Wales – Gwenfar's Garden and other musings

Some branches of the tree against the blue sky. It has glowing orange branches, that look warm & gorgeous.

Garden visit: Dyffryn Gardens

12 January 202512 January 2025

A sunny winter day! We made a visit to Dyffryn Gardens, which is quite local to us. And we joined the National Trust. Basically, they are doing a lot of good work dealing with the history of colonialism relating to …

A large pond with lily pads sitting on the surface. Behind are lots of trees changing colours, some really bright oranges and reds. Further back are fields with sheep, and even further, cows on a hill - looking surprisingly large given how far away they are (that's the weird perception thing).

Autumn at Aberglasney

8 November 20238 November 2023

For my birthday this year we decided on an autumn visit to Aberglasney Gardens. Autumn has been very mild, and instead of the usual freezing temperatures for my birthday (end of October), it was quite pleasant, and the colours were …

Three people, two white, one a person of colour. One white person sitting in a beach wheelchair, the other two people above and behind. Everyone is smiling and happy. To the left you can see the sandy beach and the edge of the water.

Beach scenes: Barry Island and the beach wheelchair

14 May 202424 June 2023

I don’t recall the last time I walked on a beach. It’s been years, then some more years still. To be fair, we either lived in Oxfordshire or South Yorkshire, which are no where near the beach. But mainly it …

Blue Camassias in the foreground, and in the distance you can see a hint of the bluebell wood. There is lots of lush green growth and it all looks very vibrant.

Garden visit: Aberglasney Gardens

7 May 2023

Aberglasney Gardens is a good example of a the value of second chances. We visited Aberglasney, in the Tywi Valley, Carmarthenshire (Wales), more than 15 years ago, and all I recall is it felt dim and uninviting. It was towards …

Early August. An overview of one of the lakes with the camera looking into the sun. There are reeds and grasses, with the light catching the tips of the grass flowers which look kind of red and glowing. The sky is blue interspersed with clouds.

Postcards from Penarth: Cosmeston Lakes, August – December 2022

8 April 202324 December 2022

This, is one of the reasons we chose to live in this part of Penarth. Cosmeston Lakes, the path to which is about 5 minutes from our new home. As you can see, there are plenty of paths I can …

Photo essay: Carew Castle, Pembrokeshire April 2019

10 September 20206 May 2019

Carew Castle I love castles, just love them. They are such fun, and fascinating historically. Wales has a lot of wonderful castles, but not surprisingly, a lot of them aren’t that accessible for people with disabilities. Which isn’t a complaint, …

Photo essay: Solva Harbour, Pembrokeshire, April 2019

10 September 20203 May 2019

The head of the harbour at Solva We recently spent about 9 days down in Solva, Pembrokeshire. Solva is only a few miles away from St David’s and it’s a quiet and sweet little village. We stayed at Caswell House, …

Photo Essay: Llanthony Priory, 8th April 2019

10 September 202019 April 2019

Our recent holiday was in Pembrokeshire, but on the way there we stopped at one of my favourite places, Llanthony Priory (Welsh: Priordy Llanddewi Nant Hodni), in the Black Mountains, between Hay-on-Wye and Abergavenny. It was a day with really …

Black Mountains

14 August 20204 November 2009

Kevin and I decided this year that rather than give each other birthday pressies, we would go away for a few days. We chose to go to one of our favourite places in the world, the Black Mountains. The Black …