Borth-y-Gest

Before the town of Porthmadog was built Borth-y-Gest was the place where the sea pilots could look out along the Glaslyn Estuary for vessels needing help and guidance to cross the often treacherous waters.

The pilot house was stationed here and several pilot cottages still survive at the front of the harbour.

Photo taken on one of our visits in June 2011

The peaceful beach area used to be a vibrant shipyard with a couple of companies building wooden vessels.

Below a photo of ship building at Borth-y-Gest which is on display in the Porthmadog Maritime Museum.

Borth-y-Gest is on the Wales Coast Path and we always stroll along part of it.  There are a few sets of steps down to the beach.

On the beach a man with an excitable black Labrador dog began to talk to us.  He told us about his childhood, growing up across the estuary near Harlech and told us Welsh folk tales from the 9th and 10th centuries connected with the area.  A fascinating man.  We saw him later at the Seaview café where we had a Coronation Chickpea sandwich for lunch.

More photos of the beach below

All for now.  Take care in the warm weather.

Plas Brondanw

 I've written about this garden a few times over the years so apologies if I am repeating myself.  It's a lovely place and a firm favourite.  We just visited the garden this time.  By the time we'd had lunch - soup and a roll as it was quite a cool day - the rain had stopped.  The garden looked wonderfully green with a strong earthy aroma in the air and mist still hung over the mountains in the distance.  As we walked the sun was filtering through the clouds.

Above the view from the car park.

Plas Brondanw was the home of architect Clough Williams-Ellis best known for his Italianate village of Portmeirion which is just a few miles away.

I'll let the photos show you what it is like - small but beautiful and completely at home in its wilder surroundings.

I'm usually happier with flowers in softer colours - pinks, whites and lavenders - but I'm really liking the combination of the orange and blue.  I've seen it in a few places recently.

Plas Brondanw website - link.

A Morning at Beddgelert

I always find Beddgelert a strange, soulful place mainly, I suppose, because of the feel of enclosure the surrounding hills provide, its history and mystery and the story of the hound Gelert, as told in a Welsh Folk Tale.

When we arrived the mist was still overhanging the hills and mountains that surround the village.

We walked along the riverside and out towards Gelert's grave.  According to legend Gelert was the favourite hound of Prince Llywelyn.  The story is that Gelert was left behind when Llywelyn went hunting and when he returned he was greeted by Gelert who's mouth was covered in blood.  

When Llywelyn found his baby son missing he assumed that Gelert had eaten him and killed the dog with a sword.  Just after that he found his child safe under the crib and a dead wolf by it's side.  Gelert had saved the child from the wolf.  Llywelyn was filled with remorse and the tale is that he never smiled again.  Moral of the tale is presumably don't judge anything until you have all the facts.  Act in haste and repent at leisure also fits here.

Hello Gelert.  

Statue above of Gelert created by Rowleigh Clay in 2014.

There is another statue of Gelert (or is it the wolf?) which has appeared since our last visit.  It's in the back garden of the National Trust cottage Ty Isaf.  I can't find out anything more about this at the moment. When we last visited you could look upstairs in the cottage whilst downstairs was a National Trust shop. 

It is now a sweet shop.

We always pop into the Woodcraft shop, it's an Aladdin's cave of beautiful things.

I loved the dragon puppet hanging outside.

Refreshment was taken at the little tea shop on the right of the photo, luckily for us it rained whilst we were inside.

Below a few more photos taken around the village.

A lovely morning but time to head to our next destination for lunch at a beautiful garden nearby.

A Return to Old Haunts

 We've been away for a few days in Wales, staying in the town of Porthmadog.  We hadn't visited this area of Wales since before Covid - everything nowadays seems to be remembered as being either pre or post covid doesn't it?  Anyway we often used to stay at our neighbours' holiday home near the village of Garreg. Sadly, it was sold in 2019 when they could no longer get there due to illness. 

 Our hotel in Porthmadog was ideally situated next to the Cobb and opposite the Ffestiniog and Welsh Highland railway station just by the harbour.  

Evening walks along the Cobb watching the geese and ducks on the Afon Glaslyn whilst listening to the Oyster Catchers overhead and daytime walks along the High street made for lots of steps each day.

We also drove out a couple of times to a few our favourite nearby places.

Criccieth

Borth-y-Gest

Beddgelert

Plas Brondanw

Glaslyn Ospreys Visitor Centre

We only got rained on twice whilst we were away as it rained mostly overnight.  It also drizzled as we walked around Dollgelau where we stopped on our way home, by the time we reached Bala the sun was shining again.  As we drove along we saw Buzzards and Red Kites drifting and whirling in the breezy sunshine.

All for now, the garden needs attention and washing needs to be done.  I'll be back with more later. 

Five Little Things

 We've been watching the Great Crested Grebes on the lake for the past few weeks.

Nest building

Sitting on eggs

Catching Food.  Lets hope we see some chicks soon.  I love their stripey, humbug appearance and the way they travel on a parent's back. 

Family History

I've been finding more family history on line.  I knew about this family but didn't have details of where they lived in- between my great great grandfather Alexander Young being born in Loughborough, Leicestershire and later census details of the family in Ilkeston, Derbyshire.  It seems he married my great great grandmother Rebecca Webb in Lenton, Nottingham.  They married on 1st March 1857.

On the 1861 Census the couple are living at 145 Little John Street, St Anne's, Nottingham.  Alexander was a tailor and you can see from the other entries that most people worked in the textile industries in Nottingham famous for both lace and hosiery.  Alexander was the son of John Young who moved to Loughborough from Kirkaldy, in Fife, Scotland some time in the 1820s.  John, my 3x great grandfather, married Maria Parkinson, my 3 x great grandmother, at All Saints Church, Loughborough in 1826. Ten years later they had  five of their children, including my great great grandfather Alexander, baptised at the Dead Lane Primitive Methodist Chapel in Loughborough on the same day.

In the garden the sweet peas are doing well, as are the strawberries.

Also in the garden a very relaxed fox.  

They visit early morning and late evening.  We thought they only had one cub this year as they were bringing one cub at a time into the garden but last night both parents arrived with two cubs.  Apparently they do separate the cubs to keep them safe from predators when they are very young.

It was too dark to take any photos of the cubs but it was a joy to watch them run and play around the garden.

As well dabbling in family history I've been reading.  I took these two books back to the library this morning.  Both read and enjoyed.  I did wonder about the new Elly Griffiths and if I would be able to read it as it has a time travel theme and I don't usually read anything that is time travel, fantasy or science fiction but I stuck with it and did enjoy it in the end as the writing is so good.

After leaving the library we popped into the Emma Bridgewater factory shop for coffee, the garden at the side of the factory was looking lovely.

There were some beautiful roses and the ones below caught my eye.

So pretty.

Well I think that is more or less a Friday five.  I'll be back in June.