St Fagan’s Farm, Castle and Village

We all slept in with the view of having a late breakfast before heading off to Cardiff. Breakfast was the full Welsh variety, which is enough food to last through the day. We headed off to Cardiff in misty, rainy weather with visibility down to just a few metres at times. Thank God I wasn’t driving- I couldn’t see a thing! Kiryn dropped me off at St Fagan’s then headed in to Cardiff to check out several accommodation options. Lorelle headed to Cardiff Castle and Elizabeth hit the shops for the after Christmas sales, not that she can fit anything else into her suitcase!

The rain had eased to a drizzle so I donned my poncho and map and headed off down the village lane past some farmhouses, an interesting circular pigsty built from stones and the corn mill until I got to the sheep to whom I gave a friendly hello. Baa-aa-aa-aa.

Then up the woodland path, through the creepy forest to the even creepier Celtic village. Not a single person was in sight and I hesitated before peering into one of the darkened huts. You guessed it- there was a guy sitting just inside the door who scared the living daylights out of me. I think he was equally scared by my scream!

I waded through muddy pools in snow boots (not too good on slippery ground, but much better than my sandals, at least I had dry feet) to the tannery, the pottery and kiln and the old church. Sadly, most of the old-fashioned shops were closed for business, but the general store was open so I bought some chocolates in the shape of animals, clotted cream fudge, rum and raisin fudge and a jar of Christmas spiced marmalade.

farmhouse at St Fagan's Village

pig sty

baa-aa-aa

woodland walk

wet but still smiling

Celtic village

wood-house

Workmen's Institute 1916

church- Eglyws in Welsh

the General Store

the school house

the gate-house

the gardens of the manor house

St Fagan's Castle

fountain in the gardens

entrance to the manor house (castle)

I checked out the iron-workers’ cottages and their back yard vegetable gardens, the photography studio (closed), the school-house, the gate-house, and the bakery (closed) before it started to really come down in bucketfuls so I hightailed it back to the warmth and dryness (I wanted to type dryth) of the café where I had a freshly baked muffin and a large latte for 2 pounds 95 pence. As soon as the rain had eased, I ventured out to explore St Fagan’s Castle (really a large manor house) and its walled gardens and hothouses where I managed to trap myself in a back corner with no shortcut so I had to find the way I had come in, to be sure of not getting lost.

Rain began falling and the skies were darkening rapidly and the whole place had suddenly become deserted so I headed back to the café. They were about to close so had all the chairs up on the tables and were mopping the floor so I sat just inside the front door until they too were closing up, then waited outside until Kiryn arrived to collect me. It was the longest 20 minutes of my life. Luckily I had rugged up well so wasn’t cold, but I was pretty happy to spot our car driving through the windy, rainy darkness.

We were all hungry for dinner when we arrived back at the White Hart Inn, but with the private party of 110 other guests to feed, we managed to eat 3 courses- well, I did. A muffin’s not a lot to keep the furnaces going especially when one’s walked miles! The cockles and bacon again (I couldn’t go past it!), rack of lamb ( just to be different) and my favourite bread and butter pudding again. Kiryn bought a bottle of bubbly to celebrate her finding a great place to live overlooking the Taff River in the centre of Cardiff. We all toasted to her new life in Wales.

I started watching An Officer and a Gentleman but fell asleep, and then woke up a while later and did not go back to sleep until after 2 am. Why does this always happen to me when I have to be up early in the morning?