North Wales Wanderings

Had a few days off at the end of April and managed a couple of days out revisiting National Trust properties up in North Wales.

Started with Erddig, where the 'family' had particular regard for their servants, recording their lives in portraits and verse - adds a really interesting dimension to the house.




Lovely gardens - some fantastic pink tulip beds while we were there - plus the geometric lines of 'pleached' ornamental trees, leading away from the house.

Also encountered this baby squirrel in a corner of the garden - desperately trying to hide from us under a garden bench!

Later in the week it was on to Penrhyn Castle - a little more modern than it looks (the current building dates from the early C19th despite its distinctly Norman appearance).

The interiors boast some really rather extravagant stonework (the family did own a lot of quarries), and the whole setting boasts some lovely views out to the North Wales coast:

Sunny Spring Sunday

A Sunny Sunday afternoon, prompted us to head out to our local National Trust property Llanerchaeron to check out the Spring gardens.  A newly opened bridge also led us over the river to some woodland walks - with lots of bluebells:






Spring was in further evidence in the farmyard:




There is something just sooo cute about piglets . . .

They'd also given over an area of the walled garden to a (very muddy) pig pen housing some more grown-up specimens, who were having a whale of a time snouting their way through the mud.



The ducklings on the lake were giving the piglets a run for their money in the cuteness stakes mind you . . .

Hall and Fen

An Easter of visiting family and days out - starting with a walk round the wetlands at Wicken Fen:

The nature reserve at Wicken includes woodlands and hedgerows (full of blossom) as well as the eponymous fen . . . 

Did spot some Muntjac Deer on our wanderings, but they didn't stay still long enough to get a good picture - in contrast the Highland cattle (part of the grazing management plan) posed beautifully . . .


Historic properties were not neglected - revisited Oxburgh Hall, including squeezing myself into the priest's hole (and squeezing myself back out again pretty darn quick - didn't like it in there!) - then called in to a smaller property, Benthall Hall in Shropshire, on the way home.

Winter to Summer (and back again?)

Frosty and wet:

Bring on the sunshine:

Unfortunately the hot weather didn't last and it's just made the rather colder April a little harder to come to terms with - beginning to wish we hadn't switched the rayburn off - and now some weather forecasters are predicting the coldest May for a 100 years!

British Summer Time

Doesn't happen often that that the shift to BST actually brings 'summer' with it - but here we go, the 'met' data to prove it:

And a nice sunny picture of the Atmospheric Radar Facility down the road that takes the readings:

Long may it last . . .

Borth Rocks!

Had a walk along Borth seafront this weekend to see how the coastal defence project was working out, a few months on.

The official 'opening' was earlier this month, but work is still ongoing (even on a Sunday when these pictures were taken).

The final stages of the project include removing a causeway created to enable the building of two reefs in the bay - check out the machines in motion here.


There also still seem to be a lot of large rocks to move around - although the 'grabs' on the excavators make it look easy enough!

Loads more info on the Borth Community site if you want to track the project from the start.

Springing Up

Time to get planting :

That's tomatoes, asparagus, aubergines, courgettes, butternut squash, cucumber, chillies, and leeks hopefully on their way.

Plus some floral offerings, including sunflowers and lavender.


There are potatoes chitting on a windowsill as well, and red onion sets ready for planting out in due course.

Meanwhile the Spring garden is in full bloom, and over the hedge there are lambs racing around the field, looking as cute as can be: