We're off to Wales!
After our flying visit to Cirencester, it's now time for a whistle stop tour of Wales. We are both excited to be seeing our good friends John and Anne Gee who live in Aberystwyth. John was John and Anne's Best Man at their wedding many years ago and they're the type of friends who you can just pick up with where you left off last time.
On the way there we will be stopping off to look at Powis Castle, pandering to Barb's un-ending castle obsession. We were making good progress on the car journey until we crossed the border into Wales and then the threatening dark clouds let loose a sudden down-pour in welcome.
Well it wouldn't be Wales if it wasn't wet would it?
Barb was un-deterred in her enthusiasm to see the castle, and it did look very grand and imposing as we approached. There was even a deer straying into the car park, which Barb managed to get a photo of before the attendant shooed it away.
We were in need of refreshment when we arrived so our first stop was the cafe. It seems we were 20 minuted too early to be allowed to have Wesh Rarebit. Kitchens have their rules y'know!
We really did enjoy looking around the castle which had been renovated in the 19th Century to a comfortable home. It was used during the war to house girls from a Welsh school, so we also got to see exh ibits relating to that time as well as some from Clive of India who was one of the relations.
The house was full of beautiful antiques, old family portraits by famous artists, tapestries, china, silver etc. It's hard to even fathom how people could live this way. We'd certainly find it too stifling and all that dark wood and heavy velvet drapes is quite depressing.
Outside the house there are magnificent views all over the valley. The gardens here are a vision of manicure lovliness...perhaps among the best kept we've seen. It was so unfortunate that the rain chose that moment to really set in with a heavy shower, so we huddled under our umbrellas and tried to make the best of it anyway.
It did mean that we cut short our visit to Powis and got on our way to John and Ann'es place at Aberystwyth. The drive there was just magnificent. Last time we'd visited back in 2014 Barb had been unwell after having something she was allergic to on the way, so wasn't very aware of her surroundings. This time she keppt making John pull over at any possible viewing point to take photos of just gasp at the gorgeous vistas.
We arrived earlier that planned catching Anne a little under-prepared. They'd just returned from a trip to Northern Ireland where Anne's 98 year old Mum resides alone, so it was lovely of them to have us stay.
We spent a lovely evening chatting and catching up on family news. Last time we were here their daughter Siobhan was newly engaged. Now she is married, gained her PhD and has two young sons under three years old. Theis son Alisdair has recently changed jobs and is doing very well for himself too. John and Anne have both retired and seem to be filling their time very nicely. Between family time, time on their yacht, John's cycling and Anne's volunteering they are happily busy.
No comments:
Post a Comment