We bought the cottage back in 2005.
There was a great deal to do, to make it look like a period property as the previous owners had put in laminate floors and had pulled out the living room caninets, fire surround and bannisters, so we lived in another cottage in Meliden until the work could be finished.
Almost daily,I would come up to Trelawnyd to paint and to supervise our joiner, who was notoriously slow ( but good) at his work and I remember one afternoon as I was painting our bedroom ceiling, hearing a noise by the front door.
I walked half way down the stairs and looked over the banister and saw two old ladies peeping through the living room window.
I didn't disturb them but watched with interest as they pointed at various points of interest around the room and I only darted down the stairs and out through the back door when they ambled off back towards the village.
By the garden wall , I introduced myself, and there was much nodding smiling and slightly embarrassed Welsh hellos. The ladies, I was told, were lifelong friends Gwyneth Jones and Olwena Hughes and that in around 1930 Olwena had been taught the piano in our cottage front room!
I found out much later that the village gossips had been working overtime and that everyone knew tgat a doctor and a nurse ( both men!) were moving into the cottage. I was also told that locals like Mrs Jones and Olwena had often popped down to see what we had done with the place.
Over the years, like most of the Grey hairs from the village, Gwyneth and Olwena became a regular backdrop to our lives here. On our very first open day they very slowly led the small line of villagers who walked down the lane to support the event. A scene that had me misty eyed, in it's pure cinematic impact.
Their arrival reenforced our acceptance into the community.
A few years ago Mrs Jones sadly died of a stroke and Olwena's health deteriorated to such an extent that she gave up her bungalow on Bron Haul to live in a nursing home towards the coast. It was here that she in turn died only a week or so ago.
Today is her funeral and I shall be going to pay my respects . I've cleaned the church in readiness and brought in some miniature daffodils to cheer the place up a bit , flowers which I suddenly realised had to be removed to the vestry as there is a " no flowers" rule in Church before Easter
I'll leave you with this small video of the pair of old friends, which I took several years ago now.
I had been asked by a blog follower to post a video with a couple of villagers talking welsh on it, so who better than Olwena and Mrs Jones.
I asked them to chat about a belly dancer , that had been asked to perform at the Friendship group meeting the previous Thursday but the pair decided to chat about something much more interesting ( the story of how another local man had experienced a bad fall at home)
It's a very Welsh thing talking about a misfortune
