Shrewsbury Trip

End of June, and we decided on another day out - this time to Shrewsbury.  Hadn't realised how long it had been since we were last there for a proper look around - working out that it was probably 2011!

Parked in a side street and made our way into town along the river bank and had a good wander round the antique stores, and town centre.

Lots of lovely old buildings, although the 'Mardol Dragon' pictured here, isn't actually that old - having been added as part of a 1980s renovation to disguise the end of replacement steel 'Dragons Beam'.

Had our lunch sitting in the Quarry park overlooking the river, followed by a wander round the central sunken garden, 'the Dingle' - a part of Shrewsbury I'd missed on previous visits.

Finished with a wander along a section of the old town walls, past the National Trust's Town Walls Tower - again something we've missed in the past.

Headed for home having concluded that there is much more to see here - we'll be back!

Seagulls and Sunset

 

The lovely weather has continued, and we've been enjoying the sunshine at home and on the prom.  The 'well' feature in the kitchen 'courtyard' is still going strong, and looking lovely in the sunshine, with the water playing and a poppy in bloom.

On the prom one of the seagulls seemed to be posing for me - generally they are a complete nuisance, but this at least made for a good photo!

A couple of days later and more of the gang were hanging out at the end of the Pier in the evening sunshine - probably watching out for opportunities to steal people's food this time.

I'll finish this with another sunset picture, this one taken at Ynyslas on a metal detecting trip (and no we didn't find anything, but the walk and scenery were lovely!).

Bench Two

After our work on the old bench earlier this year, we started to look at the metal bench which is sited in the kitchen courtyard, and which is also looking a little the worse for wear as the powder coating is now peeling off.  

On balance we decided that we'd let that process continue, and repaint it in due course - especially as we'd also had some thoughts about getting a longer bench for outside the back of the house.

So here we go - one new hardwood teak bench 'Indonesian Legal Wood', ready to be assembled.

And here it is in situ.

This one is long enough (just) for Martin to lie down on it.  It's not quite as hefty as the old bench, but still solid enough, and will hopefully give us many years of good service!

Baking Good

I haven't blogged much about my 'adventures' in sourdough recently, but have continued to bake regularly, mostly pitta bread, but other bits and pieces too - and with the acquisition of some 'pullman' bread pans, this is my latest effort:

In the first photo I baked one with the lid on (you can see the ridges from the lid at the front - this is also what produced the squarer of the two loaves) and one with the lid off.  

Anyway, two nice soft sandwich loaves - pleased with that!

June Sunshine

Early June has brought us more lovely weather, and some sunny trips out - including a walk round Cwm Rheidol, with the sun glinting on the water.

Took a birthday trip to North Wales to see Bodnant Garden's laburnum arch in full bloom, and enjoy the rest of the gardens of course.

Lots of wildlife to see in the ponds in particular - with baby frogs on the lily pads, and dragonflies hovering . . .

It was a lovely day, and the gardens were packed with people enjoying the sunshine and scenery - unfortunately the rhododendrons and azaleas had gone over, although in some places there were still carpets of petals to be seen:

Ended my birthday (after a night out with friends) with this beautiful sunset . . . happy days!