Anglesey 1 - a Whistler painter, the Menai Straits and a week in Suzy

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Week 4 - We have been back now four weeks. The holiday as always seems a dim and distant memory. Photographs have been loaded into the computers and we are partway through producing an Albelli book of the photographs. This has taken some time due to the house move. When folks talk about the stress of selling and buying houses they are not far wrong. Our buyers have been round measuring, discussing and demanding that we will move out on the 1st November whether we have a home to go to or not. They phone and pester and sometimes we feel that we would be happier ignoring them and getting Suzy on the road again. No new house yet although we have seen another three and decided on one of them and paid for another survey and started the ball rolling to buy it. What a time of year to move house. Everything is in boxes. Hundreds of them in the dining room,, the hall, the bedrooms and the garage. The lockup has been ordered, paid for and insured and a van on order for next weekend to move our furniture out into the lockup. Clothes are back in Suzy. It feels that no sooner we emptied her but we are filling her up again. No joy with a transfer at work yet. It's in but no good news at the moment.

Autumn has definately arrived in Britain. The leaves are turning glorious colours, bronze, burnished gold, crimson, vermillion and are falling into untidy piles in the road. The joy of being a child and kicking leaves comes to mind. The horse chesnuts (conkers) and the sweet chestnuts all lie on the ground. The sweet chestnuts looking like small spikey hedgehogs. The sky is leaden and a dampness has seeped into the air. When it rains it pours and the clouds gather overhead. The end of October and November are such drab months. We havent had much of an Indian summer or perhaps I missed it whilst on the road. In welsh an Indian summer is called the little summer of St Michael. Quite apt given the pretty mauve Michaelmas Daisies on the roadside verges and the mind is taken back to Michaelmas sessions in the law courts. Apart from moving we are as usual trying to plan a few trips out for the rest of the year and organising holidays 2014. It seems that we will choose the same times to go away again. Four weeks in May and another four in September. We have already collected a few Tesco coupons. Enough to pay for a return trip to France. And we have found a campsite open near to St Asaph a few miles from where we now live. It lies just to the side of the main artery the A55 which links Holyhead with England. It seems a large site with ample handstandings, showers ,WiFi and washing machines. Everything to be a home from home. When we priced it up there seemed two rates. Long term £60 per week plus electricity and short term £13 per day which included electricity. We wont need to book a place as it is end of season and few people are on the road due to the poor weather. Although that may change next week as half term holidays hit Britain.

Weeks 5 and 6 - the cold and wet weather continues bringing in storms from the Atlantic. The clocks have changed ending British Summer Time and bringing in the dismal mornings and dark nights. We have taken box after box after box to our lockup which feels damp now that Autumn is upon us. The house is empty and no longer feels like ours. It is odd how quickly a house can become depersonalised when the furniture is moved out and the pictures taken down from the walls. Dentists, chiropodist and hair apppointments out of the way and an offer of a job. Not exactly what I wanted but it will three miles from home in a small jobcentre similar to the one I work in now. A free car park which is another luxury not to be sniffed at and I will know most of the people I will work with. The real downside less hours of work dropping from 26 to less than 16 and a Monday and Friday workday.

What’s been occurring – as Ruth Jones would say. Well Autumn is well upon us with the clocks changing last week. According to the saying they fell back and we found the mornings slightly lighter but the nights drawing in by 6pm. Our house move moved apace. We kept getting visits from our purchases who thought it right to call in without a by or leave to find out what was going on with the house sale. The weekends which should have been spent visiting National Trust properties was spent wrapping furniture and pictures in bubble wrap, sorting out storage for all our worldly goods and moving all our furniture and belongings into that storage. Money seemed to be haemorrhaging out of our account. Our last weekend in our old home was spent moving the furniture to a lock up for a month whilst we waited to purchase our new home. How long that is going to take is anybodies business. Sods law the house was not registered on the land registry so this delayed the process whilst our solicitor waited for the deeds to be delivered to the vendors solicitor. Then they picked the slowest solicitor chain you could imagine. So we waited and waited living our last few days on our drive in Suzy. We didn’t have the ambience of a French, Italian or Spanish summer to luxuriate in but we were grateful to have Suzy as it was more comfortable living in her than sitting and sleeping on the floor at home.

The last morning in our home felt strange as I walked from room to room, checking cupboards and closing doors for the last time. As I drove to work I felt sad to be leaving what has been heaven for us over the last 7 years and realising I wouldn’t be driving into the cul-de-sac ever again. My last swim was tinged with sadness as I received leaving cards from friends I had made over the years.

The keys dropped off, Glenn and Suzy sat overlooking the beautiful Vale of Clwyd with Ruthin a small pocket of houses and churches in the distance. He waited for the phone call to tell us money had changed hands and we were officially N.F.A – no fixed abode a term I use at work for anyone without an address.

We had picked a campsite locally to spend a few weeks between selling one house and purchasing another. Penisa’r Mynydd at Rhuallt, Denbighshire. On the day of our sale I worked , Glenn moved Suzy to the campsite. Standard Pitch at £15 per night, Super Pitch £17 per night. An extra charge made for extra persons, dogs, awnings and porches, gazebos and Pup tents. Cars extra £2 although we were able to park our car free which was a bonus. The site was quite large but dark on the dark Autumn nights and perhaps needed a bit of extra lighting. Reception friendly, WiFi available but we did not pay for the first night. There are ample hardstanding and grass pitches and some of the pitches seemed to be used by tuggers leaving their caravans for overwintering. The site was fuller than we expected but perhaps that was because it was the last day of half term in Wales and some parts of England. Our pitch was hardstanding and there was just about enough space to park the car. There was some noise from the dogs from the farm and a little noise when quiet from the busy A55. The toilet block was clean and tidy with three shower units and more toilets. The showers worked on a timed system, were warm but we felt that it was freezing cold coming in and out of them. On the continent we would have been in shorts and T-shirts coming out of the showers but here in woolly jumpers and long trousers. Washing facilities were excellent with washing machines and spinners, irons and space to work in. The caravan site feels as if it is in the middle of nowhere but the nearest small village is two miles away at Dyserth and it is within easy reach of places if you have a car. An ideal stopping off point for travellers delving deeper into North Wales and as an overnight stop for anyone heading to Anglesey and the ferry to Ireland.

Our first full day was spent travelling back and to to Derbyshire. It was Glenns birthday and we pondered on the fact that this was the first time we had ever been homeless for the event. A bar of nut chocolate, an Italian meal at Con Amici in Denbigh hit the spot. The weather has been unkind with heavy and squally showers, misty mornings where the dampness clings to everything from the leaves on the hedges to the cobwebs. The winds have picked up and blown the clouds furiously across the leaden skies and then equally as quickly dropped off to a slight breeze. We have settled in Suzy waking late. Eating leisurely breakfasts of coffee and croissants. The only difference from abroad is that the heater is going full blast keeping us and Suzy warm. Sion has brought out the French map and keeps hinting he would rather be in some sun and he wont stop telling us that if we wont go abroad he will sneak on a plane and head for Turkey to stay with his best friend Woolly. I think he has good idea as I look out at the grey old sky and the trees swaying in the wind.

Sunday was spent sitting around until mid afternoon when we ventured out for a short walk. Still breezy the sun had come out turning what was grey and overcast Autumn weather into brilliant but chilly sunshine. The hedgerows full of the last remains of blackberries, ivy flowering and the bright red rosehips and cherry red berries of the Woody Nightshade trailing from the tree and hedge branches. Our first glimpse of the Irish Sea grey in the distance and peppered with wind farms.

Monday we woke up to hail pounding on Suzys roof lights. And then our electricity went off. It had been going on and off yesterday but today went off completely. We tried the fuses in Suzy, the fuses on the board outside and hooked up to the next electric post and still nothing. Eventually we found the owner of the site who having checked on the mains supply found the trip had tripped out and reset it. Our first stop of the day our lock up to take items out of the car and Suzy. Our next up the A55 for Ynys Mon – Anglesey for a day out at Plas Newydd a National Trust property in the tiny village of Llanfair P.G.

We arrived at lunchtime and found the car park reasonably empty . We headed for the tea rooms and ordered coffee, a sausage bap, a beefburger and home made fat chips. Comfort food indeed. The house is open from March until the 6^th November whilst the gardens remain open all year. Having showed our ticket we walked through the woods passing the cricket pavilion and a folly until we rounded a corner where the house stands facing the Menai Straits. And what a view it is. Towards Caernarfon in one direction and to the Pont Brittania to the other. The house is grey but interesting in shape. I had expected another Attingham Park or Blenheim Palace, Chatsworth type of property but this was more intimate. Not so many rooms but most of them felt lived in. The main entrance hall was gothic in design and the oldest part of the house. From here we went into drawing rooms up staircases to the main bedrooms of Lord and Lady Anglesey. Her room very feminine with pink wall paper, pink kidney shaped dressing table and pink accessories and the most splendid views of the straits. His room more masculine. Pictures of sailing ships and horses adorned the walls and a huge bed in the middle of the room. The dining room held the piece de resistance the Whistler painting. It was possible on some days to have guided tours of the house but we hate guided tours but were grateful when the room guide came over to tell us about the painting. Painted by Rex Whistler it has a huge central panel 58 feet long. It was painted in London and shipped out to Plas Newydd where it was applied to the walls of the dining room like wallpaper. The scenes come from the imagination – bits recognisable as Rome, the Amalfi coast, what looked like La Rochelle, a French castle , a harbour scene and an Italian hillside village. On closer inspection in the doorway a modern policeman, Lord and Lady Anglesey on a boat, their son fishing without a line on a bridge, two sailors in a doorway with their backs towards the viewer. Members of the Anglesey family in 1920’s flapper style dresses. The sidepanels have Whistler on one of them and the family dogs on the other side. Whistler left his glasses on the floor together with a smouldering cigarette. He had changed part of the picture taking out a ship and replacing it with a half built building complete with scaffolding. He had planned to return after the war to paint out the masts and complete that part of the picture. He ran out of the paint pigment so never painted out the masts entirely and was killed in action never returning to finish off the painting. Outside are woodland walks, Italianate gardens full of urns and fountains and water features. Very few flowers apart from pink and red Kaffir Lilies and the odd Viburnum coming into flower. But all in all a truly wonderful day in one of the nicest National Trust properties of its kind and well worth the hour drive each way.

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Photos

Plas Newydd
The Italian Garden

Comments

[D MJ Binkley]

Memories
As you pack and unpack you will have travel memories to keep you happy. Suzy will be waiting for the next adventure.

[JenGog]

on the road
Yes lots of memories and adding to them all the time . Actually met Addy of Motohome WiFi yesterday on our campsite. Funny to think that you read a blog and eventually bump into the people who write the blogs. Love this motorhoming . You never know our paths may cross at some point .