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 - 43rd of 2019

Good morning lovely people, tis Friday time for 

So as promised, here are the last couple of days we had in Wales two weeks ago which I didn't cover in my post last week, as suspected the positivity of having a relaxing week away really has proved most beneficial. 

So we had a day in Llandudno, the weather forecast wasn't great but we had plans to visit the Mostyn gallery. 

The exterior is a very beautiful old decorative (architecturally speaking) building, the interior has been completely revamped and includes lots of modern styling with concrete made to look like wood

We enjoyed walking around the artwork 30 pieces selected out of 750 entries from all around the world, the winning artist doing a mixture of handweaving and sculpture 

And another other piece

There was lots of variety of artwork from small delicate paintings

To delicate watercolours (I loved this one which was called 'Kiss')

And another 

this was my favourite one

Up close the faces were amusing, this one in particular seemed to speak to me! 

Overall we had several wonderful hours wandering, we enjoyed their beautiful coffee, shop, had another wander around the exhibition, cast our viewers vote and set off back into Llandudno.

We went past the White Rabbit statue part of the Alice in Wonderland trail.

The sky was a little menacing, but the pier is so lovely 

We also saw the Mad-Hatter sculpture 

We enjoyed the view back to Llandudno from the end of the pier, despite it being a rather windy day 

On our final day we head to Caernarfon Castle

It still isn't one of my favourite castles, possibly because it's hard work to make your way through the town to get to it, but it does have a significant piece of Welsh history attached to it and is known for having the highest population of Welsh speakers of any town in Wales.  

The slate dias in the centre is where Prince Charles was made Prince of Wales way back when. 

I spotted this stunning heart shaped lock whilst we wandering the inside of the castle

There were a couple of amazing pieces of artwork in the castle, used to provide information about its history, this was the first one 

and just for scale, this is hubby stood next to it

the second one filled the room, it was almost like a star book or Christmas pop up book and again told a story,

Overall I enjoyed the artwork and the visit and I'm glad we returned

On the last night back where we were stopping we were treated to the most beautiful sunset

and woke to beautiful blue skies the following day 

Which meant an easy journey home. 

This week, we've been busy.  We painted the hall stairs and landing on Saturday (no small feat), but we did it and it looks so much better. 

And on Sunday I went to the local craft shop and did a Christmas craft class with my Mum 

We had a fabulous day making all things Christmas and came home with a project and 4 beautiful Christmas cards as well as being covered in glitter! 

I enjoyed making a mini book using the same beautiful papers as we'd used on Sunday as a Christmas gift for someone (not sure who at the moment). 

I also have had a busy but productive week at work. 

Although I did have one tiny glitch at work, I was printing some funding documents guidelines off and my printer decided that it only wanted to print some of the letters, amusing but not very helpful if I'm honest.  Thankfully I managed to reprint with all the necessary letters in place, making it much easier to read! 

And that my lovely people brings us back to today, I hope you've had a good one, if you fancy joining in pop back and link up and we can come and visit. 

HAPPY SUMMER

Good morning all, well another double page layout this morning, more photos from the copper mine on the Great Orme at Llandudno.  I mixed photos of the rock in its natural form 

With a photo of said 15 year old holding said rock as it were. 

And the layout together looks like this. 

I hope you are having a fabulous 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.

THE CAT, THE CROW AND ART INSPIRATION

Morning all, well another mix of layouts this morning,  this layout documents the inspiration behind the art.  In the left hand picture you can see hubby stood next to a giant piece of smoky quartz at Chatsworth in the right hand picture you can see said 15 year old next to a resin seat made using the quartz as inspiration.  Both pieces are beautiful!  

Then the Alice trail in Llandudno - yes another layout - I told you I've got almost a full album on that one trail alone.  Here is me and said 15 year old stood next to the Cheshire Cat sculpture in the park (there are two in this trail, the second appearing in the second part of the trail which covers 'Through the Looking Glass').

And finally a layout documenting Colin the crow at Harewood, he is really cheeky and quite tame and very very inquisitive and he likes it when visitors pass him sticks through the bars apparently, a couple of up close photos and a family 'selfie' with Colin in the background!

Hope you are having a fabulous day