Blogs from Powys, Wales, United Kingdom, Europe - page 34

Never before have I been able to grow a cauliflower, so when a friend gave me 4 tiny plants, I didn't expect a great deal. But I gave them a space and some water. And lo and behold, today I found 2 beautiful caulis. So I gave one to Mum and Dad, and took lots of photos of the other, before making cauliflower cheese and eating it!... read more

It was another busy week for Alex, as his amateur dramatic group - The LADS - performed a play every night. It was written by one of the LADS, and sponsored by the Royal Shakespear Company, so had to have something to do with Shakespeare. In true Shakesperian tradition it was outside with no scenery, but an excellent show. It was about skullduggery in Stratford after William had died, and apparently based on fact. Marion, Lynda and I took a picnic to eat before the show, and luckily they sold hot drinks at "Ye Olde Inne" as the evening turned pretty chilly after a beautiful day. ... read more

Thursday is market day in Hay-on-Wye so we decided to head off to explore this picturesque village that lies on the Welsh side of the Welsh/English Border in the County of Powys. The market is very traditional and is held every Thursday in the Memorial Square, the Butter Market and around the Town Clock, from 8am to mid-afternoon. Hay-on-Wye is also well known for its second-hand book trade so we spent an enjoyable couple of hours browsing through the market stalls and the multitude of book stores. From Hay-on-Wye the plan was to drive over Hay Bluff and Lord Hereford's Knob and then along the Honddu Valley to Llanthony Priory. We programmed the SatNav for Llanthony and headed off up a single track road with hedgerows on either side. We had hardly left town when we ... read more

Today we set out to see some Welsh waterfalls. From Bailea we headed towards Brecon on the A40 before turning south onto the A470. We stopped briefly at the car park opposite the Story Arms as this is the highest point on the A470. Walkers can set out from here to walk to the summit of Pen-y-Fan. We thought that the view would be more impressive but, according to the information board, we were only half way up the mountain. I'm sure if we had more time, a hike to the top of Pen-y-Fan would have been on the agenda, but there is a limit to what can be achieved in a week!! After our brief stop, we continued along the A470 until we turned off for Penderyn on the A4059. Before we reached Penderyn, we ... read more

With the SatNav programmed for Wallingford, we said our farewells to Marilyn and Jim and headed off for the cottage in Wales where we will be staying for the next six nights. We headed away from London along the M40 until we reached the A329 where we turned off to Wallingford. Hmmn, so glad we made the effort to drive through Wallingford ... not!! We didn't see a single thing that was reminiscent of Causton in Midsomer Murders. Ah well, it wasn't far out of our way. After taking a couple of (very ordinary) photos of Wallingford, the SatNav was re-programmed for Burford which is at the gateway to the Cotswolds. We headed along the A4074 towards Oxford and after taking the ring road around the south of Oxford we joined the A40 heading west and ... read more