Greek Buffet in Tanygrisiau

With all the news about Greece, austerity and the IMF, it was great to enjoy a Greek buffet at the Tanygrisiau Lakeside Café. 

At £16 a head, inclusive of a glass of ouzo and unlimited food, it was great value. But the ambience and the sense of occasion made it priceless. Really friendly staff giving a great welcome and fellow diners were really sociable. We walked there and danced all the way back, just making it home without the need for torches; a great occasion.

Blooming Laburnum Arch

Bodnant Gardens in 15 minutes? Yes, I nipped in on my way home from Llandudno just to see the Laburnum Arch. I’d seen it in winter just after two of the gardeners had spent 5 weeks pruning and tying it in. What a contrast!

I’d seen pictures but never the blooming reality; no disappointment. Lots of people were enjoying the spectacle and they all seemed happy. It has an atmosphere or aura that makes you want to smile.

A still photograph can capture an instant but not the movement, the sounds of bees and shifting light. So go and see it if you can; another couple of weeks of glory to go.

The Spider and the Toothbrush

Today I met a spider man, the editor of the newsletter for the British Society of Arachnologists, who told me that Wales was an amazing place for spiders. We walked a few minutes up the path from the foot of the Great Orme, at the Deganwy end, until we were in a spider hotspot. Some of the spiders were very rare indeed, hidden inside crevaces on the cliff face, with tubular cobwebs in which to snare their prey.

He used an electric toothbrush to con the spiders into thinking they’d caught some prey, and this is what it looked like:

Not a tarantula but a house spider.

Beautiful Bluebells

I was trying to make a film in Cwm Idwal today, an idyllic setting on a fine day, but a nightmare in the wind and rain that came with the first day of summer. The prolonged cold weather has also delayed the blooming of many of its arctic alpines.

Back at home, Molly was persistent that she wanted a walk in the woods, whatever the weather. So off we went. The bluebells were looking brilliant, radiant and so much bluer in the wet and grey of the day. There are some benefits to the cold and damp!

Bluebells Maentwrog Nature Reserve 1st June 2015

Optimists at Plas Heli

Lunch break for Team GB

Optimists are a class of boat raced by children up to the age of 15; every Olympiad will have raced an optimist. On the beach they look like bathtubs, about 8’ by 4’ with a blunt prow, but on the water they turn on a sixpence.

On 18^th July 260 young sailors from 37 countries will blow into Pwllheli for the European Optimists Championship. Cardigan Bay, with its weak tidal streams and stable winds, has long been rated one of the top sailing venues in the world.

July also sees the opening of the Welsh National Sailing Academy, which will put Pwllheli on a par with Weymouth but with better mountains in the background. The new events centre has cost £8.3m and is nearing completion; a circular design with a huge exhibition space and an entrance tall enough to wheel in a large yacht with its mast aloft. Perfect for hosting a boat show. The upstairs restaurant also provides a great view across the sea towards Cadair Idris and beyond.

The centre is called Plas Heli and will be a welcome watering hole for walkers on this section of the Wales Coast Path. 

Plas Heli clad in Damplon plastic and Trefor stone

Handkerchief Tree blooming at Plas Tan y Bwlch

Handkerchief Tree at Plas Tan y Bwlch

The Pocket Handkerchief Tree (otherwise known as the Dove Tree) Davidia involucrata was first discovered growing wild in China, towards the end of the nineteenth century. Seeds were sent back to the UK by Victorian plant hunter Ernest Wilson in 1901 and when it flowered in Britain for the first time, it caused such a stir that the leading nursery of the day (Veitch’s nursery of Chelsea and Exeter) could not keep up with the demand for plants.

One of the first Pocket Handkerchief Trees to be planted in Britain was at Plas Tan y Bwlch which is one of the (50) Finest Gardens in Wales. Yes, it’s official, it has been listed in the new book published by Tony Russell.

Other local to us gardens that feature in the book are Plas Brondanw and Portmeirion and, slightly further afield, are Bodnant and the intriguing Conwy Valley Maze Garden. The maze was created in 2005 and is said to be the largest garden maze in the world; this sounds well worth a visit but according to their website the garden is closed until further notice due to on-site works.

Tony Russell, author of the book, has recently moved to live in the village of Rhyd and is helping with the project to restore Plas Tan y Bwlch gardens following the devastation of the 2014 storm. He is also running courses at The Plas which include guided visits to several of his favourite gardens.

Tubular Bells of Maentwrog

Stan plays Tubular Bells

Maentwrog is a very special place in many ways including the tubular bells in the tower of St. Twrog’s Church. Most churches have tower bells, bells that are spun with a hammer on the inside, but Maentwrog is one of just a few hundred churches in the UK with tubular bells.

The set of eight tubular bells was installed in the 1896 restoration, according to Wiki, when the existing single bell was relocated to the old village school. The eight tubes vary in length from four to seven feet and are struck on the outside with wooden hammers connected to ropes that are attached to an Ellacombe frame in the bell ringing room, twenty feet below.  

Tubular bells are much lighter than tower bells and therefore well suited to our wooden church tower. They also cost less and more importantly all eight can be rung by a single bell ringer which means it’s easier to maintain the bell ringing tradition. It’s also a lot simpler to ring them, simpler than a team of eight pulling tower bells, and relatively easy to pick up the skill.

In our parish Stan has become the village bell ringer under the expert guidance of Paul who also performs in churches and cathedrals across the UK. Here they are demonstrating their art. Listen out for 'Pop Goes the Weasel'!