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The sun was beaming down kindly on us. The sky an endless blue. The hillsides lush green after the endless summer days of rain. Gabby and the crew were parked up on hardstanding outside Strata Florida Abbey. Glenn had driven miles down narrow country lanes to get us here. Miles of winding roads that took us through tiny hamlets with a handful of houses. The odd centre of habitation passed through but nothing major. Pink Foxgloves lined the roadsides. Farmers farmed sheep. We felt as if we were home here in Ceredigion.
We arrived too early at the abbey. The gate was open and one car parked halfway across the entrance. This proved to be the cleaning mopping out the toilets. Being too early meant we could get out the caffetiere and brew up the coffee. The smell of fresh coffee filled Gabby. Coffee and croissants . We are civilised here in our motorhome. Who said you cannot make it home from home. As we sat drinking the steaming coffee the car park started to fill up. First a worker in his Hi Vis Jacket with his wife and his child. She had come for the day out with mum
. They set off speaking English . Then a voice pitched up " Tyrd yma cariad " A lady sitting on the bridge called out to the child "Come here my love" . A bilingual child - how lovely. The serious walkers started to turn up. Backpacks filled - they were off for a days walking.
As we waited Glenn spotted a Red Kite circling above us catching the thermals. A beautiful who treated us to a display of sheer beauty as it circled round and round in the clear sky .We had pencilled in a visit to the Red Kite Feeding Centre tomorrow but it seems as if the Kite had other ideas and had managed to find us today.
To pass a little time we walked over to the church with its large graveyard. A single naved church typical of Wales , Unadorned from the outside with one single bell. Sadly the doors were locked so we could not see inside. The graveyard was full of gravestones. Almost all were inscribed in Welsh - Er cof - in memory the inscriptions in silver and the names picked out in gold. It was a peaceful graveyard. Some
of the graves were adorned with glass grave domes full of waxed flowers. I had not seen anyof these for many years. As a child I remember them on graves in our local cemetery but they went out of fashion and disappeared one by one until virtually none remain. Here they remained all in good order.
By now it was 10 and the abbey should be open. We headed that way to be greeted with a cheery Good morning and a request to come back in five minutes . Just time for them to finish mopping the floor. We wandered back to the bridge which crossed the dry river bed . We could see the abbey and thought this was no Tintern, no Jumiege nor a Valle Crucis. But it was free as we were Cadw members and we had nothing else to do. She called us in and we entered Abaty Ystrad Fflur the abbey founded in 1164 through the patronage of Rhys ap Gruffydd. In 1184 a further charter was issued by Lord Rhys ensuring the abbey was under the patronage of the Princes of Deheubarth. . The first thing you see is the iconic west doorway
with views across towards what was once the Great East Window. Now long gone. This would have been the ceremonial entrance used by the gentry rather than the day to day entrance to the abbey. Sadly following the Dissolution of the monasteries most of the stone was carted away to be used for local building materials . What is left is a shell of what was once a really impressive building. Side chapels were floored in medieval tiles bought by the rich in order to both beautify the chapels but also to cut their time in purgatory. Money as always was seen as the way to anything . A stone basin lay in the middle of the nave possibly used on Maundy Thursday when the bishops washed the monks feet. There was a stone plaque on the wall commemorating the life of the poet Dafydd ap Gwilym born around 1315 - 1320 and thought to be one of the leading welsh poets and amongst the great poets of medieval Europe. He died from the Black Death and may have been buried in the graveyard in Strata Florida.
A link was fostered between the Welsh princes of Deheubarth and the
Abbey . The remains of many of the royal princes were buried in the abbey chapter house although they have long disappeared into the annals of history. Lord Rhys had become one of the main patrons of the abbey after its foundation in 1164. It seems that a great majority of the monks were patriotic and were fined £800 (a great of money in 1212) for supporting Llewellyn ap Iorwerth the prince of Gwynedd. In 1238 Prince LLewellyn called all the princes here to the abbey to swear allegiance to his son and heir Dafydd.
Around the back wall of the abbey we stumbled on a row of ancient graves. Each one topped by a large heavy stone and with rudimentary gravestones. These were likely to be the graves of monks from the abbey. What a peaceful place to find yourself in death.
We walked back to Gabby for another coffee but on the way stopped for an ice cream . Strawberry and a vanilla one all home made on the farm. We sat outside Gabby with our ice cream in one hand and a cup of coffee in the other.
So where were we going to
next ? To try to ring the changes we are heading for Brecon and the Royal Welsh museum.
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Jackie Harrison
non-member comment
Wales
Moving down to our neck of the woods?!!