At Harlech

 We arrived early at Harlech castle as we wanted to have breakfast in their café.  I loved the post box topping just outside the entrance.

It was a cold and damp morning so different from the day before at Llanbedrog.  After coffee and scrambled eggs on toast we set out along the bridge into the castle.  I've taken you here a couple of times in previous posts.  This time we didn't go up onto the battlements as it was far too windy.

We walked around the outside wall first and nearly got blown away.  There are some lovely views across the town and down to the coast from there.

The Railway Station

Towards the sea

Roof tops and chimneys

Distant hills and mountains

I didn't take too many photos inside the castle.  Just of things that caught my eye.

The castle is one of a number of castles built for Edward I during his invasion of Wales between 1282 and 1289.

Below is a statue of Branwen daughter of Llyr.  She is one of the main characters of the Welsh folk tale know as The Second Branch of Mabinogi.  The story is that she trained a starling to take a message to her brother at Harlech castle to bring a force of his men to Ireland to save her from a cruel husband who had banished her to the kitchens to work as a maid where she was beaten daily.  The story goes that she returned to Harlech but died of a broken heart because of the devastation of the war caused by these actions. 

 

The statue stood out against the grey stone. Here is a -link- to the full folklore tale of Branwen.

Below is another  statue relating to the story of Branwen, who left the castle at Harlech to marry the king of Ireland.  Their son the young king Gwern was killed in the war that followed.  The statue shows Bendigeidfran, brother of Branwen, carrying the body of his nephew Gwern.  The sculptor shows the futility of war and the ensuing grief of loss.

After a walk around the little town.  It was time for another coffee, well tea for me as they didn't have de-caff coffee and I'd already had one coffee that morning.  I try to only have two a day.

Over the next few days we are changing our internet provider.  I'm not sure how smoothly that will go, I'm sure there will be some problems. I don't know when I will be back.  Some time in October I hope.

Llanbedrog

One of my favourite places to visit whilst staying on the Llyn peninsula is Llanbedrog.  I love its beach for walking,  its wooded cliff paths and the wonderful art gallery.

We didn't manage the cliff walks on this visit but did walk along the beach and visit the gallery.

The little white cottage is called Foxhole and had a for sale board outside.  I looked it up when we got back to the hotel.  It could be yours for £850,000.

Llanbedrog lies in a sheltered bay between Pwllhelli and Abersoch.  The beach seem to stretch for miles and we walked for quite a while.

Another favourite on the beach, the colourful huts. We once saw them being winched off the beach at the end of the season.  I think they used to spend the winter undercover. I'm not sure if this still happens.

Little treasures were found as we walked.

The art gallery can be found inside Plas Glyn-y-Weddw. The house was built in 1857 for Elizabeth Jones Parry the widow of Sir Love Jones Parry of Madryn.  It was built as a dower house for her use after her son married.  As it was he didn't marry during her lifetime so she never lived there but visited quite often.  In Welsh y-Weddw means window.

The stained glass window represents the family and depicts various coats of arms relating to the family.

The Summer exhibition was still in place and there were two wonderful photographic exhibitions of images taken locally during the 1950s, 60s and 70s. One was rural life through the lens of Geoff Charles and the other Moments by Anna Higson. I was fascinated by them and their social and historical significance.  One was labelled 'The Pwllhelli Chip Shop Choir' which made me smile.  Here is a - link - to more about the art gallery.

When we first started to visit the tea room was in an ordinary conservatory but look at it now. We headed inside for coffee and cake.  It's splendid inside too.

It was time to head back towards Porthmadog but we had one more place to visit along the way. Up a very windy lane close to Criccieth is Penarth Fawr a 15th century Hallhouse.  We'll visit there and Harlech Castle in my next posts.

A few days away

 We've just returned from a few days away in Wales.  The weather wasn't too bad at all and beaches were walked and explored. Castles, art galleries and ancient houses were visited and wonderful wading birds were spotted along the estuary, reached by a path just a short walk from our hotel.

The view from our bedroom window.

On two different evenings we had a rainbow to view.

Sunrise was so beautiful over the water.

As we walked every evening along the path  by the Glaslyn estuary we heard Curlews burbling as they flew in to the feeding areas. Three or four together sometimes as many as six at a time. Other waders, maybe Godwits, were spotted too, grazing the mud flats along side Curlews and Red Shanks.  They flew in like shiny, feathered darts but we weren't sure what they were. Cormorants rested on rocks and Herons stalked in their lugubrious way along the edges of the grassy reeds waiting to catch their supper.

Heron

Cormorant and Canada Goose

One of the Godwits?  There were quite a few different waders that were hard to identify.

I'll be back with more later, for now I've got a lot of  catching  up to do.  I'm going to miss those Curlews.

Spotted in Early September

 My birthday flowers from last Friday are still looking good a week later.

Below a few photos from this week.  Mostly animals, birds and signs.

Red Panda at Peak Wildlife Park.  This is the new panda, a male called Nilay.  When the pandas first arrived at the wildlife park there were two sisters Esha and Riya. Now Esha  has been moved to another wildlife park and the male introduced.  They are part of an international captive breeding programme for endangered species.

Red Squirrel at Peak Wildlife Park.  He was more a conker brown than red.  We noticed a few years ago that the red squirrels at Formby in Lancashire were a nut brown colour whereas the ones we saw in Scotland were a definite gingery red colour.

Little Egret on the River Trent at Trentham.  Little Egrets have a black bill.  The Great white and cattle Egrets have yellow bills.

Young Herring Gull at Westport Lake.

A ghost sign in Buxton.  I remember Maypole shops and also Home and Colonial shops from my childhood.  I also remember the first small supermarkets, Fine Fare and  Macfisheries.  Also the small Co-op shops with separate butchers, grocers and electrical goods.  One of my Uncles was manager of a Co-op grocery shop and a cousin worked in a small electrical shop.

I've never seen a warning sign for badgers before.  This one is in the city close to the A50.  I know both urban badgers and foxes are increasing, we have three badgers and a couple of foxes regularly visit our garden.  I guess there is a Badger sett somewhere close to the slip road at Heron Cross.

I'm having problems commenting both on my own blog and others.  Things seem to freeze on publishing, not sure what the problem is or how long it will last.

All for now.

Hares in the Churchyard

I'd read about the hare sculptures that could be found during the last week of August in the churchyard of St Peter's Church, Ellastone, Staffordshire.

We often pass through the village on the way to Ashbourne but had never stopped there.  We were able to park quite easily at the village hall and walk across the road to the church.

You can spot the little hare by the WWI soldier.  We counted twenty three hares as we walked around, all painted by local community organisations or businesses.

 My photos aren't great as it was raining, the air was misty and I was trying to hold up an umbrella as well.  I've chosen a few of the entries to show you. the last one was in the church porch.  The church itself was closed when we visited but it looks an interesting building and the views across the countryside from where it stands on a hill are lovely.

The village has an interesting history, standing as it does, on the Staffordshire/Derbyshire border.  It has a literary connection with the Evans family.  Mary Ann Evans visited family here and when she wrote her first novel, as George Eliot, she used the village as a setting.  In Adam Bede, published in 1859, the village of Hayslope is based on Ellastone.

St Peter's Church is a Grade 2* listed building which dates from about 1163.  The church tower was added in 1582 but two of the church bells sited in the tower are earlier in date.  It is believed they may have come from nearby Calwich Priory.