Two Walking Well Walks for the price of one in this post! It has taken time to settle back into our routine after our visit to Canada and having the walks to go on puts routines back into my life!
The first walk started from Dinefwr and crossed the A40 into the fields near Penybanc.
Thank you Pam for the lovely walk.
The second walk was to Caio Forest. A number of brave and hardy walkers turned up on a day that was definitely not the best for walking! The company was wonderful and no one complained about the conditions and we all had a good chat and ‘enjoyed’ ourselves! The wind blew, blasted and was bitterly cold, the rain came in squalls and splashes but we bent our backs and moved forward when the wind allowed! At the end of the walk we all declined an invite to a local hostelry for drinks and we got in our cars and headed straight home for hot baths and hot drinks!
the https://naturalresources.wales/days-out/places-to-visit/south-west-wales/caio-forest/?lang=en
Thank you Biddy for leading the walk.
Getting back into a routine also means visiting Aberglasney. It was good to see Carol Klein’s visit there on her recent programme : https://www.channel5.com/show/carol-klein-s-great-british-gardens/season-3/episode-1
Carol enjoyed her visit to The Ninfarium which has lots of interest through the year but on the cold, damp days of winter it is a good place to visit to see colourful orchids, the bird of paradise flowering and Christmas cactus in hanging baskets and bananas growing!
We’ve fitted in a few visits out as well as trying to get the garden in order for the winter. One of the jobs that I need the wholehearted help from Jim for is the cutting down of the gunnera on the little island in the pond! This entails a bit of encouragement as it means getting the boat out, paddling across to the island, kneeling on knees that don’t want to bend, cutting down leaves with sharp spikes and placing them so they protect the new shoots which will appear next spring! He earns lots of Brownie points for doing this job!
One afternoon we visited Cowbridge, in the Vale of Glamorgan, which is a bright and bustling town with many historical links. It has many lovely independent shops and good places for eating out!
Typically, we ended up in Costa for our lunch as everywhere else was full! Never mind, as across the way was Waitrose…a delight in itself to visit! After eating our shared egg sandwich and one mince pie…all that was left on the shelf..we visited the Physic Garden! Well worth a visit even in autumn/winter.
Back at home the morning walk around the garden with Rufus has been brightened with the beautiful sunrises. It’s the same view but it changes daily!
The sunsets aren’t too bad either!
There has been interest in the garden up until lately.
Then we had a few frosty nights!
This weekend we had storm Arwen and our huge beech tree on the Pond Field was blown over as well as a large branch broken off the lime tree. Sad but grateful that no-one was hurt.
The birds have returned in larger numbers to the garden due to the cold weather and the bird seed disappears at an alarming rate! They bring so much pleasure though- it’s worth every penny…or pound….or pounds!!! The mice need the nuts too! ( New bird feeding station from Wilko!)
The Aberglasney robin wanted to upstage our garden robin! I think he won!!
Thank you for reading. Enjoy opening your advent calendar …hope it’s a chocolate one! Mine is!
