast, about sixty miles away from where we live. In our family it's been almost a ritual that at least one day in the year is singled out for for the pilgrimage to Aber. My O/H when he was little, used to go with his mum, sisters and brother. His father was usually unable to leave the farm.  It was a time of great excitement - the brown cardboard suitcases, buckets and spades and all the paraphernalia you had to take on the train. They used to stay at Mrs Roberts' guest house, not the last word in comfort, but who cares when you're ten - and that's long gone. An empty weedy space where the house once stood.

And then his mum and dad used to take our children and my sister-in-law's children  when they were little. Mum and Dad retired from the farm now and  time out to spend with their  precious little  grandchildren

 We took our grandaughter for the annual pilgrimage to Aber. There's a lovely children's park right by the castle. She soon made friends with a little boy.   He was as Welsh as the hills and she a little English rose. They couldn't speak a word of each other's language but they had a great time playing together - like you do when you're four years old. She's eighteen now and off to Uni in the next few weeks. We won't see a lot of her now.

And yesterday we sat on the bench with my sister-in-law and wondered where it had all gone.
It was a lovely time. Most of the families had gone home and the college students not yet started. The place was all but deserted except for a few oldies like us. You could breathe in the bracing sea air and feel it doing you good. The seagulls dive bombed any titbit of food they spotted on the pavement.

We watched a  lone black headed gull, surfing the waves and then suddenly disappearing beneath them to come up a few seconds later with a wriggling fish in it's mouth. That gull had a good dinner yesterday.

We leaned over the rails and looked down into the rock pools. If you look closely the  pebbles and colours of sea algae are amazing.

Along the promenade there was a strip of deep blue salvias in a concrete rectangle. The bees were collecting almost the last of the nectar before they go. I love salvias. Must buy some seeds and sow them when I get home, ready for next spring.
Do you have a special place of happy memories? Everyone should.