Wordless Wednesday: so purply-pink!

Wordless Wednesday: feast for monarchs

 

Heading west

There she is, our trusty steed! Getting close to the end of its journeys, but still just humming along. It's our 9-passenger (fortunately only 7 seats needed) Renault diesel van, parked while we hiked on the way to our last major destination: Wales/Cymru. Still in the UK, but not in England (it's complicated: google "UK" and "devolution"). And like in Canada, all the highway signs are bilingual, so I'm doing that here when I can.

The hike we were on was to the top of a hill where stand the ruins of what must have been a very impressive fortification: Dinas Brân. The wikipedia article I've linked to here will tell you everything you ever need to know about the "castle," including its destruction to keep it out of marauding English hands. Yep, it's that old, probably built in the 1200's, on the site of much earlier hill forts.

Here's what the ruins look like from the base of the trail; you can see why I was doubtful I'd make it all the way up...

...but I did! And was rewarded with some great views of the lovely Dee Valley/Dyffryn Dyfrdwy...

click to enlarge and see the impressive bridges in the distance

...as well as the impressive ruins themselves:

And of course there was plenty of room for grandkids to stretch their legs, including climbing opportunities that couldn't be missed:

After this great stopover (found by our diligent tour guide), it was on to our last, and probably most amazing, Airbnb. I have to show you some photos of our lodging—it was so cool!

Here are couple of children of Wales/Cymru (from my paternal grandparents) happy to be overnighting in such a charming cottage:

Our lovely hosts (who also live on the property, which is a working farm and sheep ranch) provided a wealth of historical information about the cottage. It was built—wait for it!—in the 15th or 16th centuries! Long before my forebears struck out for the New World. I wonder if they ever lived in such a cottage. Although I suspect if they'd been that well off they wouldn't have felt the need to start over in America.  

The building was allowed to fall into disrepair for some time before conservation efforts were able to restore it. And then it was outfitted with all the modern conveniences, while leaving in place many of the distinctly un-modern features. On the left you can see the clever way they found a place for the refrigerator (although this one looks like an antique, anyway! there was a big modern one in the laundry room, but we didn't need it).

Here's the rest of the kitchen, including an antique stove like none I've ever seen...

I doubt it's from Henry VIII's time, but it's definitely older than the early 20th-century-model my Mom inherited from her grandmother.

The low ceilings are definitely an original "feature": our hostess said when they were living in the cottage (before they built the modern structure they now occupy) her tall boys hated the ceilings, and I can see why. Fortunately, they were tall enough for all of us:

note those incredible, thick beams

Here's a good view of the rest of the kitchen and the dining area, with supporting posts between:

In addition to the charming interior, there was a great yard that the kids loved playing in, even after our vigorous daily activities. The lateness of the sunset at this latitude gave them plenty of after-dinner playtime. And, as I mentioned, the farm is a working one. Here's the sheep field as viewed from the nice back patio:

The yard was lovingly tended, with flowers all over...

It's rather a showcase for the advantages of renting a house instead of two or three hotel rooms: yay for Airbnb! and for Hal's expertise in finding these gems. The cottage was a great base for our varied Welsh operations, which I'll start telling you about next time.

A Yorkshire garden, and a ramble in the Shambles

We took to the road for the first part of our last full day in Yorkshire. We'd been listening to The Secret Garden in the car and were all keen to smell the gorse on the moors. I think we ended up being a bit disappointed in that quest, but we found a garden all the same: the Helmsley Walled Garden, just a 45-minute drive north.

It's a delightful English garden, with lovingly-cared-for beds full of all kinds of wonderful blooms. Here are a few of my favorites:

The kids were excited to see that this gorgeous iris variety is named after the Harry Potter character everyone loves to hate. I just thought the incredibly deep purple-black color merited a shot.

no clever names for this, that we saw

unusual, and prolific, succulents

There were also other welcome features of the place, like open spaces for running around...

...unusual sculptures it was fun to imitate—even the almost-3-year-old got into the act...

...and hungry chickens the kids were happy to oblige:

fan of all things purple found her happy spot

And not only Henry and I were inspired to snap, snap, snap those photos:

We had a tasty lunch at the Vineyard Cafe on the grounds, too, before heading back to town. There is also a castle on the grounds, but since we knew we'd be seeing lots of castles in a few days, we opted not to take time for theirs today. But we liked this one, Rievaulx Abbey, seen on the way home to York—so many castles—and churches that look like castles!

I should tell you how we happened upon this "secret" garden: Hal used AI, asking where you could go if you had some extra time in North Yorkshire. So this new technology can come up with useful information!

Back in town, we made our second visit to the Minster, then opted to have dinner in the interestingly-named neighborhood of The Shambles. The kids had seen it on their ghost tour and thought we should take some more time there. The name comes from an old word for butchers' displays or meat market, but now it offers a more varied range of products. Our group was particularly interested in a couple of magic-themed shops (yes, the English do wring as much out of Harry Potter's popularity as possible!):

a shop full of wands and brooms

sweets, not meat

remember that "gate" means "street"

Sure, The Shambles is a little kitschy, but still has fun things to see and I'm glad we didn't miss it. We wouldn't have had time the next morning, as we had a ways to drive and places to stop along the way to our next destination. I'll tell you about those interim stops in my next post.

Wordless Wednesday: it's chow time!

 

Wordless Wednesday: prickly beauty

 

Many Harveys

Whoa! Look what's invaded our local Botanical Center. I know rabbits in most gardens are pests (I recently read some Peter Rabbit stories to my granddaughters) but these beauties are something else altogether!

These guys are part of a new set of exhibits by Hunt Slonem, an artist I was unfamiliar with, but who seems to really be into bunny rabbits.

I took advantage of a SABOT membership perk the other morning and made an early morning stroll to see these very cool sculptures.

Butterflies also feature, in fields small...

...and large...

One of the most interesting sections of the garden at any time is the courtyard surrounded by some of the greenhouses and interior spaces. Here's what it looks like from the handy walkway that gives you an aerial view:

And here's a closer look down at ground level:

The balls that are scattered about come close to upstaging the bunny, imho...

I especially like the ones suspended above the ponds, casting such cool reflections in the water:

Of course, I'm rather partial to those ponds even without art exhibits in them; nature puts on her own artistic shows there as well. Here's a couple of water lily shots, taken on an earlier excursion this spring:

Aren't those blossoms lovely?!

Wordless Wednesday: Laurel Heights indeed!

 

Wordless Wednesday: Pink snow

 

Wordless Wednesday: Mirabilis!

 

Wordless Wednesday: sometimes even weeds are pretty

 

Maine flowers

Last time I mentioned that there were still lots of lovely flowers in Portland yards when I visited a few weeks ago. Asters, like those you see above, were particularly plentiful.

But there was lots of other color on offer as well. Not only do these folks have a perfect climate for blooms to thrive, but a lot of the families obviously spend a good bit of time working on their floral displays.

a barrel-o-pretties

pink and purple: favorite colors of several of my granddaughters

In addition to seeing these lovely yard displays often on neighborhood walks, a visit to the community garden (for cleaning up vegetable plants past their prime) was another opportunity for colorful snaps...

nasturtiums are a personal favorite

we had nasturtiums in our yard when I was a child, and
seeing them always takes me back

marigolds are always abundant in the garden

Cultivated flowers were the most prominent during my stay; we didn't see many wildflowers on our woodland hikes (although we saw all kinds of other colorful life forms—more about these next time). But these lovely wild ones were growing along the edge of Bunganut Pond:

While I was there, I got to witness the oft-discussed dismantling of the dock, in preparation for the lake's partial draining in winter. How exciting! (Especially when you could just watch and didn't have to help haul heavy dock parts up to the cabin.) Here's a summary of an earlier, summertime visit. And here's the dock, partially taken down:

the diving "island" in the distance also had to be brought in

I feel like I witnessed a crucial piece of New England, and family, fall ritual, finally, after hearing about this operation for several years. Glad it coincided with my visit!