57. Cardiff and Surrounds - UK

The good thing about the location of the house is that it's walking distance to Cardiff central from where we can catch trains to other parts of southern Wales.

Good 'ol Google maps was there to help us find the shortest way to walk into town. Next time we'll see if we can ask Google to re-route the map to go around drug central. Even during the day, it was a bit intimidating seeing that part of the community congregating to exchange pleasantries amongst other things. The drug culture is probably no worse than in other major cities but we're staying in the not-so-nicest areas where we have gripped our belongings a little tighter than usual. 

Once we got into town it was fine and subsequent trips were ok too once we established the best route. 

The Cardiff Castle is the main attraction in town.


Down near Cardiff Bay


Cardiff Millennium Centre


Interesting what one finds on a park bench and respective commemorative plaque. 
I would have liked Bob.
 
Bridgend

We decided to take a train to Bridgend to see the Newcastle castle. (It's not a typo) Google said it was open this day but a padlock indicated otherwise. Apparently, it should have been open but anyway... The town was eerily quiet and didn't make us feel too comfortable as we could see the results of a community with a severe white drug issue. We were lucky to find the local church open with Ron, a volunteer grounds caretaker. He gave us some history about the church as to how and why it was built in 3 sections.  You can see in the below pic the three distinctive sections built 200 years apart from each other.


The church organ had wooden pipes which are not seen too often


Ron - A very friendly fella.


One of the many leadlight windows


Cheltenham - England UK

A quick day trip over the border to catch up with our good friend Viv who has come to visit her family near Birmingham from Queensland. We decided to meet halfway in Cheltenham and had a wonderful lunch in a French restaurant.


Max and Viv with big smiles when the Crème Brûlée came out


St Fagan's Homestead and Manor House

The neighbour across the road where we're staying told us, while in Cardiff, we should visit St Fagan's  (pronounced Faggins) Homestead and Manor House. We took her advice and were not disappointed. When I hear places are free to enter, I tend to not have too high an expectation and how grateful I was to be wrong on this occasion. The homestead was literally reconstructed from old individual farmhouses in the area dating back to the 1600s. They were dismantled stone by stone and rebuilt here.


This was built for a family's pigs


A typical kitchen of the time


An early form of truss with ceilings having woven reeds used as insulation




Stairs leading up to the Elizabethan Manor House




The Gardens surrounding the House


The Drawing Room


And a stunning floor-to-ceiling tapestry in the Drawing Room


I wonder if the shop assistant who dressed the mannequin on the right still has a job? 


What's so unusual about skateboarding around the city mall?



Comments

  1. KayeJuly 31, 2023 at 4:53 PM

    Got to love a pink dress 🤣😂

    ReplyDelete
  2. AnonymousJuly 31, 2023 at 9:06 PM

    Leanne

    ReplyDelete
  3. AnonymousJuly 31, 2023 at 9:07 PM

    Whilst wearing a pink dress and covered in tats!!! Didn’t look too impressed with having his photo taken lol

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Max and Paul's Excellent AdventureAugust 1, 2023 at 9:29 PM

      No he didn't. I could only tell that once I zoomed in and cropped the picture!

      Delete
  4. Anne Marie NunnsAugust 1, 2023 at 7:32 AM

    👍😊❤️

    ReplyDelete
  5. NataliaAugust 6, 2023 at 9:03 PM

    An excellent adventure continues!
    My story about the shop assistant…..they quit that day 😆
    The skateboarding anomaly…. a 14yr old female and a 59 yr old male were abducted by an alien vehicle…experimented on …… some where in town there’s a 14 year old girl on a bike, wearing leathers, chewing pink gum and terrorising shop owners to pay their dues😆. ……Maybe that why the shop assistant with the middle finger quit that day! 🤣

    ReplyDelete

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