Heading for the Welsh coast

Well the weather changed a bit!

Anyway I was on my way to Aberyswyth when I saw a sign for a village and thought, hang on Jan lives there, so did a detour. Luckily her street has an unmistakeable name and I found it.

I hope she didn't mind me popping in unannounced. I thought it would look odd if i drove past and odd to drop in unannounced.

Gosh she gets lots of birds, I did like the bird who flew to the window feeder looked in and thought "who are you and flew straight off again". Still the darned things come SO close!!

I didn't stop that long, terribly British don't want to impose don't you know. But just for OC....




Jan recommended Aberareon as a place to visit so ......

but first I stopped at

St Gwenog, Llanwenog










Aberareon is a very old fashioned sea side town and quite unspoilt. Very picturesque alas I was there on a grey cloudy damp day.











I never did get to Aberyswyth. I discovered that Aberareon was 5 miles from a National Trust property I was heading to so went straight there.

Llanerchereon is not a grand house but its one of those interesting houses the trust does well. Its a gentleman's villa, a place you could imagine living and lots of the servants arears, meat room, kitchen, laundry etc are open.



The lake had a family of Little Grebes (they were hiding from the camera alas) oh and a Red Kite overhead (loads of Buzzards sat on telegraph polls btw)













The observant amongst you will have noticed a church in the last photo so I strolled down.








I wandered into the NT tea room for a cup of tea and a slice of ginger cake. As I finished it was 3:10 and it was raining hard so I strolled to the car and wended my way home. Curiously despite the weather I had a rather nice day.

Oh and I have read all my work emails. Yes that is sad.

So lamb, beef, cod or salmon tonight? decisions decisions. The bread and butter pudding was good last nigh btw.

Its wales, its sunny!!!

I'm sure even "Welsh" Jan would approve of the weather today (and Jan READ YOUR EMAIL). The promised showers never arrived. Apparently I got lucky yesterday as I saw 10 minutes rain (before I checked into the hotel) but someplaces got downpours. that's life.

I should have gone to Skomer, I mean really it was lovely but I believed the weather forecast so you can look at St David's Cathedral and it's Bishops palace. Its a lovely church, but if you stuck it down in England would it stand out? (think Southwell Minster, Christchurch Priory or Beverley Minster).


























And so to Picton Castle.

This chap was greeting people in the car park. He was VERY friendly, the car is mine.



















Monk's Hood!!




Oh the Robin saw me off!! so cute!!

This post was brought to you by Vodafone mobile broadband!!

Oh riddle me this. I've noticed my 70-300VR is not focusing properly on my D80. Every so often it freezes. I got fed up yesterday and stuck it on the d300 and the 17-50 on the d80. That way I'd know if it was the camera or the lens. Guess whatboth behaved perfectly after the swap!! go figure.

Tuesday

And so to West Wales.

It CHUCKED it down last night but was fine by the time I passed Cardiff.

I stopped at the National Wetlands centre at Llanelli. Disappointing or what!!!!!

A cute collection duck and a heron for you.



I then stopped at

St Mary, Kidwelly











then on to Dinefwr Park near Carmarthen.











I thought this was a juvenile Robin but it is greyer and look at that tail!!! A Redstart!! I saw him flitting about later!


Some deer.






And some Red Kites. WHY is it you never have your big lens when you want it?

Monday

The weather forecast didn't sound good.

I headed to Castell Coch. The architect was William Burges of Cardiff Castle fame, its a fantasy Victorian Castle. Its wonderful but totally bonkers! Luckily I could take photos inside.



















Onto Caerphilly Castle the largest moated castle in Britain.








So far it had been lovely but I got drenched!! But 10 minutes and it was over and onto Dfyrnn Gardens, the sun came out and the gardens were lovely.































I obviously got lucky with the weather because back at the pub it was grey and wet!

Sunday

up nice and early and off to the wetlands centre near Newport. The only rain I saw all day was here ... typical!

Swan






Little Egret







Warbler, not sure which, youngsters I think given there was a few of them.



Female Whitethroat.



And off to Tredegar, South Wales Premier house.

















Then on to Raglan Castle, the castle is in the care of CADW (the equivalent of English Heritage). Annoyingly no audio tour.









and to finish

St Mary, Lanfair Cilgedin with its fine Art Nouveau murals.

Saturday

Wakes up, looks at clock. 7:35. brain takes a few seconds and goes 7:35? 7:35!! I forgot to set the alarm!! So I jumped out of bed and flew!

Luckily everything was packed and by the front door!

Decent journey even of there were loads of roadworks! I did see a Red Kite over the M4 by Reading and a Buzzard further on.


So where to? I went to Newport Cathedral. St Woolos was a parish church elevated to a cathedral in the Twentieth Century. Newport is a mess it has no charm whatsoever (well none I could see).

The Cathedral (well really just a large parish church) has no close but somehow manages to have some dignity. The interior has charm and leads to the 1960's chancel with Piper art.
















And so onto Llandaff Cathedral, Llandaff is a suburb of Cardif, Cardiff is big but the area around the cathedral somehow manages to have an air of tranquility. The cathedral is comparatively small (more like a large English parish church) but is particularly fine. The art is a mix of Norman, Early Gothic and modern. The undoubted highlight is Epstein's Majestas.

Llandaff is perhaps too overly restored, it was almost derelict in the 18th century but there is still some fine early gothic here. I rather liked Llandaff.
























I am staying near Usk so popped into the rather fine former priory church of St Mary Usk











Usk itself is rather pretty with flowers everywhere.


We'll finish our tour of South Wales churches with

St Jerome, Llan-Gwm-Uchaf with its fine restored screen and green men.

Well here's a surprise

Suitcase packed? - Check
Netbook packed? - check
Camera packed? - check
books packed? - check

What? oh yes I am off on holiday. YES AGAIN!!!!

I'm off to South Wales, 3 nights in the East before heading off to Pembrokeshire (West) and then back for another night in the East.

Three cathedrals on my list (Llandaff and Newport - never visited before, and St David's which I have), the book I follow for churches is England only but the guy has written a book on Wales so some target churches as well. Wales is full of castles so hopefully you'll see some like Caerphilly and Chepstow. The odd house as well (although Wales is not blessed in large numbers of great houses) and a few gardens. And never fear there'll be some birds as well. Still undecided about Skomer, alot will depend on the weather. Given the forecast looks ropey then not looking good.

The coast at Pembroke is spectacular so I hope to show you that as well.

Not sure what internet access will be like but if possible i'll update. We'll be in Wales so don't expect much. I can update twitter by text so check the feed for what I am doing.

The Children of Earth

I am not really a Doctor Who or Torchwood fan. I watch the former when its on but have hardly ever watched the later.

Now if you live in the UK you can't really have missed that Torchwood has been shown at 9pm on BBC1 every night this week. The trailers looked good so on Monday I put my feet up and watched.

My verdict? well I've watched all four and am counting the hours until the climax tonight.

Synopsis? Torchwood is broadcast over 5 days and each part seems to represent one day. Suddenly all the worlds children "switch off" and start chanting "We are coming" then they act as if nothing is happening.

The children "switch off" a few times and it seems that the time the children "switch off" is correlated to have maximum impact in the UK, why?

We learn that an Alien Race, known only as the 456 are coming, we also learn that they have before in 1965. What did they want then and npw? The British Government tries to kill everyone who knew what happened in 1965, sidelines UNIT and tries to "take out" Torchwood - the Government are scared and are desperate.

Well we now know what they wanted in 1965 and what happened and what they want now (no spoilers). All I can is that the past 4 nights have been the best drama on telly in flipping yonks.

Tonight we find out the resoution, we will the Aliens get what they want? will the Earth fight back? And will a certain Doctor make an appearance.

13hours to go!!!

It's my birthday and I'll cry if I want to!!!

Well it's that time of year AGAIN. I'm sure it comes around faster each year.

Yes its' my birthday. Seeing dad tonight, not sure what he will be cooking.

I have not bought myself a birthday present but if anyone wants to buy me anything...... then this would be nice.

Thanks to those of you who sent cards, sent emails etc!!

Returning the Cornflower

50 years ago up to 50 species of wildflower could be found in a summer cornfield. You could see the blue of Corncockle and the gold yellow of Corn Marigold. Since then the use of agri-chemicals have brought many native species to the verge of extinction.

However, the cornflower project, a scheme on arable land at the edge of the North York Moors National Park is providing space for the rare species and also actively promoting their expansion.

The project was started in 1998 Its original objectives were as follows: -
1. Find and retrieve locally diminishing species of the local cornfield flora
2. Create locations and seed resources where they can be retained in perpetuity
3. Enable wider appreciation of this group of plants and their essential role in retaining ecological diversity
4. Make available seed, plants and advice to other land users.

Seed was sown in two locations. The first is a 24-acre corn field in village of Silpho and is part of a comercial farm. The second is a quarter-acre field at the Ryedale Folk Museum at Hutton-le-Hole, near Pickering. Also 20 local farmers have signed up to fill at least part of their land with these traditional annuals.

The found trusts Ian Carstairs says

Nobody else has tried to tackle this problem this way. Elsewhere, people have looked after plants where they exist, but we have gone out to find those that remain and – without harming the local population – we have multiplied them and moved them on to other suitable places.

The original plan was to get them back from the brink. We have achieved that, and with a much wider range of species than we had hoped. Now we are looking at getting them out of intensive care by spreading them to as many locations as possible as insurance for their future.

We shall never return the fields to how they were in the past – farms have to be run commercially – but there is an acceptance that this has a place alongside mainstream arable production.

I have to admit you seldom see a really a good display of Wild flowers these days. When you do its a memorable experience, I remember seeing one by Everton church in Cambridgeshire the varieties and colours was a revelation at the time.