Llangasty-tal-y-llyn church

 

I visited here about a month ago but took such lousy pictures I needed a return visit.  This lovely old church nestles on the shore of Llangorse Lake, near Brecon.  It is an ancient site - dating back to the earliest of Christian times, when it was established around 450 AD and dedicated to St Gastyn, a Celtic saint who reputedly discipled all of King Brychyn's many children.  (King Brychyn's court was at Talgarth, at the roots of the Black Mountains).  Like many others in the Victorian period, the church was rebuilt, c.1848 - 1851.  I think churches had been allowed to fall into a dreadful state of disrepair when so many of them needed rebuilding!  The popular Gothic Revival Early English style of architecture was used and sadly I think very little of the Medieval church survived. As ever, Coflein gives a good appraisal.

The font, which had a lifting cover - the design is described as octagonal, heavily moulded with quatrefoils.  I wonder what happened to the Medieval one?  Rubble in the building walls I suspect.

The Mothers' Union banner, beautifully embroidered.

The stained glass includes works by Clayton & Bell (1872).  Each of the windows had brass memorial plates dedicated to the Raikes family who lived at Treberfydd Manor house, a short walk away.

The Treberfydd Estate was purchased in the 1840s by Robert Raikes, who was a Tracterian (I had to look it up too!) and according to Coflein, the building features an almost complete Tracterian interior, designed by J LPearson (who was also responsible for the beautiful school next door).

Beautiful hand carving.

The windows are figures set in grisaille (black line on colourless glass).

The stencilling and painted ceiling were beautiful, and there were decalogues painted alongside the chancel arch.

Such attention to detail - beautiful wrought iron spirals and hearts.

As you can see, the Raikes family were well represented in the Military, and apart from those in the Army, other members were very high up in the Admiralty.  The family had mining interests in Africa, and a few years back there was a clearance sale after one of the family members had died, and we bought a few pieces (ceramics and currency bracelet) from the auction.

 

The beautiful school.  Now used as accommodation by the family.

Have a lovely Jubilee weekend.  We are keeping a low profile and watching the racing.

Malvern Day exhaustion

 

It was Malvern Fleamarket yesterday.  I was awake at 4 a.m.and up before 5, out the door before 5.30 a.m.  I took the trolley to carry anything cumbersome in, but oh boy, dragging that across the grass was tiring.  Everything hurt today!  Not sure what you would do with the skull above (Water Buffalo I believe) but I know these sort of trophies still have a demand.

Above and below: a lovely Victorian hand-pieced crazy quilt with yards and yards of Feather stitching.  £250 if you please.

Wonkey taxidermy.

This is the stall in the Avon Hall that Keith and I have always enjoyed, so I take photos to show him what he's missed.

I asked how much the chair back left was, thinking £250 would be tops, as it has character.  They obviously thought it counted as a primitive/naive chair and the price was, wait for it, £2,200!!!  I was good, and didn't laugh in his face.

Below: what I would have loved to give house room to.  A very weathered lion sculpture.

One thing that did come home - I picked it up thinking it was tin (as they normally are) but by golly, it was cast iron!  It's a Bund tin and probably French.

I was back by lunchtime, as I only went round once, but goodness, I was absolutely bushed, but had to carry on emptying the kitchen cupboards as the kitchen has been delivered today (Monday).  I had a 14 hour working day and by the time I crawled up to bed, my brain felt like a loose bundle of jigsaw pieces.  I have had to rest today.  No option.  Tea was chip shop chips again. I'd had it.

Wrens delivered the kitchen and I was incredibly impressed by the skill of the driver as the lorry was the size of a double decker bus and yet he managed to reverse it in through our gateway - right hand down a bit reversing and not much room in the lane.  One step further along with that, and tomorrow I have to set my alarm to get an appointment to see the GP, as no phone call today, and Keith is really fretting about no medication and his symptoms worsening again.

Beyond Weary

 

Chocolate apple cake and Scotch rolls.  First baking I've done in ages.  Like a lot of things, his has gone by the wayside since moving here.  Last year was a real first for things I'd NOT made which I had made regularly in the past.  

Aquilegias which have grown since I pulled the weed membrane up - probably seeds dormant in the ground for 15 years or so as the membrane was totally perished.  I've never seen such large flowers - about 2 inches across.

    Yesterday we drove across two counties for K's appt. with the private specialist.  We got a diagnosis and one is not normally delighted to get the diagnosis we got, BUT there is treatment and we are no longer in the dark over what is happening. It was money well spent and I am grateful for being in a position to afford it. Watch this space.  My shoulders immediately dropped a foot (from around my ears) and I was letting out huge breaths from all the pent-up tensions of the last year and more.

    We came back via Ledbury so K could see the Titian painting (The Last Supper - guess who just wrote Breakfast! - I said I was tired) in St Michael and all Angels church.  He was tottering by then - all that time in the car not helpful - just looked for a minute or two at the painting and vowed to come back when he's walking better and can see round the entire church.  I popped into Hay wines to see if the Greek white wine Tam and I love was back in stock.  To my amazement, after a loooooong time with none, it had come in that very morning, and so a bottle certainly had my name on it!

    I stopped briefly at a garden centre on the way back, saying to Keith I probably wouldn't be long as last time I was there I came out empty-handed.  The same thing happened.  They had some lovely Clematis with huge flowers - for the best part of £27 each!!!  Trying it on came to mind.  Also a bronzey Foxglove I grew one year at our old home (before it died in the winter) and that was the only thing I might have bought, had it not been priced at £15.99.

    We had supper courtesy of the chippy and by the time I got there, it was 6 hours since anything had passed my lips and I was famished.  I can honestly say I have never drooled before, smelling food cooking, but I did last night!  There was nothing bar grease left on our plates by the time we'd eaten!

    I slept deeply until 2.45 and was then awake till gone 6 a.m.  Dropped back to sleep until 9 and got up and had breakfast, and then had to go back to bed as I was just so exhausted.  I am officially Doing as Little as Possible today.

Deeply grateful for:  A diagnosis; a beautiful garden; living in a beautiful place; an unending pile of books to read!

    

Breathtaking views! Craig y Cilau Nature Reserve

 Looking across to the Limestone escarpment.  The grassy hillocks you can see are spoil heaps from when it was a quarry.  

Well, clear blue skies yesterday lured me out.  Keith was tired and walking slower again, but still managed another half an hour woodworking, and between us we made the other shelf support.  I am getting better with the Jig-saw now, more accurate. I will be in his workshop today having a much needed sort out.  I have decided that a tidy hand is needed as you can't find anything in there.  He may know where he left something, but when he asks ME to find it, I can't.  I can remember seeing a house on Escape to the Country where the Man Cave was the most tidy and organized place I had ever seen.  A hook for everything around the walls, fitted work units and bench. (A bit obsessively tidy, to my mind!)

After lunch, I left him to rest and set off for Crickhowell again, determined to find Craig y Cilau Nature Reserve this time, although the directions were still somewhat vague. I knew I had to take the fork in the road which put the Chapel on my right side. Then keep driving uphill until I came to a right turn (it was quite a long way). Then carry on climbing and eventually I would see a car park on my left.

As you can see from the header photo, it was worth finding. Oh my.  I was hoping to find some really rare flowers, but I only explored the main part of it, so will go back and explore more, including the woodland which is included in the Reserve.

A somewhat better panorama than the last one I took.  That's Crickhowell in the centre.

And another.  I was amused by the will I/won't I flowering on the May tree on the right.

The walk was an easy pretty level one along the old tram way.  My legs appreciated having no steep hills to climb.

Inevitably, the quarry had a lime kiln, though you can't see it very clearly in the photo and the tree gets in the way rather.

Saxifrage, probably Meadow. I'd love to claim it is the rare Rue-Leaved Saxifrage, whose stems and leaves (hidden by moss here) turn red when it is stressed - e.g. dry.  You can see that the stems are reddish anyway, but as you can see there was a lot of it so more likely the common or garden sort! I can just see a Meadow Saxifrage leaf too (middle top).

Now, with all the petals gone, no ID.  Is it just a common daisy?  I've never seen the seeds come up like this though. Update: yes, a common Daisy - found one like this in the yard today.

I thought this was Thyme, but it is surrounded by fleshier leaves, so not a clue. I am going through Roger Phillips' Wild Flowers of Britain, but think it will be Marjorie Blamey next - and then the stalwart copy of Keble which for many years was my main go-to botany book.

Lady's Bedstraw.

Maidenhair Spleenwort.  

The quarry face and grassed-over rubble heaps, and below, it's being used today in a totally different way.  There were two groups of young folk (gosh, that makes me sound old!) abseiling down the quarry face.  One mixed group, I briefly chatted to and said that was the worst bit over then.  A lass said, "Oh no, we have to go back UP again yet!"  The other group were all young men and I think from the Army.

The views - well, what can I say? Just amazing. This was the old camera, so some were not as sharp as they could be.

Since going there yesterday, I am reminded of something I read many years ago (Mrs Gaskell?) about certain loom weavers of Manchester and Lancashire as a whole, who could name every plant growing within a days' walk of their home.  They would sit weaving, with a botanical book open beside them. Amateur  Entomologists were just as keen. Others studied mathematics.  HERE is the paragraph in question.  The quest for knowledge.