Welsh Teatime

It's been a long time since I last wrote........

......it's been mainly down to my computer breaking, but once you stop writting, it's easy to keep on not writing!

Autumn is here.  The leaves have started to turn colour, but only two or three weeks ago most of them were still green.

In Snowdonia National Park, Autumn has firmly taken hold......except in a few places.  So, we drove into the blue-green of what was left of our summer, which was hiding in the eastern part of the park.

We went to a small market town, which has an old, narrow bridge that is only wide enough to allow one line of vehicles to pass in one direction at a time.  

People can walk over this bridge and the view is lovely, as you can see.

At the end of this bridge there is a little tearoom.  It looks like an old witches' cottage, with its thick stone walls and gnarled ivy roots creeping all over it.

 

We sat by the fireplace, and ordered what we thought was enough for two people.  However, when the waitress came over carrying a large tray with a lot of food on it, it was clear we'd ordered too much.  So much, in fact, that people were turning around to stare at our stable!  There were only two of us, but our teatime treat was enough to feed four!  This is similar to what teatime used to be like at my grandmother's house.  She wanted to fatten everyone up!

Most of it was served on traditional Blue Willow china, which was nice. 

When we saw Bara Brith as part of our menu, we assumed this meant we would get a slice or two of Bara Brith each.....but no!  A whole plate full!

The scones were very nice as well....yumm.....

and the cake..........

........although we were so full we had to take most of the cake and some of the Bara Brith home with us with us in some paper provided by the tearooms.  It would have been a shame to waste it, don't you think?

Despite it being quite touristy, and the head waitress who seemed annoyed by everyone who was coming in, we still enjoyed our afternoon tea in this place. 

Bluebells and Wild Garlic

April & May are the Bluebell months in Britain.   I went walking for about 3 hours in a broadleaf woodland in south Wales, and the woodland floor at the moment was covered with a spectacular blue carpet of native bluebells.  It's getting to the end of their season now, so they were starting to thin out a bit.

 Unfortunately, there is an invasive species of Spanish bluebell which is making it difficult for the common luebell to survive.  They were brought here to grow in British gardens and have been spreading aggressively ever since.  Some estimates state that up to 30% native bluebells have been hybradised with this Spanish variety, however telling the difference is easy.  A Spanish bluebell plants are straight with flowers all around the stalk.  A common or native bluebell curves or droops at the top and only has flowers on the underside.  These links will explain further -

 http://www.plantlife.org.uk/about_us/faq/bluebells/

http://visitwoods.org.uk/en/visit-woods/things-to-do/nature/pages/bluebell-factfile.aspx#.UaYjldgQNK1

Schedule 8 of the Wildlife and Countryside Act (WCA) has made it illegal for anyone to collect or uproot native bluebells in the wild, so it;s unwise to pick them.

Bluebells are quite interesting because like many wild plants they appear in folklore and have been used in various ways throughout time. The flowers produce a sticky substance which was used to bind pages to book spines.  Since it contains starch, the glue was also used in Victorian times to stiffen ruffs and sleeves.

Here are some other interesting fact about bluebells -

Around 30 - 50% of the world’s bluebells grow in Britain (this figure varies a bit depending at which source you look at).

They take about 5 years to develop from seed to bulb, so it's not a good idea to walk amongst them, however tempting it may seem!

Bluebells are poisonous!   However, the nectar is an important food source for bees, hoverflies and butterflies.

Some bluebells are white.  This is because of a genetic mutation that means they lack the pigment that gives them their colour.

 During the Bronze Age, the glue was used attach feathers to arrows.

In Welsh, they're called Clychau'r Gog, which means Bells of the Cuckoo.  

 Bluebells are strongly associated with fairies in folklore, and are supposed to ring to beckon the fairies to their dance.   However, hearing bluebells ring is supposed to bring death to anyone who hears them!

Crossing the stream carefully along the rocks.........

 

This beautiful woodland was just covered with Wild Garlic!  It was absolutely everywhere you looked!  It's  a good indicator of an old woodland.  Wild Garlic has four-and-a-half times more sulfur than your average supermarket-bought garlic which means that it's very good for you, and it's reputed to be higher in other minerals as well.  Its sulfur compounds are bound to protein, so it's orderless after consumption as well!! 

 The leaves and flowers are edible, and are great to add to soups & salads.  Maybe one day I'll harvest some and make some Wild Garlic & Potato soup.  I couldn't collect any last time because I didn't expect to see so much Wild Garlic like this.  For now, I'll have to be content with looking at my photos. 

 

                                                

Castle Combe - Part 2

As you can tell from the pictures, this village was really quiet, and had hardly any tourists walking around (which was great).  I expected it would be really busy, as some Cotswolds places are.  It was refreshing to see a lack of giftshops.  There was a hotel/pub, a second pub (with a very grumpy landlady serving at the bar), and a little tea & cake cafe. It made it feel a lot more authentic. 

This is probably my favourite row in Castle Combe, but it's not possible to get closer to these lovely cottages because there's a gate preventing you from doing that.
 

Castle Combe - Part 1

During my day-out last week, we went to Castle Combe.  This small, quaint village was used as a film location for The War Horse.  This isn't why we visited the village though - it was just somewhere small and pretty that was close to Bath.  I don't have a clip of the village as it was used in the film, but I suppose if you've seen the film, you'll recogniose this place. 

We went walking a little up the hill where we saw a lot of wild garlic growing.  The smell it gives off when you crush the flowers is wonderful!  Anyway, here are the pictures -

The rulers of Castle Combe..........

These cats live in a house next door to the church in the village.

A few doors down, there were two small tables in front of a tiny cottage right next to the church entrance.  There was a variety of cakes on them, all of which had been home baked......chocolate fudge cake, lemon cake, and bread cake.   Behind the tables there was a sign stuck onto a door saying the cakes cost £1.50, and that this feature depended on trust (I believe the proceeds we went to the conservation of the church).  So I got out my £1.50 and pushed it through the letterbox, as directed.  I chose lemon cake which was very, very good!  Really soft and very moist with a lot of lemon flavour.  Yumm!

Twilight Park

I went to the city of Bath the other day, and decided to stop by a park in my city because all the cherry blossom trees were in bloom and looking beautiful.

The grass was covered in pink petals, like natural confetti.......

 

Susanne Sundfør

I've just discovered this Norwegian musician/singer called Susanne Sundfør.

Sometimes I prefer her live performances because they have a certain edge, a rawness that's sometimes missing from her tracks (even though they are brilliant as well).   At times, her melodies are slighly too high-pitched for me, but still beautiful nevertheless. 

Take the paper! LOL of the Day

I've watched this clip a few times, and it's still making me laugh. If you've ever been confused or frustrated with your printer, you'll know what this cat is going through!!


                               

Battlestar Galactica

Ok, I think I'm a bit behind with the times here, but I've finally finished watching Battlestar Glactica.  At first, I was sceptical because I'm not into StarWars or Startrek, but I got dragged into watching it.

 It's a drama series about an epic war between humans and cylons (artificial life which come in various forms).

I won't give too much away in this review, but it's one of the best series I've ever watched.

 Big themes that run throughout the series are technological advancement, hope, religion, politics, myths, the good and ugly side of human nature, forgiveness, prejudice and the origin and meaning of life.  It raises some philosophical questions about what makes us human beings.  Is it our flesh and blood, or is it our mind and emotions?  It explores the fears that people have about artificial intelligence, the consequence of bestowing that intelligence and what we're willing to tolerate or ignore when we think of something else as being different to ourselves. 

There were some episodes that seemed pointless or boring.  There where some characters that were cheesy and some of the scriptwriting started to get weak around half-way through the series - I was getting impatient with it.    Sometimes I sat there thinking 'What the fuck is this?!!' at some silly character or poor piece of dialogue........but on the whole, it's a damn good series.  

For one thing, it actually has interesting female characters!   Some of the main characters are female, and they're not there just to make the male characters look fabulous or interesting - they're interesting in their own right.  They're not side-show pieces. I had to roll my eyes at the first fee episodes (it seemed like one character was made to draw in the young, teenage male red-blooded type), but I was encouraged to to stick with it, and I'm glad I did. 

Some people were unhappy with the ending and I must admit I was expecting something different.  Also, it seemed at times like there were plot mistakes or problems with continuity.   There were some plot features that were totally ignored - like they would discover something huge and important in one episode, but had no mention of it in the next episode, like the writers had just forgotten about it.   There was plot that could have gone on for a good 3-5 episodes but was confined to one.  The one I'm referring to is the one showing terrible working conditions, and how class systems in their word determine their fate and how it enhances or cripples educational opportunities. 

Overall, the series is exciting & thrilling but also sad in places.   The acting was also generally of a high standard and it was nice to see some unknown faces acting these parts.   I was fortunate to have the box-set and I could have easily watched three episodes in a row at times, but managed to discipline myself into watching just two each time.  Having watched so much of it in the last few months, now I have to find something to fill the gap!! :(

The Sugar Plum Fairy.......using glasses

A Different Kind of Home

Just wanted to share this great website which shows lots of beautiful and interesting homes that have been built with the environment in mind.  A lot of them look like they've taken stylistic inspiration from Hobbits, and look very tree-like with their lack of straight lines.

These houses or natural dwellings certainly look far, far better than the ugly pebble-dash or red-brick modern houses that look exactly the same as each other.  They also fit-in much better into the lush, green Welsh countryside. 


This is a link to their articles section, which shows wonderful homes from around the world, not just from Britain.  I love all of the architectural styles that are shown on this page -

http://naturalhomes.org/articles.htm

There is also a Russian and Romanian version of this website, and also Facebook pages in various other languages.

Here's the Russian one -

http://naturalhomes.org/ru/


Here's one of the houses that's recently been built in Pembrokshire, Wales -

http://naturalhomes.org/save-charlies-house.htm










This one is in Somerset -

Batman hands in a suspect to the Police! :D

 This is brilliant!  Amongst the depressing new stories out there,  this little gem brightened up my day. 

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-leeds-21654930

Cwm Idwal in frosty, bleak February

In the last few days, I went to Cwm Idwal.  On the way we saw big icicles around a meter long, and the mountains were sugar-dusted with snow.

It's one of the few places in Britain where you can see Artic-Alpine plants, and it's a site of Special Scientific Interest.  We just walked up to the lake, and from what I saw, it's quite an easy walk which some steeps sections,  so it's ok for children if you just keep to the lake.  It would be a nice place for a picnic in the summer.  

There are quite a few bleak pictures of Snowdonia on the internet,  and they give the impression that Snowdonia is always like this when it's not.  The Snowdonia area is incredibly green as well because of the high rainfall.

This is path we followed.

Llyn Idwal (Lake of Idwal)

There are a few opinions as to why it is called Llyn Idwal, but one of the most common stories surrounding this lake is that it was named when Idwal, son of the prince of Gwynedd in the 12th century, decided to entrust the care of his son to Nefydd Hardd.  Nefydd was jealous of Idwal because he was more talented than his own son, so he pushed Idwal into the lake, where he drowned.  Owain banished Nefydd from the kingdom, and named the lake after his son.

 To give you an idea of scale, you can just about see little dots where there are 3 people in the above photograph.  They are on grassy area, near the horizon a little towards the left.

Several people have died whilst walking on Glyderau, which is the group of peaks in this area, and even experienced walkers have died.  When we were there, there was a group of people around 20 years old, who looked like they had come from a city on holiday.  They were wearing baseball jackets, and hip-hop style clothes with no gloves, no proper coats, just hoodies.

 As you can see from the frozen water in the waterfall, it was just above freezing, and we decided to turn back because it was starting to snow lightly. 

I took these last two photos in Llanberis.


I think after that sort of weather a hot chocolate is in order!