Blogs from Carmarthenshire, Wales, United Kingdom, Europe

We woke early. The 100 plot site was deathly quiet. Even our neighbour had sneaked out early without disturbing us. We were going to spend a different sort of day today. Not a castle in sight. We were going to spend it amongst the flowers. Well that was the plan. We dropped our key off and said our farewells to the warden. She wished us a good journey and hoped we would return. To be fair we need to return. There is still much to see and we are on limited time. A rare gap between the working week. Before we left we took the opportunity to empty Gabbys grey water. We were shocked to see the gauge which measured full. When had we last emptied it? We couldn't remember? We had tried at Southport and ... read more

Woolly says – I kept a fearful eye on the gloomy clouds above as my paws clung onto the dashboard. I’d planned everything, the snacks, the route, the snacks, the entry times, the snacks, but the weather was threatening to ruin my plans. On my quest to find things floral in Wales I had decided that the National Botanic Gardens of Wales should have plenty to offer. The Middleton Estate had a long and rich history spanning over 400 years, from its creation in the early 1600s by Christopher Middleton, Vicar of Llanarthne, to its current reincarnation as the National Botanic Garden of Wales. Built in the grounds of the Middleton Estate, the gardens were started in the mid 1990’s from a former design of Sir William Paxton. As we bumped into the car park I ... read more

Geo: 51.8564, -4.31054We left the Manor House after a comfortable night in the attic and headed for the hills. We went from Crickhowell to Brecon to Libanum where we went for a ramble on the moors. Earl and Ken, there were lots of sheep and some pretty yellow flowers, we have got some seeds to bring home for you to plant on the farms. The national park has roads and villages all through it and plenty of people exploring. There were little tracks cut through the bracken. Very different to the national parks in New Zealand.We carried on to the National Wool museum (surprise surprise). It was an old woollen mill at on the Cambrian mountain range with all the machinery still in pace and used for demonstrations. Unfortunately there were none today and they wouldn't ... read more

Who the heck are Eddie Stobart and Arnold Clark? They have been following us around Europe and the UK since the BBA V3 started in March.. If you know who they are then OK, otherwise more about them later. We have survived the second night on the BBA V3’s worst and hardest bed. But only just! OK ,you will say if you pay 45 quid a night in Blackpool at the height of the English summer this is what you get. And you would probably be right. We knew the ‘cosy apartment ‘would be small as the dimensions were given on the booking.com webpage when we booked but they didn’t say anything about the bed. In fact there hadn’t been any recent comments from previous guests about just how hard the bed was! Perhaps the English ... read more

Wales 2012 I ventured into something new for this trip. A working holiday, as it was my first, I didn't go very far lol. I simply jumped onto a direct train from London King'sCross to Cardiff, from there it wasn't that far. My job on this holiday was to care for a pack of 13 dogs on Pen Parc Farm (mostly malamutes). Walking, cleaning, feeding and playing with them for 2 weeks straight :) it was tougher then it sounds due to their size and strength but a lot of fun and exercise. I learned from the whole experience. A good start to my working holiday adventures.... read more