ROCKING YOUR WORLD FRIDAY - 42ND OF 2023

 Morning all this one is technically only a day late, but after the pretty hard journey home yesterday I couldn't face writing the post. 

So what was Rocking my World yesterday?

Well last Friday despite the fact I really didn't want another break away we'd booked a cottage in Wales and hubby insisted given the dreadful week that I'd had that I really needed to take some time away from home.  We hacked our way across the country and arrived a little after 4pm, the reduced speed limits down to 20 mph proved an interesting experiment in Wales, to be honest, not sure when we will return Google maps that we rely on for satnav seemed to have every speed limit programmed except the correct one, it has made for an entertaining week. 

We also learnt later in the week that the Welsh government are changing the 70 days of letting period for people who own holiday homes to 6 months of letting, this means that the property has to be let for a 6 month period in any 12 months otherwise they will have to (currently) pay double the council tax, they have the ability to increase this to 4 times the council tax amount which for many holiday let owners will make this an untenable business option.  I appreciate that this is to free up some much needed housing to allow people to get on the property ladder, but this carte blanche approach does appear a little short-sighted.  Furthermore we also learnt whilst away that Wales is considering charging a per night fee for staying in Wales (similar to some of the countries on the continent), I'll be honest I genuinely don't feel that this bodes well for the travel industry to Wales.  But I digress away from the positives for the week.

The cottage was on a working farm on the edge of the Snowdonia National Park in a little village called Rowen.  The cottage itself was small and quaint, very clean and fit the bill for the week.  The only real issue was the split levels there were two steps down to the kitchen and out of the only bedroom 2 steps down to the bathroom which wasn't great in the night when you needed to visit the bathroom.  However, we managed which is good. 

The week's forecast was definitely changeable but we carried on regardless if I'm honest.  We had a list of places to visit if we fancied and set too ticking these off.  We headed to the National Trust held castle at Pendryn, this is a stunning Victorian Gothic castle but the locals fell out with them 120 years ago and haven't let their grudge go if I'm honest due to the 3 year slate mine strike, but more importantly the money it is built on links back to the slave trade and despite having been here before I hadn't appreciated by how much.  The owner having the largest number of plantations.  Nevertheless it is good to see the history around and to acknowledge what some landowners did.

The second day was dry and sunny so we headed to Bodnant Gardens which were a riot of colour and the walk was very much needed.  We enjoyed wandering the grounds and finding the different areas from the formal garden down to the huge redwoods growing in the ravine. 

Monday and the weather seemed to be changing so we headed to Portmeirion one of our favourite places to visit, we had a wonderful day wandering the beautifully coloured houses, enjoying the fresh air and just spending time together.  An utter joy if I'm honest. 

Tuesday we headed to Conwy which was only a 10 minute drive, we wandered around the castle and then the walled town, it really is a sight to behold.  We found a wonderful bakery and bought the softest tastiest Welsh griddle cakes, freshly baked that day and enjoyed a cuppa in a 17th century building. 

Wednesday and we had a day trip to Llandudno, as we arrived an air ambulance helicopter landed on the beach which isn't something you see very often, we headed around the incident which seemed to relate to the RNLI, we wandered the pier and realised just how blustery it was as we got to the end of the pier.  We had a wander around the town, hubby found a new book (he'd not taken enough variety) and we had tea and cakes at the Mostyn Gallery, unfortunately they were between exhibitions which was a shame. 

Thursday our final full day and somewhat inclement weather we headed to the copper mine on the Great Orme near Llandudno, only rediscovered back in the 1990's they initially thought it a Victorian mine, but discovered tools dating back thousands of years back to the Bronze age and over years have identified that there are over 5 miles of mined tunnels below where they extracted the malachite crystal to grind down to extract the copper.  The walls are still full with the crystal malachite, which for those of you who know me is incredibly close to my heart.  

We then headed back to Conwy to a little Turkish tea shop where hubby tried Turkish coffee probably for the first and only time and I had a cuppa.  Then we did the wall walk around Conwy. 

 We had a little jaunt to Conwy Water gardens which aren't at their best but enjoyed a Dutch apple cake and Lemon Dream cake at the Pancake house there so not a complete waste. 

Friday was our return day and with Storm Babet battering the UK, it made for a stressful journey home.  We passed 3 or 4 sections of road that were flooding but managed to pass thankfully, the roads were full of water and spray and so it made for a very very long journey home.  

We landed back I got on with some washing and then we put things away before collapsing on the sofa.  

I hope you've had a wonderful week too, I'm behind on reading so will be catching up.  

Hugs

Rocking Your World Friday - 42nd of 2019

Good morning lovely people tis Friday time for 

So last week saw me and hubby toddle off for our first holiday on our own for 19 years.

We didn't really clock that fact until we were there. 

We just wanted a break and that is what we got.  

We stopped in a beautiful place called Deganwy, just the opposite side of the bay to Conwy, in an apartment with the most amazing picture window!

Now as I've got so many photos, I'm going to split them up and do half this week and half next week as the whole week was so utterly positive, I'm definitely enjoying the post holiday reminiscing if that makes sense, so my cup runneth over (for quite some time all being well). 

Despite the weather forecast (which said we were going to get very wet all week).  We literally dodged all the rain, by either finding somewhere without rain, finding the forecasters got it wrong or being inside! 

So first grateful is for incompetent forecasting - hurray! 

The first full day we went the furthest from where we were staying to the place known as Portmeirion, made very famous in the 60's by a TV show called the Prisoner apparently (I don't remember as I was a 70's child, but hubby does).  It is an Italianate styled village in the north of Wales

As you can see we found blue skies that day

It is the most extraordinary place to walk around

And almost looks like a model village from high up! 

We've been several times over the years and have fond memories of said 19 year old at the age of about 3 sitting on the pool edge at Portmeirion. I was amazed at how many memories it stirred up! 

Hubby managed to get this shot of me, wearing my brand new rain jacket - which is absolutely perfect, roomy and slightly longer length than I'm used to! 

We walked down to the waters edge and looked back towards the town

Back home that night we enjoyed this view out of the picture window! 

The following day the forecast was much worse, so we headed to Penrhyn Castle, a Victorian Gothic delight and was the castle that we visited when we joined the National Trust! 

I knew Lisca would enjoy seeing the giant door as we share a love of doorways!  It was beautifully carved! 

Inside there was a myriad of stunning architecture, ornate plasterwork and beautiful glass windows

Believe it or not this was the base of a lamp - how cute are they! 

Outside you can see the remnants of the red vine that grows over the castle

The sun came out after our tour of the castle, so we made the most of it and had a walk around the gardens, finding this little hut undergoing renovations in the bog garden. 

Outside once again, the history is interesting and was part of one of the longest strikes in the UK back between 1900 and 1903, the people of Bethesda (a local town), where the owner of Penrhyn's Castle mine was went on strike for three years.  It literally changed the fortunes of so many there as over 2000 miners moved away from the area due to the strike.  The local community recently attempted to reconcile with the castle as many locals will still not visit the castle because of the strike!

Back at the apartment, this was our evening view. 

The following morning we woke to this

Thankfully the rain disappeared and we headed to National Trust's Bodnant Gardens, given the dry day we had, we loved walking around this beautiful garden. 

Finding little vistas and view points and the odd bench to just sit and enjoy the surroundings to re-charge our batteries! 

The Poem is the Mausoleum within the grounds, it isn't open to the public, but the building from the outside is beautiful in its woodland setting! 

The more formal gardens were also a delight to sit and enjoy, despite the fact the ornamental grasses had gone a little crazy at the end of the season! 

Back at the apartment, this is Dave the Seagull, he would come tapping at the window for food whenever we opened the balcony blind!  Sometimes bringing his baby with him, whom we named Dave Ja Vu! 

The evening photo! 

The third day we had in Conwy, only a 5 minute drive from where we were staying.  We enjoyed Conwy Castle (always one of my favourites). 

Including the wall walk around the top

The King's Head Sculpture inside the royal apartment area of the ruined castle

Another work of art inside a tower

And the evening sky that night! 

I've loads more to share but will save those for next week. 

So other highlights were James Arthur concert on Tuesday evening, which was absolutely spectacular! 

Having a lovely crafty day at home with my Mum on Thursday (as I'd taken a day's TOIL).  Although she got a lot more done than me, but we managed to finish off some mini books she'd started.

Getting the house spic and span (yes I know that means I cleaned but it feels so lovely at the moment). 

And finally date night with hubby seeing a Midsummer Night's Dream - NT Live absolutely stunning, I would go and see it again tonight if I could.  This particular take on the play unlike any other we've ever see, the laughter was face aching and it's still making me smile this morning. 

I hope you've had a beautiful and blessed week with some positive moments, silver linings to count your blessings. 

If you fancy joining in, pop a post together come back and link up and we can come and visit. 

LOVE, BODNANT AND YOU REALLY MEASURE UP

Good morning one and all, how the devil are you on this rather grey and murky looking Wednesday morning, Wednesday?  Did I really just say that - I mean what is actually happening with these crazy weeks at the moment - it makes absolutely no sense whatsoever! 

Anyway I digress.  Photo of hubby and said 15 year old last Autumn when we went to the theatre, the downside of theatre (and come to that cinema) trips is that there really aren't many photo opportunities, I sometimes get an empty stage photo (before or after performance) to scrapbook where we've been and what we've seen, but thought on this occasion it was worth actually capturing my two men! 

I'm loving the muted tones of the paper, and the pop of red in the title, a little hand journalling, free hand sewing and some washi tape and we are done! 

Next up a photo from Bodnant Gardens when we visited last summer, a beautiful place at that time of year.

The layout is a second one based on a sketch by Scrapthology - here is the link if you fancy using it yourself 

http://www.scrapthology.blogspot.co.uk/2016/02/sketchy-sunday-no96.html

And this one is actually mini owner's sketch from February link below

http://miniowner.blogspot.co.uk/2016/02/sketch-challenge-february-1st-29th.html

I'm not great with 'precise' measurements if I'm honest, but I think I just about got away with this one! 

Photo taken at the very top of the Great Orme last summer

Hope you are having a happy scrapping day! 

THIS IS THE LIFE, LLANDUDNO AND LOVE

Well Monday was a weird one, you know the one that you know isn't going to quite pan out but you don't know why, then you get the call from school with a poorly 15 year old on your hands!  Yep that's the one, so having left work I dashed over and collected him, he really wasn't very well at all, so I spent a good proportion of the day running around getting things for him, making sure he is OK, he isn't feeling quite as rough this morning but with a decidedly dodgy belly it really isn't sensible to send him in (they will probably only end up sending him home again anyway!).  So like I said a weird Monday!

Well I'm officially sharing the last three layouts in my blog folder - gulp - I cannot remember the last time it was actually empty!

First up me and said 15 year old at the top of Gainsborough Old Hall earlier in the year, it really is an amazing place to visit, we had a fabulous day there!

Then yet another Alice trail photo, this one taken from a distance, if I recall correctly off the pier, I've left off an additional title as I think 'Llandudno' in the photo more than makes up for it as it were!

Then Bodnant gardens, we were amazed that these rather spikey trees were anything but spikey and we actually quite soft to the touch!

I really had better get a move on with making some more layouts, at the moment I'm working on some homemade gifts which are taking time and my Journal your Christmas which is taking on a mind of it's own - but that's fine I can live with that! 

Hope you have a beautiful and blessed day ahead.

MONDAY SIGH - WHAT CAN I SAY - PUBLISHED, TIRED AND WALK...

Life just seems so full on at the moment, really and truly blink and it's Friday blink again and it's Monday which means Christmas is hurtling towards me and I'm not at all prepared, added to that that I need to slow the season down to enjoy it and I'm unsure of how I'm going to manage that, thankfully my Journal Your Christmas is right around the corner, so hopefully that will allow me to take stock a little - we shall see!

So I'm sharing layouts at the rate of 2 to 3 a day - you may ask if this is a never ending pile - I shall answer - nope the end is in sight which is worrying as I always have some 'in stock' as it were.  Might have to head off to find me a challenge to get me going again on the scrapbook layout it isn't as if I don't have enough photos to scrap now is it!

So first up a layout of the one and only time I've ever been published, it was in the now defunct Scrapbook Magazine and was organised in its entirety by Jen at Wear Crafts (she is a star).  I obviously had to capture this moment in a scrapbook layout!

Next up the aftermath of a weekend retreat in the Peak District for said 15 year old, we did have to wonder whether he would cope with the 20 day expedition to Lesotho if this is what he was like after a weekend, but we needn't have worried he managed just fine! 

And the two of them stood by a giant tree when we went to Bodnant Gardens, a fabulous day out and a stone's throw from where we were staying!

I hope Monday finds you positive and happy and that your day is kind to you and that the weekend arrives quickly!