Valle Crucis Abbey

Out for a Saturday afternoon drive to Llangollen, we came across this lovely little abbey and decided to have a closer look. It was deserted ... we've never had such a beautiful place all to ourselves before.

 I loved the elegant arches in the Chapter House.

We were surprised at how much of the abbey had survived. There was a great deal of roof still remaining which covered an upper floor which had once been the monks' dormitory.

I was intrigued by the ancient carvings around the abbey .... still clearly defined after eight hundred years of weathering and destruction. They certainly made things to last in Medieval times!

In a little summer house behind the abbey we met this guy ...... an animatronic monk who was spookily lifelike as he sat writing at his desk. As we approached, he lifted his head from his writing, looked us straight in the eye, and began to speak ... we nearly jumped out of our skin! He proceeded to narrate the history of the abbey .... Henry VIII has a lot to answer for!

Tale over, he returned to his writing and we stepped back out into the sunshine.

How lovely is this, the abbey reflected in the only complete Abbey Fishpond in the country!

Project 365~ Weeks 24 and 25

I'm way behind on this project, so here's two weeks together to catch up to date. I use this as a sort of diary of my life as we travel through the year. This week, I'm half way through already. How did half the year pass us by so quickly?

169/365

Torrential rain on a Saturday afternoon ... I'm not going out in that!

170/365

Sunshine for Father's Day over at my parents' house

171/365

More rain ... the grass is getting longer by the day, and Mr B. hasn't been able to cut it!
172/365

 Out on the Wirral Way tonight for Inca's walk. The ferns are nearly as high as us on both sides of the bridle path now.
173/365

 Brightly coloured sails down on West Kirby's Marine Lake
174/365

We finally got our Kenyan paintings up on display in school today. We all love the bright colours!
175/365

 Tom's old shoes seem to have become part of Inca's collection in her toy basket.
176/365

Ken Dodd raises a smile every time I visit Lime Street Station ... We still haven't been to one of his legendary shows. We must do this before it's too late!

177/365

The famous Rock Shop in Llandudno. I bought rock here over 40 years ago, so I was thrilled to see it was still here. These bars had names going through the middle. We bought 'Patricia' for Mr. B's mum, who still enjoys crunching on rock!  Don't ask ... she's not your average 79 year old!!!

178/365

Across our field, the crop of apples is developing nicely.

179/365

Inca goes field surfing in the crops every night. She runs and jumps through the long stems like Tigger ... pure joy!

180/365

Colourful little boats on the River Dee at Chester on our 'Wednesday night'. We had a meal in the local pub nearby. 

181/365

My lovely young man has left the freezer door slightly open, causing a build up of ice. As the door won't close properly I have to defrost it ..... grrr! Not a job I'd choose to do on a Thursday evening!

182/365

Inca enjoying the evening sunshine .... the weather has been lovely for the past week. Wouldn't it be lovely if summer was always like this!

June Scavenger Hunt

Well, here we go again .... it's the end of the month and time to show the results of the Scavenger Hunt for June. 

Can you believe we've been doing this for six whole months? A little germ of an idea has grown into something amazing!

I've met so many wonderful people in blogland who love taking photographs as much as I do. Again, I need to say a big thank you to everyone who joins in with this, and a big welcome to all our newcomers to the game!

Cutlery

 Our cutlery is kept in a basket on the kitchen dresser.

An elephant

 This little statue can be found in Chester near the Town Hall... it was a gift to the city from Chester Zoo.

Tree Branches

 Amazing tree branches on Thurstaston Common

The view from your door

 The view from our 'caravan' door on a recent trip to Derbyshire

A Farm Animal

 I'm a bit afraid of cows ... they're just so big. But these Jerseys from the Chatsworth Estate are pretty special.

Architectural Detail

 Chatsworth again, I'm afraid.

Night

Candles lit late at night




Cheese

 Melted Camembert with freshly baked bread ... from our lunch at the Corn Exchange in Leeds.

A Childhood Memory

Professor Codman's Punch and Judy show at Llandudno

Something beginning with 'Z'

I can't believe how far I drove one night after work to take a photo of something beginning with Z.  Sheer madness!!!

A wheel trim

My own I'm afraid ... I just didn't come up with anything better.

Something with your town's name on it

I bought this little guy for my daughter when she first left home for uni.



Here's the list for July:

red, white and blue

flip flops

ice cream

strawberries

a flag
fields

celebration

sea shells

stars

stripes

a kite

something that makes you happy (but not a person or animal!)

Looks like it's time to celebrate summer, with a touch of 4th of July thrown in!

Happy Hunting!!!

Llandudno Pier

On a very hot and sultry Sunday afternoon we headed towards the seaside .... at Llandudno in North Wales. When I was a small child, this is where we holidayed every year. My grandparents moved their family there during the last war, away from the air raids in Liverpool. My Dad grew up there, and took us back at every opportunity.

I wanted to take a stroll down memory lane, so we headed to the pier ... in all its faded splendour.

I loved it ... it brought back so many happy memories .... and joy of joys .... there was a Punch and Judy show taking place as we stepped off the pier!

They're still doing the same voices!

An Away Day to Leeds

On Saturday I met up with my daughter in Leeds ... it's sort of half way between home and Newcastle. Ideal for an away day shopping trip for us both!

First stop was the wonderful Corn Exchange building ... just look at the amazing roof.

It has a restaurant on the lower level, where we later had a leisurely lunch, and some cute shops on the two upper floors.

The Leeds City Market had a lovely flower stall, and carved wooden dragons around the roof.

This is Harvey Nicks ... but we weren't as impressed as we were supposed to be!

But we did like the lovely Victorian shopping arcades ... we don't have anything like these back home. They're pretty much all the same high street stores, but in very attractive surroundings.

Rose and Co was a super cute shop ... full to the brim of very pretty things!

We thoroughly exhausted ourselves wandering around the shops, but didn't really find anything to splash out on in the end .... although I did buy a nice vintage handbag which was a good bargain.
Best of all was spending time with my lovely daughter. I love that she enjoys our days out as much as I do!