another day, another castle

Penrhyn Castle was a revelation today, as the 19th Century folly is quite stunning in its Victorian excesses!
I thought it was going to be heavy and rather Gothic in it's interior decoration, and it was! , but the effort,attention to detail and shear scale of the place is awesome and after a couple of hours exploring the dark brooding interiors I fell in love with the house even more than I did when I first saw Chatsworth House!.

Chris loved the fine silk wallpapers of the bedrooms ( with Queen Victoria's one ton slate bed lurking there) and some of the artwork hanging in the Staterooms ( Van Dyke, Rubins ,Canaletto and Rembrandt) where as Nigel and I loved the servant Kitchen and beautifully restored house keeper's sitting room.

We did not have a huge amount of time to walk
the grounds but we did manage to explore the walled garden which was beautifully set out. It was a nice bookend to a nice weekend, and as Nige got his train back to Sheffield on time, we had enough time to walk the dogs again on the beach

Nige and Chris (posing!)

Dragging poor Nige around North Wales

After dragging Nigel up the gop with the dogs (we actually saw a badger at 10 am daytime), I dragged him over to Conway ( up into the Castle) where I got jelly legs up the battlements, and had to be led (in true girly fashion) to the ground floor. The castle was amazing, and quite stunning in its design. After

chips at the harbour wall, we went shopping in Bangor then down to the beach again, dog walking! Poor Nige must have been bored silly. Good to see him as usual.

ps.Family and friends have put in over 40 entries to the Trelawnyd show so far!!!

Coed Bell

I am not one for visiting gravesides, I have never really felt the need to do so. But conversations with Chris and again with Mike last night about the dream I had about Fin and my maternal grandmother, made me think about Coed Bell, where my grandparents are buried.

I passed the cemetery this evening, on my way home from walking the dogs on the beach, and on the spur of the moment I stopped. It has been over 15 years since I visited their grave, but I remembered exactly where it was located on the hillside overlooking Liverpool bay.

I had forgotten just how basic the headstone inscription was, (my mother's decision I recall) and I think it's simplicity is kind of moving. I had also forgotten that Gran died only a year after Grandad, which made the inscription of "together" even more poignant.

I wasn't sad at visiting the cemetary, nor was I overly thoughtful at being there. It was just nice to remember them for a brief moment in the sunshine.

I AM Carrie Bradshaw?

Got up very early this morning, without any hangover (Small Chardonnays and alternate sparking water-last night) and went into in the city centre with a cup of coffee. The small square in the Leopold Street development (pic) has been completed to a high standard, and I really enjoyed sitting there at 7.15, listening to the sound of the city in the morning sun and sipping my PROPER coffee!. Funny the things you can enjoy when you don't experience it for a long time.
In Sex and the City, Carrie Bradshaw always says that New York has a rhythm of its own, and the noise of the start up of deliveries, commuter traffic and building sites this morning DID remind me of New York, albeit on an obvious smaller scale. The very bright sunshine also gave the illusion of being abroad, and I did feel rather smug sat there on my own

Catch up

Got home at 10 am this morning after lunch out in Dronfield and a night out in Sheffield yesterday . Kathryn treated me to lunch which was lovely, and the weather was great to be able to sit in the sun and chat! Had enough time afterwards to do a bit of window shopping at Cole Brothers, before meeting up with Micky then Mike and Jane.

There is something quite satisfying "doing" the city one day and a few hours later,feeding my chickens in the sunshine and the peace of the field.

Had a good time!

Tim's Birthday

Tim's (59th) birthday meal was a welcomed change as we all have not all met up for a long time. Andrew and Jayne turned up with Janet and Ned and Tim's sister Carol, and we all have a socialble evening meal!


It was nice to have such a relaxing evening, as only a couple of hours ago, one of the passing farming hay wagons ripped off the top of the cottage garden wall! As Chris and I was leaving to go to Ann and Tim's we caught sight of the farmer who had inflicted the damage. It was like a red rag to a bull to me , when he refused to apologise and just banged on about having a problem with the size of his trailer! I think I embarrassed Chris as I lost my temper and in no uncertain terms reminded him that our cottage has been in its present position since 1764 and that if he had hit it, it was in fact his fault and not ours!. I shouted that I expected him to repair the wall, and drove off! If he does so...well...we will wait and see.

The trouble with terriers

.....is that they never back down! The fight between George (pic) and William started over a few crumbs on a plate and nothing more and ended with William being lifted bodily from the fight by his tail with George still hanging on to his beard, and so suspended the fight continued! Thank god no blood was shed! and both dogs were retired to their respective corners, flicking dirty looks at each other.

Barcelona 92

LBC was debating how the London Olympics will fair in 2012 this morning, and I wondered if the UK will put on a show as good as Spain did in 1992. Lighting the torch was the highlight of the games and great showmanship!