Two Weeks Catch Up

Last weekend attended the Knit and Stitch Show at Ally Pally. Sorry that is Alexandra Palace to the rest of us ...=) A great day out with friends. My friend C and I caught the train into London, an adventure due to engineering works which got worse on the way home. Meeting up with Z, Z's Mum and my sister M. We split up for looking round the show but met up for lunch. Z had perpared a picnic for everyone. There we were out side with a table covered in a cloth, with wine and nibbles. More of the gang from the stitching board arrived later...after quick hellos and see you for tea we were off again.

My sister had the biggest shopping basket to get home after buying the wool for a jumper. C and I did not go too mad. We mostly bought threads for tree ornaments (I had a look at C's copy of the JCS mag). I did get some copper cloth and fabric hardener for creating sculture in cloth. More of that on my Master Class blog.

The way home saw C and I on buses and took nearly 4 hours !!!!!! =(

The week was great as had a surprised package from my sister with copies of the JCS mag which she had picked up.

Then Friday DH and I headed off to Wales to see The Police playing in Cardiff. The M4 was a car park and we thought we might not get there. We booked a B&B in Radyr just outside so had to pick up the keys first. As you might imagine Cardiff was mega busy but we finally found parking by the town hall and that was a short walk to the Stadium.

The Police were OK.... We were way back but I found I had to keep asking DH what they were singing as the building did not carry the voice at all. OK so I am not a Police fan so the music was not enough .... Also the set was VERY short we were out and in the car by 11pm!?!?!?!?

The B&B we found was wonderful , Gelynis Farm stands in the shadow of Castle Coch. We booked Saturday night too so had time to have a relaxing day. Very good B&B =)

We could see the castle from our bedroom window. This is the view from the bridge over the river running next to the farm. It was also the foot path to walk up to the castle which we did on Saturday.

Castle Coch as it stands today is mostly a victorian rebuild of the orginal medieval castle. The Lord Bute in 1871 requested for the castle to bebuilt as a summer home. He was VERY rich and was the owner of castle Coch, Cardiff castle and Caerphilly castle. This is an image from inside. Although Coch is thought to a folly it was a recreation. Bute and his friend Burges who designed the rebuild were interested in the period and tried very hard to be "in keeping" as the fabric from the seats in the dining hall shows.The staff at the castle had a lovely story for the smallest visitors. They asked them to look out for the faeries. But then would add that as faeries are scared of people they often turn into squirrels or robins. QED as the forest there is full of both creatures 99% of the time everyone gets to see the faeries =)

Saturday afternoon we went to the Brecon Mountain Railway. This was perfect for DH. They had stock from the Sandy River railroad in the States. We traveled on Graf Schwerin-Lowitz a German well tank engine.

In the evening joined everyone at a local pub for a meal and DH to watch the Rugby. Found the perfect table at a corner, so DH could see the TV and I could sit and read my book !

Sunday was time to head home. But as we had the whole day went via Caerphilly Castle. Like Castle Coch it is run by CADW which we have free entry to via our English Hertiage membership.
It is said to be the largest fortresses in Europe. We took the audio tour. A great morning walking round the castle. Again this is another which the Lord Bute could not keep his hands off and had rebuilt quite a bit of the walls. But we felt he had done a good job and allowed visitors to walk round upper floors.

The walk back to the car was past these geese =)

Then it was the drive home. Although much quicker than on the way there. We were home by 3pm which suits DH as he could watch the motor racing.