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Butterflies and Flowers

Butterflies and Flowers

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Butterflies? Flowers? February? It’s not as silly as it sounds. It all started this morning with a bright sun in a cloudless sky – it was going to be a beautiful day so we just had to go somewhere. That somewhere turned out to be Croft Castle.

We wanted to try and find some snowdrops which were supposed to be found in Pokehouse Wood. Don’t ask me where that name comes from because I don’t know and I’m not about to start guessing but the wood is on the western edge of the Croft Castle Estate. If one parks at Croft Castle then it’s going to be a five and a half mile return walk to Pokehouse Wood which we didn’t really want to do so we, naturally, cheated. On the way to Croft Castle we pass through the small village of Amestrey which, surprisingly, is on the western edge of the Croft Castle Estate so we didn’t pass through, we stopped and parked.

We used a public footpath to reach the edge of Croft Castle Estate where we found a sign, by some steep steeps, which told us that we had arrived at Pokehouse Wood. Up the steps we went and eventually arrived at a wide path where we turned right. Walking along the path, which we noticed was going downhill very slowly, we kept a lookout for Snowdrops. Not a sign. Not a tiny speck of white to be seen anywhere. But then we found these. Not a lot admittedly but it is a start.

As the path was going downhill we eventually arrived at river level, you can see the river below us in the image above, onto another path where we turned right.

Then things started to get interesting.

So, finally, we did find a few. We also noticed that the Snowdrop flowers were beginning to die back so we were lucky that we hadn’t left it another week as we may then have been disappointed.

We also spotted this solitary Primrose.

The path we were on seemed to be heading back towards our starting point so we decided to risk it and continued on this path. It wasn’t long before we arrived at the bottom of the steps we had climed previously so we needn’t have climbed them in the first place. Bummer!

On our way back along the public footpath we stopped to have a look at this tree.

Now that is a tree that you couldn’t easily miss. That tiny person at the bottom is Amanda trying to identify it. She eventually decided that it was a Wellingtonia. Wellingtonias are native to California in America and that is where they grow to their maximum height. They do also grow in other parts of America but not to such a height. However they do also like it here in Britain; growing not to such a height as they grow in California but higher than they grow in other parts of America.

We drove round to the car park in Croft Castle then walked to the restaurant where we had some much appreciated sustenance.

Our next plan was to walk around the upper reaches of Fishpoool Valley so we set off and came across another interesting tree.

This is known as the Candelabra Oak which Amanda estimates can’t be far short of 1000 years old. So you should be able to work out that it is an Oak and I don’t want any dimwits asking “Barry, why is it called the Candelabra Oak” as it should be fairly obvious. We started down the wooded path into Fishpool Valley.

Some way further down we saw, across on the other side, the Grotto which we had heard about but hadn’t seen so we went across to have a look.

It has to be said that we were not awe struck. Apparently some of it is now missing but what and where I don’t know. The second photograph above shows the Grotto on the left with Amanda sitting a little way in front. Walking on we came across our third flower of the day – a wild daffodil.

From the look of the area there should be a lot more of those in bloom in a few more weeks. We’ll have to come back and see. Back to our walk. The path went on – and on – and on.

It may be long but we were enjoying it. At this time of year with no leaves on the trees and a low sun the atmosphere was ethereal.

Our final picture, before we climbed out of Fishpool Valley and went back to our car, is of one of the ponds. The surface of the water was completely still and acted like a mirror showing some amazing reflections.

We also saw some butterflies – a Brimstone, a Comma and a Small Tortoiseshell so it must be Spring. That was the end of our day but we hope to be back for more daffodils – weather permitting.

Rocks and Red

Rocks and Red

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A short while back, before Amanda had her foot operation, we had to go to Llandrindod Wells and I stopped to take this photograph on the way.

It shows a hill called Llandegley Rocks but known locally as the Dragon’s Back and perhaps you can see why. We keep promising ourselves that we will climb it one day but we haven’t managed to do it yet (we are afraid of disturbing the dragon).

As travelling, especially walking, is out of bounds at present I did a little travelling in our garden today and photographed our Japanese Acer. I must say I have never seen it quite so red as it is now. I thought you may like to see it.

Amanda’s foot is progressing slowly but it’s going to be a long time before she can do any serious walking.

Dally in the Valley

Dally in the Valley

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This is a companion post (sequel) to March through the Arch which was our first visit to Croft Castle and this visit being our second. In case anyone doesn't know what 'Dally' means it means to walk slowly.

This time, although we revisited the Walled Garden, our prime objective was to walk through Fishpool Valley. Before we walked to Fishpool Valley the Walled Garden called.

The garden looked as delightful as ever.

There were plenty of flowers about with some visitors goggling at the view. cool

We couldn't have missed seeing this Dogwood in full bloom if we'd tried. What a sight!

It was now time for Fishpool Valley.

So – what is Fishpool Valley? It is described thus "Fishpool Valley was landscaped in the late eighteenth-century in the ‘Picturesque’ style. This was the movement to create a more natural landscape, using the principles of intricacy, roughness, variety and surprise. It features a chain of dams and pools, as well as architectural features such as an icehouse, grotto, pumphouse and limekiln. The careful planting of Oak, Ash, Willow, Poplar and evergreen species suggested the ‘bold roughness of nature’. Carriage rides and other walks were designed to follow the contours of the landscape, providing dramatic views across a wild, but beautiful, contrived scene."

However, because of lack of maintenance, the whole place is in a sorry state but the National Trust is starting a project to restore it to its original state.

 We started our walk from one end of Fishpool Valley and the first point of interest was a pond.

It did look a little unkempt and in need of some TLC but somebody liked it. There were literally clouds of damsel flies over the water; some brilliant blue and some red. For those of you that don't know damsel flies are part of the dragonfly family. They were obviously very happy here. We walked on.

We soon reached another pond and, if you look carefully, you should see a little stone building near the centre of the picture. That is the Pumphouse.

We peeked through the metal grill to see inside and were surprised to see some old machinery in the form of a waterwheel and some gearing.

These pools are fed by springs and the water is very clear. The Pumphouse was used to pump some of this water up to the house.

Walking ever onward we came across this stretch of path with some nice, very tall, trees which we thought were probably Douglas Firs.

Finally we reached the farthest point of our walk – the Lime Kiln. It is now in a ruinous state with the eastern tunnel in a reasonable condition but the opposite western tunnel has collapsed. The central chargehole is brick-lined but cannot be seen at present. I can see why they would have sited a kiln here as there is a small limestone cliff just behind it to provide the material to heat in the kiln and the resultant lime would have been used on the fields as a fertiliser.

We discovered after returning to the castle that there were the remains of a grotto further on which we missed. Oh well, next time then.

On the walk back from Fishpool Valley, which was a different route from our outward journey, we walked through some wood pasture featuring some impressive trees. When we saw the tree in the picture below Amanda said 'Ooh that's a lovely old Oak. I must go and have a look'. When she got nearer she suddenly stopped and said 'Oh it isn't an Oak it's a Chestnut. It is certainly a massive tree.

A little further on we saw this very large Purple Beech which is the same species as a Copper Beech but a different variety where the leaves are purple coloured rather than copper. Another very fine tree.

Well, once again, we come to the end of another little trip. We will probably go back.

Galanthus Galore

Galanthus Galore

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There were two firsts for us today; it was the first trip of the year and it was the first time that I had used my new camera. It wasn't warm but considering that it was February it wasn't anywhere near as cold as it could have been and the weather forecast was for sunny intervals which from my point of view was ideal. I didn't know whether what I wanted to photograph would look best in sunny or cloudy conditions so it looks as though I'd have the choice. Perfect!

We drove for an uneventful hour and ten minutes to the National Trust's Attingham Park just a few miles south-east of Shrewsbury. It was unfortunate that it was also half-term for the local schools so there were a LOT of parents with children. The National Trust staff told us that Attingham Park was the second in the list of most visited sites which we found surprising.

None of it, however, would affect why we were here.

The gardeners among you may recognise Galanthus as being the latin for Snowdrop, which they have here, and for those people who don't recognise the word 'Galore' it means 'in abundance'. They flower in February and this is what we came to photograph.

However not just those but THESE:

That's what I call a Snowdrop display.

After walking round the woods with the snowdrops we made our way over to the Walled Garden to see what that was like although we did not expect to see much at this time of year. Just before we entered the Walled Garden we saw this:

This is the Regency Bee House; a rather luxurious home for bee hives and one of only two such houses in the country. We went onward into the Walled Garden.

Very large but, as we suspected, there is virtually nothing in the way of plants yet; those pots on the left are covering Rhubarb plants in order to 'force' them i.e. make them grow taller than they otherwise would. There was also a separate walled area through an arch which was where the greenhouses were but again very little planting. We shall have to return in the summer.

We made our way out of the Walled Garden and decided it was time for lunch. The restaurant is in the Stables Courtyard area which still has some of the old stables which one can visit. You don't have to eat here unless, of course, you happen to be a horse.

There is also a shop and bookshop together with the inevitable toilets. We went into the Carriage House Cafe and liked the meals on offer and found ourselves a table. It has to be said that it was very busy with parents and children moving past nearly all of the time so if you want peace and quiet you'll be out of luck.

I chose a Fish Pie and Amanda had Sausage and Mash and they both turned out to be very tasty and of good quality. We would eat here again but perhaps we'd bring ear mufflers next time. laugh

After lunch we moved on to the house.

The Attingham Estate includes this mansion together with about 4000 acres of parkland including a Deer Park. We didn't visit the Deer Park this time but we did visit the house going in via the Entrance Hall.

The spaces between the pillars were originally open with the Grand Staircase beyond but John Nash, the architect, changed all that which explains why I thought it not as large or impressive as I'd imagined but I have to admit it's a bit better than ours. We don't for example have any trompe l'oeil panels in our hall but these are very good. The doorway off to the right takes us in to the Drawing Room.

The Drawing Room does have a rather impressive ceiling.

This next room is known as the Boudoir. It is circular with 7 doors (we counted them) and it also has an impressive ceiling. It was created for the 1st Lady Berwick as her own intimate space.

Then into the Inner Library with its Regency bookcases. The walls of the Inner Library are painted red; a popular Regency colour choice associated with strength and masculinity.

Around 1805-1807 John Nash, the English architect, included this rather grand staircase in his redevelopment scheme at Attingham as having removed the main staircase he needed a replacment.

One certainly couldn't miss it.

We now went down to the semi-basement which was the domain of the servants. The next picture showns the Servants Hall where they had their meals.

The rules that servants had to observe, which came from Lord Berwick, included:

"No servant is to absent themselves from the house at anytime or from meals on any pretence whotsoever without especial permission of the Steward, Housekeeper, Lady Berwick or myself."

So they are not allowed to skip a meal without permission which brings us to the Kitchen. Quite a large room with a lovely fire which was very welcome at this time of year.

Finally the Bell Room. I thought this to be quite extraordinary when there are so many bells, to demand attention from the servants, that they needed a room to themselves. These bells went around the four sides of the room and were divided into sections of which this was the Ground Floor.

That brought us to the end of our little trip, so early in the year, and back home we went to wait for the next one.

Walls of water

Walls of water

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On Tuesday the weather forecast for Wednesday was that it would been mostly sunny until around 3:00 pm and on Wednesday morning, yesterday, it was the same; mostly sunny. So we set off for the Elan Valley to see if it was worth returning in the, hopefully, better and warmer weather next year.

It was about an hours drive from home and was sunny for most of that until we got near our destination when cloud miraculously appeared and left us with very little intermittent sun. What a surprise. Well not really as this area is known to be one of the wettest in Wales otherwise it wouldn't be what it is.

So what is it? Here's a clue:

It's a series of five reservoirs, known as Claerwen, Craig-goch, Pen-y-garreg, Garreg-ddu, and Caban-coch, which were built between the end of the 19th century and the beginning of the 20th century. The one above, Caban-coch,  is the first dam to be reached when approaching from the nearest town – Rhayader (pronounced 'Raider') which is just 3.5 miles away.

The next picture shows the same dam, the reservoir beyond, and the rather threatening looking weather.

This link shows a map of the area which will give you an idea of where we went.

http://www.streetmap.co.uk/map.srf?X=290040&Y=265910&A=Y&Z=126

We started from the little white square near the 'Elan Village' label and went back along the white road to the B4518 where we turned left and followed that road until we reached the Y shaped junction where we turned left. Although the map appears to show that the road goes under the reservoir it doesn't – it goes across a long stone bridge with numerous arches. We just followed that road to its termination at the Claerwen Reservoir dam.

This dam was opened by the Queen in 1952.

The road continues across the dam and stops at the other side where we get some different views.

The picture above was taken from the top of the dam looking south back the way we came.

We set off back along the road we came on, as there is simply no other choice, until we came to that Y junction. where we turned left towards the Penygarreg Reservoir. 

We made a brief stop to photograph this little series of waterfalls

and continued on to the dam at Craig Goch reservoir.

You may notice that by this time, around 1:00 pm, the cloud cover is increasing making the foreground pretty gloomy. We could have driven along this reservoir until we joined the road that we had used on a previous trip through the Cambrian Mountains to Devil's Bridge and then turned right back to Rhayader but it was near lunch time so we returned the way we came to the Visitor Centre.

They had a restaurant there and we had had a brief look at the menu when we started and wanted to try some of the appetising items on offer. We parked in their car park for which we had to pay £2:00, that covers a day, but we get a discount of 10% on whatever we spend in the restaurant. 

The restaurant seems typical of this sort of establishment except that the food turned out to be anything but typical. The food was really very good and is produced on site. We both had their home made curry, chicken for me and beef for Amanda, and thoroughly enjoyed every morsel. Excellent! We would have like to have tried the cakes but we were just too full. Next time perhaps.

The photograph below was taken from where I was sitting and you may notice that through the window you should be able to see that wall of water flowing over the dam. We hoped the wall would hold out until we had finished our meal.

This trip was enough to convince us that was a lot here to see including lots of dramatic scenery and we intend to return next year in warmer weather to do a lot more exploring. It is only an hour's drive away after all.

The next day when we were back home it started to snow. Admittedly it was rather sparse and none of it settled but it was our first snow of the winter and in November. Brrrrr!

A Grave Incident

A Grave Incident

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Today was forecast to have sunny intervals. I'm hoping that at least one of those intervals will be longer than 5 seconds as we have decided to re-visit Shrewsbury using our little train.

We came out of Shrewsbury Station and up some steps on to a high level walkway which took us over the railway and down to The Dana. The Dana is an old prison dating from medieval times although the medieval building is long gone.

There has been a prison on the site since 1793, the original building being constructed by Thomas Telford, although the present prison was constructed in 1877. The name 'Dana' is still often used for the prison, as well as being the name of the road to one side of the prison and the pedestrian route that runs from near the front of the prison into the town centre via a footbridge over the station which is the route we used but in reverse.

There are prison tours available but we didn't avail ourselves of that option but opted to walk onward. We made our way down to the River Severn and walked along the riverside path away from the town centre. There was supposed to be some sort of weir further down river so we though we'd have a look at it.

As we walked along we could hear a background noise which we decided might be the weir. Perhaps bigger than we though then! As we progressed the noise became louder and when we reached the weir we could see why. It was bigger than we thought.

I wouldn't like to go over that in a small boat.

We turned round and walked back towards the town. When we reached the footbridge shown in the next picture we went up onto it and looked down river. We could just see the change in texture of the water surface which indicated where the weir was. You can probably see it more easily in the larger version of the second picture.

We walked along the riverside until we reached the next road bridge over the river. One thing I noticed immediately was that there were trees growing out of the water like the one on the left. Amanda tells me that it is a Willow and that it is not unusual for a piece of willow to float down stream and get stuck in the mud where it promptly takes root. So now you can see the result.

I also took this next photograph of the same bridge because I rather like the effect the low sun was procucing as it shone through the arches. I imagine it's being reflected off the water.

We continued walking and eventually reached the lower edge of the large park known as The Quarry which we visited on our previous trip. The riverside walk looked really nice in the sunlight.

At the top edge of the park is St. Chads Church which I also mentioned in the blog post of our previous trip ( Sun, Signals and Sabrina ) when I wrote:

"I was hoping to get a photograph of Ebeneezer Scrooge's gravestone in the churchyard but we couldn't find it. Yes we know that Scrooge was a fictional character but the churchyard was used in the making of the film and the gravestone was left when filming was finished. It is still there somewhere."

So we walked up to St. Chads and into the graveyard and this time I found it.

On the way back into town we saw Rowley's House which was built in the late 16th century by the wool merchant Roger Rowley. It is believed to be the earliest building in Shrewsbury to use bricks as part of its construction.

That was the end of another interesting, at least to us, walk. So back home on the train for us.

The Other End – Day 2

The Other End – Day 2

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We wake up early on the first morning in our hotel. A bit too early as it turns out. It is 5:00 AM and we have been woken by the extractor in our bathroom starting up very noisily. It seems to have a mind of its own as there doesn't seem to be any logic to its operation. I later mentioned it to reception who later told us that it had been checked and there was a fault so they've temporarily disconnected it. We went back to sleep and eventually woke again at 7:00 AM.

Drawing the curtains tells me we have wall to wall sunshine. Super! We have a pleasant relaxed breakfast. Very friendly and cheerful staff and lovely food. Can't complain at all.

After breakfast we set off for the bus station which is a 10-15 minute walk away and we catch a bus towards Mumbles. We aren't going as far as Mumbles and we alight after about 12 minutes at Black Pill near the Woodman pub. Anyone that knows this area will realise where we're going but before we got there we sidestepped onto the shoreline for a quick photograph of Swansea across the bay.

You should be able to see a tower on the right of the picture. That is near the Marina where I previously photographed this same beach. Quite a beach!

We went back across the Oystermouth Road and down the lane beside the Woodman pub and we arrive here:

Clyne Gardens are known for their Rhododendrons and Azaleas and I make no apologies for the number of 'flowery' pictures. Consider yourselves lucky that I haven't included all the phogographs I took. This is one of those places where one wants to take another photograph after every step. We planned to make this trip at this time (8th-11th May) because of the Rhododendrons and Azaleas displays. The intensity and variety of colour is astonishing and more so when you consider that entry is FREE. You cannot get better value for money.

I have reproduced a plan of the gardens below which is a photograph of the board displayed at every entrance and you can just read the text in the larger version. You should notice that the gardens are roughly divided into two; the lower part with all the paths that seem to wind all over the place along the route of a small stream, giving a sense of seclusion, and the upper part which is on higher ground and is more open. Both areas are utterly delightful.

We entered the gardens at the extreme right. We made a mental note that just inside the gate there is a refreshment tent and just a short distance on are toilets. A good combination for us oldies.

We were then faced with this view. Doesn't that path seem inviting? Don't you feel that you want to see what treasures it holds? We had decided to follow the little stream to the large pond at the end then come back along the path which borders the stream valley so we took the first left. We were immediately assailed with bright colours at every turn.

It's alright for some of us who have time to sit and admire the view but someone has to take the photographs. Click, click, click. It is rather like being inside a kaleidoscope.

It took us quite a while to cover any distance as there is so much to look at but we did, eventually, arrive at the Japanese Bridge. The little waterfall feeds the stream running through the gardens.

This is the pond at the end of the garden that feeds the waterfall above.

This garden does have many plants that are not especially colourful but which, nenertheless, are interesting.

We made our way back toward the entrance although we weren't ready to leave, toilets don't ya know., then went back along the path which follows the top edge of the gardens. There were, of course, yet more colourful displays and some very impressive specimen trees. This garden has something for everyone. No, it has everything for everyone. This next picture is from the top part of the garden and you can see that it is higher than the secluded parts with a view across Swansea Bay and showing Swansea on the left.

We went back towards the entrance and had some hot drinks, some items left over from yesterday's lunch together with some purchased cake as a light lunch whilst sitting outside in the sun. When we were finished we strolled off towards the bus stop where we hoped to catch a bus for a short ride back towards Swansea to Singleton Park. I had an application on my smartphone which gives details of bus routes, bus stops and times which we found to be very handy and this gave us a bus at around 2:30 PM. We had a choice of getting off at one of two places. The first involved a walk which I estimate would have taken us 10-15 minutes and the second would drop us off at a stop which was significantly nearer. We chose the second. Big mistake! What I hadn't realised is that the bus goes all round the streets in the suburbs and turns a 10 minute ride into 40 minutes. Oh well, one learns by one's mistakes but we got there in the end.

This time we were visiting Singleton Park although not all of it but just the Singleton Botanic Gardens. We walked through a small part of the park to get to the botanical gardens and saw this stone circle on the way. This is not a genuine stone circle but one that was built in 1925. Known as the Gorsedd Stone Circle it was erected for the National Eisteddfod of Wales' Proclamation Ceremony.

The botanical gardens are described by the local authority as 'one of Wales' premier plant collections, with spectacular herbaceous borders and large glasshouses' and we wouldn't argue with that. Once again entry was FREE. I do like Swansea.

The greenhouses are large enough to have pathways and they didn't seem overly hot.

There was an arid greenhouse which featured numerous cacti, succulents and the like.

The local authority also says 'Although the gardens are at their most stunning during August, when a full programme of events and tours are staged, there is something to see throughout the year. The herbaceous borders are a fantastic sight from late March until mid October'.

They can say that again!

We wandered out of the Botanical Gardens into the surrounding Singleton Park which was originally part of a large family estate. We saw this Swiss style chalet built in 1826 as part of that estate and was designed and built locally. There are plans to use it as a cafe although there were no signs of life when we were there. It is, apparently, a listed building and Swansea Council is now working on the legal details of a plan to lease the Alpine-style building to Swansea University.

As well as refurbishing the inside of the cottage to provide a tea room and a café, the university is also looking into the possible introduction of a visitor centre and cycle hire facilities there in future. Watch this space.

Whilst in the main park we saw something unusual. The next photograph won't win any awards but it is the only time I have managed to photograph a Kingfisher. There is no mistaking that brilliant blue and we saw it fly a number of times. They aren't rare but they are very shy and you will be very lucky to see one. We were on the other side of the lake and I was using maximum telephoto. Must be a good omen.

We finally had had our fill of plants and flowers for today so wandered back to the bus stop. This time the bus didn't go all round the houses but went straight back to the bus station from whence we went back to the hotel.

If you are a keen walker you could walk along the sea front from near the Marina to Clyne Gardens, a distance of about 3 miles, and then walk from Clyne Gardens to Singleton Gardens which is probably no more than a mile.

We are looking forward to tomorrow.