A local journey

I had to travel about 25 miles east of Brecon for a meeting, and as it was a beautiful day, I thought I would stop the car and take a photo every 5 miles. The countryside in this area of Wales is not as dramatic as that of north Wales, but is beautiful in its own way.

This photo, 5 miles into the journey, was taken at the gates
of Peterstone Court (beautiful hotel with great restaurant!),
and shows the Brecon Beacons in the background.

A view of Bwlch, a small village between Brecon & Crickhowell.
All Welsh place names tell you something about their
location - 'bwlch' means 'gap' or 'pass'
nd the location of this village is in a pass between two valleys.

15 miles from home. A dead tree with a charm all of its own...

A second shot from the 15 mile point - the roadside trees and hedges prevented me from getting a good short of the surrounding countryside, so I looked up... and found a rookery.

20 miles from home. This is a view from the road leading up the hill from Abergavenny to Blaenavon - looking back at where I had travelled from - the mountain on the right is known as the 'Sugarloaf'.

At the top of the hill - Wales's own version of Ayers Rock!!!!
Actually a mountain of coal dust and spoil form a disused mine.
The wind and rain have carved it over the years.

I cheated - these last 2 shots were not 5 miles further along. They were taken at the same spot that the coal spoil heap was, I turned around and thought the views were too good not to show.

I often think about how lucky I am to live in such a beautiful country.
I hope you enjoyed sharing a small corner of it.

Castell Coch, near Cardiff, Wales

This is one of my favourite places on the planet. It is a magical fairy castle, built in the late 1800s on top of, and using the foundations of, earlier castles on the site. William Burgess took the original floor plans of earlier buildings and constructed this magnificent edifice on top. He researched medieval castles and built his own version, but with fantastically decorated interiors. Even visiting on a bleak, very rainy day with gale force winds battering em didn't diminish my enthusiasm! The castle sits in woodland on a hillside overlooking Cardiff, and can be seen from the nearby motorway, looking ethereally beautiful.

A closer view of the two towers.

The front of the castle - can you imagine trying to get into this place uninvited? The ramp up to the castle is part ramp, but the top part is a drawbridge. There is no moat, but there is a big ditch!

The red wooden structure high above the door is called a hourd - it is a place where people defending the castle could drop/throw heavy objects, boiling oil, flaiming arrows etc onto unwary attackers.

The doorbell!!!!

An arrow slit on the upper floor - these long thin slits allowed archers to fire arrows at attackers whilst keeping themselves relatively safe.

The portcullis, hanging above the doorway. If castles were attacked, they dropped the portcullis so the attackers couldn't get to the main doors with axes or fire.

In the ceiling, either side of the portcullis, are 'murder holes'. These are holes from which the castle defenders can drop nasty things - boiling oil, burning rags, big stones - onto their attackers, while the attackers are trying to get past the portcullis.

The winch for winding the portcullis up and down.

The chains holding the portcullis up.
This castle has absolutely marvellous interiors, as shown in the next few photographs.

The drawing room ceiling. I could lie on the floor of this room and spend hours gazing at the beautifully painted birds & butterflies, and then just move my eyes down a degree or two to admire the fresco between the ceiling and picture rail. This room is absolutely overwhelming. I think you would have to spend days in it to see everything, but maybe that would be too much for the senses!

Details of the zodiac tiles within the fireplace. This room is so over the top and full of decorative detail!

Above the panelling, there is a mural which depicts Aesop's Fables. The custodians tell me they have identified 12 separate fables, although the guidebook only mentions 3. The artwork is fabulous.

The panelling in the drawing room is luxurious and elegant. Each set of 3 panels depicts a plant from the roots up to the top. Each set is different, and they are all hand painted.

The banqueting hall is superbly decorated, and has a splendid fireplace featuring St Lucius. There are murals of saints & martyrs at each end of the room, and a wonderful painted vaulted wooden ceiling. This photo gives an idea of the painted walls, and some of the stained glass.

The traditional Welsh Dresser, where the crockery was stored, and you can see the serving hatches to the left, these lead directly into the passage between the kitchen and the banqueting hall.

The kitchen table and cooking range.
Even the cupboards have been designed to look medieval.

Lady Bute's bedroom, showing some of the furniture. The ceiling of this room is a huge dome, with plenty of gold leafed woodwork, surrounding a huge pomegranate tree full of monkeys!

I could lie on the bed and stare at the ceiling for weeks on end... the artwork is just fantastic!

Lady Bute's dressing/washing table.

A close up of the bowl set into the dresser.

What a bed! Love the crystal balls on each post...

Lady Margaret's bedroom.

Lady Margaret's bath & dresser with jug & bowl.

Lord Bute's bedroom wall decorations.

Lord Bute's toilet - pre flushing, had to be emptied regularly.

The dungeon - who knows whether it was ever used?

Above is the model showing the back of the castle.

Below is the model showing the front of the castle.

Anyway, having had a taste of what this special castle is like, take the 360 degree tour - just don't make yourself travel sick by moving your cursor too quickly!!! And don't forget to look at the ceilings - they are spectacular!!!

http://www.castellcoch.info/index.html

St Fagans - Wales National History Museum

I was lucky enough to attend a training course at St Fagans recently.

If you want to know more about St Fagans, have a look at their website:

http://www.museumwales.ac.uk/en/stfagans

St Fagans is a fascinating place - buildings of all kinds have been brought from all over Wales - carefully dismantled and re-assembled on this site. The buildings range from a school, to a chapel, a pottery, a bakery, a blackmiths, a terrace of miner's cottages, a 1950s pre-fabricated home, a working men's institute, various farmhouses, a cockpit, a post office, a church, a water-powered mill, a pig sty, a grand house, and more... and rare and old Welsh breeds of animals graze in the fields around and between the buildings.

I took these photographs early in the morning, on my way to the training course, before the museum was open. Most of the buildings were still closed, so there are almost no interiors here. When the museum is open, people can go inside the buildings, and ask the guides questions.

I have perhaps photographed the exterior of a quarter of the buildings on site.



This farm house is known as the 'Red House'.
It doesn't always appear to be quite as bright as this,
but the early sun was very bright, and lit it up!


The Victorian school house - and when modern children visit
St Fagans on class trips,
they are often taught a 'Victorian lesson' here,
using slates and chalk...
I wonder if they like their modern teachers more
after experiencing the strict Victorian regime?



A row of 6 terraced workers cottages, dating from around 1840.
These cottages have been 'dressed' to show how they
would have been in different eras, ranging from 1840 to 1970.
Their gardens have also been designed to show
how the usage changed over time.
The 1940s (or 1950s) one has a pigeon loft,
as pigeon racing was a very popular pastime
amongst men in the south Wales valleys at that time.

The 1970 and the 1940s/50s one bring back
all kinds of childhood memories for me!

The cottages are absolutely tiny.
2 small rooms downstairs,
and 2 more small rooms upstairs,
and the staircase is very small, too.
I can't imagine bringing up a family here.



A toll house, which would originally have been
located at a fork in the road - hence
the 'payment' windows at either side of the building.


The working men's institute - a place to meet your friends,
read a book, improve yourself, and escape from your womenfolk!



The blacksmith's Forge.
Sometimes there is a blacksmith demonstrating his skills.
Many other buildings on this site have craftspeople
demonstrating their craft - there is a pottery, a saddlery,
a tannery, and mill. The bakery bakes bread & cake daily,
and sells them to visitors.


The interior of a Chapel.
The exterior of the building is whitewashed stone,
and the windows were plain glass.
It is very small and cosy, and has no fancy decoration.



The Gwalia Stores. The shop has all the original counters,
and replicas of the kinds of things which would have been
sold in a hardware & food store. You can still buy things here today.

The small yellow building to the right is the photographer's studio.



A very old farmhouse form north Wales.



A metal mile post,
relocated about 10 miles or so from it's original site.



The museum isn't all old buildings.
Wales has sustainability built into
all government plans & policies.
The museum decided to build
a 'House of the Future' using sustainable materials,
and built to use very little energy.
The sun's energy is captured through
the south facing glass wall at the back of the house,
and the house conserves energy by being
incredibly well insulated.
It has a turf or sedum roof, and solar panels.



The back of the House of the Future

An experiment in the garden....