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Wales
Breath-taking scenery, and more sheep!
The next morning, we bid a sad farewell to The Cotswolds. We had loved that area, but were also looking forward to visiting Wales, and more sheep!
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En route to Wales, we visited Stokesay Castle, a medieval fortified manor house dating from the 13th century. It has changed very little over the centuries despite numerous restoration projects. We even got a tasting of mead!
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We traveled on toward Conwy, with a brief stop in Llangollen for lunch. Dennis and I opted for cream tea instead of a full meal. We could get used to this - cream tea is a wonderful invention!
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We arrived in the Welsh town of Conwy in the afternoon and checked into The Castle Hotel on High Street. It was our home for 2 nights and very comfortable. It was highly entertaining watching Paul, our fearless bus driver, squeeze the bus through the town gates with barely an inch or two to spare. I couldn't have done that if my life depended on it! We did a bit of exploring, even taking a short walk along the town walls, and then we had a wonderful group dinner. As usual, Winston was waiting in our room when we returned!
Stokesay Castle
The castle exterior
One of the interior rooms
Llangollen
We had a few minutes to wander after our cream tea. Beautiful!
Conwy
After breakfast the next morning, we were driven to several different sites in northern Wales. Along the way, Liz gave us a brief lesson in the Welsh language. Wow - we won't even try to pronounce those words!
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Our first stop was at a sheep farm where Rihan gave us an impressive demonstration of her family's sheep dogs, using first a fully trained (and very talented) dog, and then a younger "still in training" dog. It was truly remarkable to watch these intelligent dogs at work.
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From there, we went to the town of Caernarfon. They were celebrating a food festival which was fun to wander through. After lunch on our own, we were given a tour of the castle, a huge fortress built by King Edward 1 in his efforts to subdue the Welsh. A world Heritage site, construction began in 1283. A slate dais is in the courtyard, and this is where Charles was invested as the Prince of Wales in 1969.
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Next up was a tour of Llanberis Slate Museum where we saw the quarry and the workshops, and were given a fascinating demonstration of splitting the slate. We hadn't known that Wales is the origin of much of the slate used in rooftops around Europe, but it was a huge industry in this area in the 19th century, gradually fading until finally closing in 1969.
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On arrival back at Conwy, we had the rest of the day on our own to explore and have dinner. Dennis and I chose a local pub, the George and Dragon. Fun! Returning to the hotel, we were treated to a gorgeous sunset!
Sheep Farm
Just look at that dog go! The dogs you can hear in the background are those that are still penned up, letting us know that they'd really like to be part of the fun.
Caernarfon
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Llanberis Slate Mine
The slate quarry - really quite lovely
Slate splitting demonstration
And back in Conwy
Beef and Ale pie - nummy!
A Conwy sunset
After checking out of the hotel the following morning, we made our way to Bodnant Gardens. This 80 acre site was donated by the Pochin/McLaren family in 1949. The family still lives in Bodnant Hall. The gardeners in our group were in heaven!
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Magical Moments :
- The breathtaking sunset in Conwy, and being in the right spot to see it
- Lots of wonderful food
- Bodnant Gardens - absolutely gorgeous
"To travel is to live" - Hans Christian Andersen
We were curious about:
- Is Wales part of England? It is similar to Scotland. They have their own national assembly, and are part of the UK, but not part of England. In the past, many English monarchs tried to subjugate the Welsh, with varying degrees of success. This is the reason for the multiple fortresses built around Wales by Edward I.
- What is the Welsh language? The Welsh have taken great pride in the continued use of their own language. Although everyone speaks English, about 20% of the citizens also speak Welsh. Signs appear in both languages and they officially are bilingual. The language is Celtic in origin.
- British tea seems complex with its many "levels." Liz gave us a brief explanation.
- There is tea - just a simple cup of tea but even this can be
complicated. Apparently different regions put the milk in first, then the tea, or the tea first, then the milk.
- Cream tea - what we had. This consists of tea with a scone and jam and clotted cream. Again, different regions tend to put jam on first or cream on first.
- High tea is accompanied by little sandwiches.
- Champagne tea includes a glass of champagne.
- And, just to add another layer of complexity, many families have afternoon tea as their smallish evening meal.
- Tea was also used to fill the gap between lunch and a late dinner.
Tea houses became popular in the 17th/18th centuries when ladies wanted a place to meet while their husbands spent time in the local pub. It would not be "proper" for a lady to go to a pub.
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