100 years ago at Dduallt

Researching the history of the house we came across this photo of a wedding party at Dduallt on June 24^th 1911. It was given to us by Thelma Butlin, the great granddaughter of Morris and Annie Thomas.  Her mother is Lilian Parry, born in Blaenau Ffestiniog in 1919. 

‘Lilian lived at Dduallt for about a year around 1922 whilst recovering from severe meningitis.  Her grandmother Annie Thomas offered the family her help to enable Lilian to recuperate.  She can still remember some detail of that experience.  Mum remembers that Morris was mainly a sheep farmer, but kept a few cows, pigs and chickens.  He had a field where he grew wheat.  She would also have been a frequent visitor to Dduallt from BF in the following years up to 1927 when Morris died.  She used to go for 6 weeks at a time during school holidays.  Annie Thomas moved on to Bronturnor Uchaf after his death and paid 5/= per year to Lady Inge for that accommodation.’

The photo is in the surroundings of Dduallt at the wedding of Robert Richard Jones to Kate Thomas, the daughter of Morris Thomas. We think the photo is taken from near the corner of the vegetable garden looking up the driveway to the cottage. Morris was the tenant of Major Charles Robert Worsley Tottenham who was a JP for Denbighshire, a JP and Deputy Lieutenant for Merionethshire. Tottenham sold the estate in 1920.

We are taking part in the Dating Old Welsh Houses project funded in part by the Heritage Lottery Fund.

That was 100 years ago today. 7 years ago today was the day we moved in!

Nuts - who ate the nuts?

At this time of year the nut feeders empty fast. Experimenting with a time lapse camera the 720 images taken every 2 minutes over 24 daylight hours tell the story. Here it is:

Woodpeckers in the Woods – a week later

Walking past there was quite a commotion coming from the woodpecker nest, louder and more insistent than usual. Was this the father insisting the chick took its maiden flight? It was having none of it. Certainly not in the rain.

Whereas another young chick overshot the nut feeder and crashed into our kitchen window.  Dazed and confused it eventually flew off.

Stray Pigeons

Pigeons might be common elsewhere but it’s a rare sight that we find them perched on our roof. I could see they both had rings. Two of them hung around for most of Saturday, barely moving, soaking up the sunshine. One moved on and the other seemed to be dozing on top of a chimney.

We consulted the racing pigeon website and followed their guide on what to do if you find a stray racing pigeon. The advice in our case was to provide food and water. Sue clambered out of a bedroom window to scatter the corn and place the bowl. That was enough for the pigeon .... he or she was off.

Where were they racing to and from? There were only 106 races listed for the 4^th June on the racing pigeon website!  

Woodpeckers in the Woods

Not the flash of bright colours but the whimpering of hungry chicks, that’s what gave away the nest, about 15 feet up an oak. Precision drilled to fit woodpeckers. I waited a couple of minutes until the parents flew in, first one, then the other delivered the food parcels. Within 5 minutes they were back again. It’s a never ending shuttle at the moment.