Fun day in West Wales :)

After our exciting day with the book launch and then dinner, we slept well, got up and had an excellent breakfast and then paid our bill and left The Cambrian Inn. We called in at Solva Woollen Mill again and bought a few things ( chocolate and a beautiful rug)

This is my needlefelted "Small" riding on the back of one of Celestine and the Hare's sheep :)

 The chocolate is yummy :)

Then we set off for our day out in West Wales.We went to St David's and had a look at the Bishop's Palace and Cathedral, then we drove to Whitesands beach to have a look at rock pools and the sea shore

Compostgirl couldn't resist getting her feet wet so changed into a swimming costume and got wet in the sea. Far too cold for us so Compostman and I just watched :) Brrrr it was cold.

We saw seals bobbing in the water looking at the people on the beach  - I wonder what they were thinking?


Compostgirl dried off and dressed then we drove along the coast road admiring the view until we arrived at Fishguard, where we watched ferries arriving and departing

 

and went to the Sea Life centre. We have been here before and it is excellent to have a look at marine creatures.

it also has a very good cafe; where we stopped for an early lunch.

There were loads of seagulls in the car park and on the rocks which seemed to find Compostgirl very interesting. She tried to get one to feed near her feet but they were still a bit too wild to oblige - it amused us to watch their antics though :)

Finally we set off to visit Castell Henllys Iron Age Hill fort  - again somewhere we have been before and really loved. Compostgirl really wanted to re visit this place as she has not been there for 8 years.

Compostman and Compostgirl enter the gates at the top of the path up to the Hill Fort.

A Wicker Man stands on guard by the entrance.

Inside one of the reconstructed round houses

 back down the hill with a pause to pay our respects at the Sacred Spring.

Finally we went back down the hill to the visitor centre where Compostgirl had her face painted like a Celtic warrior. She is being fierce in this pose!

Sadly it was then time to go home so we said goodbye and spent a very tiresome 4 hours driving through torrential rain and spray to get home. We were all very tired by the long day but happy with our mini break in Wales :).

Jackie Morris book launch - Something about a Bear/Cat Walks

If you remember about a month ago I went on a road trip around Wales, partly to see friends  Jackie Morris and Karin from Celestine and the Hare  weave their magic with wool and needle and paint and brush and also to see other friends elsewhere. I was lucky enough for us as a family to be invited  to the upcoming launch of not one but two books by Jackie. The book launch, for Something about a Bear and Cat Walk, was to be held at Solva Woollen Mill starting at 4 pm on 24th September.

This was mid week and so it looked like I would be going alone, but after some discussion with school I was able to get permission for Compostgirl to attend as an educational visit! So, as it would be a very long drive back that night we decided to stay over and go somewhere the next day before returning home. After a lot of work sorting out a place to stay over night, chicken care and guinea pig care and cat care at home :) we collected Compostgirl from school late morning and set off. The three of us set off from home at noon to drive to Wales and on to Solva, for the launch party.

Solva Woollen Mill in the sunshine

This is Elmo, one of Jackie's cats :)

Lovely display of Jackie's books

All the bears in the wide wild world, on the book stand, made by Karin of Celestine and the Hare

Woollen Mill in operation - very noisy; very impressive

Beautiful rugs in the making

Panda and Black Bear had a cuddle with needlefelted Elmo (made by Karin) 

Jackie smiling with Sweary Panda and Mary next to her (also made by Karin). Jackie signed so many books for people and then read to us all from both the books; it was wonderful to hear her read aloud from her own works.

After the event (which was SO MUCH fun and Compostgirl especially was very excited to meet and talk to Jackie)  we drove down to Solva and booked into our room at the lovely Cambrian Inn

 Solva has a beautiful harbour so before dinner we all went for a walk, to build up an appetite

Looking back to the village

Compostgirl couldn't wait to go in the sea so took off her shoes and socks and had a paddle

 Too cold for me!

on the very pebbly beach

very interesting rock formations

A rare shot of Compostman and I :)

We then had a most excellent dinner at The Cambrian Inn with Jackie, Anna and Tom from Solva Woollen Mill, Tamsin and other friends as company and then the Compost family all went to bed (Compostgirl a bit late as it was a special occasion, we adults a bit early as we were shattered after a very busy day!) We all slept very soundly indeed.

More about the next day, soon.

Art in Herefordshire - h. Art Week

# h.Artweek   #h.Art

We have the most amazing artists and craftspeople here in Herefordshire and during September every year we have a fabulous event called h.Art, which runs for a week all over the county.

Established some 12 years ago, h.Art is a prestigious annual event across Herefordshire, with a huge variety of art on show with at least 16 different media, 250 individual artists and 100 different venues across the whole county

h.Art this year was on from 6th - 14th Sept so last week Compostman and I decided to go and visit Mike and Tamsin Abbott's event: Greenwood and Glass, just up the road from us at their workshops near Bishops Frome.You may remember we have been to Mike's wood in the past and also to talks at blue ginger gallery by both Tamsin and Mike.

Tamsin makes exquisite illustrated stained glass panels, painted and engraved, depicting rural landscape, folklore and fairytale.

Mike makes chairs from local ash and oak, cleft and shaved to retain the vibrancy of the living tree. He has over 25 years experience in running courses in green wood chair-making and is the author of many books on green woodworking.

 They live in the most beautiful place (but then nearly ALL of Herefordshire is beautiful!)

 This is Tamsin's workshop

We arrived and were delighted to find Hannah Willow and Pamela Thom Rowe were there as well as Mike and Tamsin.  Hannah makes the most amazing jewelry and Pam spins and dyes and creates beautiful things from her yarns.

Tamsin's stained glass is amazing

and it was displayed to great effect on these wonderful frames (made by Mike I suspect!)

Another lovely warm September day, my favourite time of the year :) We had a good chat, sitting on Mike's beautiful chairs, in the sunshine, drinking coffee.




Compostman and I came away and had a trip into Ledbury on the way home

and then I picked some more produce - tomatoes this time to go into the dehydrator.

Lastly, I finally washed and ironed the Celtic throw I bought in Wales so I put it on the sofa - do you like it? I do :)

Tour of Wales Day 4 - up and around and home through the rain

Up and was greeted by Suki, Ginger, Sue and LH with tea and breakfast - a very good breakfast I might add! LH had to go and do some work but Sue showed me around their place which was a bit of an odd experience, as I knew it quite well from her blog, but also didn't know it at all as it was my first real life visit.

loved this poster in the kitchen area

Apparently I demanded a tour so off we set to have a look around.

Fabulous polytunnel area in construction

Amazing views wherever I turned to look
-

  This is Chicken World

 

lots of lovely hens and a very kindly cockrel there :)

Sue in her shed. I have serious shed envy!

The Oak tree planks, seasoning


So much hard work and planning is going into their home and it is great to see it all coming together after reading about it on their blog :) I was so impressed by what they are achieving :)

I had a great time with Sue and her LH but I finally set off at lunchtime to head for home. I had wanted to see John Grey from Going Gently on my way back home but when I telephoned him he was just going out the door to lunch with family, so it was not to be. Shame but maybe next time I am in the area John!

A selfie of me just before I set off from Sue's house. I look very relaxed and happy :)

Unfortunately the weather on Bank Holiday Monday was appalling and my journey home was very wet and miserable. I had hoped to to stop off and look around Llangollen but it was really misty and wet so I decided I would just drive home. It took me five hours to get home and it was a horrible journey

It felt good to be back home, although I really really did enjoy my adventure :)


Sue blogged about my visit here