Friday 19 August 2022

Four Stars, to the Woods, Return to the Country, Posh Nosh, Wartime and Trams to the Top

 


A brief look at our whistle-stop trip back to Wales.

It was pretty relaxing actually.  We stayed at the rather dated but luxurious St Georges Hotel with a wonderfully refreshing sea view.  Sleeping with the window open was good for the soul as well as the senses.

The first night we just had chips on the prom, a play in the arcade at the start of the pier, and then relaxed in our room falling asleep within minutes of our heads hitting the pillows.

The next morning it was dull but dry, so after a lovely cooked Welsh breakfast at the hotel we headed back past our old place and on to Betws y Coed, somewhere we used to take the dogs regularly for walks in the woods and for a coffee for us.  We had coffee this time, along with flapjacks and then headed for home ...


... our old home!!

The house hasn't changed at all, (this is an old photo), but the land has.  

The young couple that are now the proud owners of Isfryn are definintely in the process of making their mark on the land.  There is much more growing going on, with plans to preserve what they grow, more building work happening at the back of the house, with a root cellar being built alongside a new retaining wall.  A hot tub at the front of the workshop and new buildings here there and everywhere.  They have lots of plans, in fact they sounded just like us when we were in the full flush of developing our first place together and it was really nice to hear.  They have some chickens and plans to get more, they have a couple of pigs in Nut Wood, almost ready to become bacon and sausages ... and Will's sheep still reside in the paddock.

We were so pleased, we really couldn't have sold it to nicer people!


We went back into Llandudno, had a snack in the new M&S café, a drink in the hotel lounge and then went for a meal at our regular old haunt The Osborne House Hotel.  The staff were virtually all the same although the menu wasn't.  I think if we still lived locally we wouldn't be there half as often.  Set three course menus just don't cut the mustard with me, although I can see how it makes a business more profitable.


Next morning it was time for us to go to somewhere I had been wanting to go to for years ... The Homefront Museum in Llandudno.

I had been wanting to go ever since we ate wartime rations for a couple of months back in February 2018.  For one reason and another we just never got there, and then lockdown scuppered my final chance to visit before I moved away.


It was worth waiting for, and I took far too many photos.  I feel a Challenge coming on!!


After the museum visit and before the rain clouds got any closer, we caught the tram to the top of the Great Orme.  

The Great Orme Tramway has been in operation for years and was something we had always wanted to do when we lived locally ... well we finally got around to it.

The views going up and coming down were well worth the ride up, but as the fine drizzle started we hopped on a tram back down, picked up a bit of fresh food shopping from M&S and then hit the road for home.

The dogs and Ginger were pleased to see us but had had an equally refreshing holiday in the safe and very capable hands of Jason and Tash, who had a little holiday in our house themselves.  

While we went to the seaside for our holiday they were having a holiday away from the seaside for theirs, as they live in the busy bustling seaside town of Blackpool.  I think they enjoyed small town life for a few days with not as many visitors and holidaymakers, and Jason really enjoyed the Thursday market with the large and varied book stall.  I really have no idea where his obsession with books comes from  😉

So a nice little break for everyone, but it's nice to be back and even better to realise that we have made the right move.  There are no pangs at leaving our old life in the country, here I think for now we have the best of both worlds ... and there's not many that can say that.


Sue xx



15 comments:

  1. How lovely to see your old home being so well cared for and developed. It sounds like an absolutely delightful break for you both.
    xx

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    1. It was nice to go back for a look, there will be no need to return :-)

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  2. What a very satisfying few days away from home. So good to know that Isfryn is in capable, loving hands with their additions to the excellent base that you left behind. I'm so pleased you didn't find things altered out of all recognition or just allowed to go to pot.
    Nice to catch up on previous haunts and also to go to places you always promised yourself but never went.
    And always nice to come HOME!

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    1. Oh, Alan was a bit dismayed to see his workshop log burner ripped out and the whole place in a mess, AND his front flowerbeds overgrown, but you have to realise different people different priorities.

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  3. What a lovely trip you had! So many nice places to visit. I am glad the new owners are loving your old place and that you are so happy with where you are now.

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    1. It was a nice trip and most likely our final one to Llandudno, unless we have to go back to sort out the sale of the flat.

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  4. How good to find your old home being enjoyed and cared for by the new owners - can't say the same for our old smallholding sadly - Colin would have been so disappointed.
    I really, really want to visit that museum - it looks fascinating.

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    1. The museum is quite small but there's lots to look at and read, it was the highlight of our holiday for me. Alan was disappointed that they hadn't maintained his front flowerbeds!!

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  5. Many many years ago I went up the Little Orme, not exactly a mountain! Nice to have a trip back, but equally good to come home.

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    1. Strangely, while we have been up the Great Orme via all means ... car, walking, vintage bus and now tram ... we have never been up the Little Orme! It was good to get home. The itch to return to our old place has been well and truly scratched.

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  6. Sounds like the perfect holiday for everyone! When you put as much of yourself into your homestead as you did, it's got to feel good to know that it has (once again) found the people it was meant to belong to.

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    1. We were happy that they were so enthused and fired up with even more ideas for the future. They both said that Isfryn was to be their forever home.

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  7. I like the look of the museum, the poster saying "your empties wanted" reminds me of taking R Whites lemonade bottles back for a penny or halfpenny - maybe we need to return to that?

    Glad your visit was a success, sometimes returning to an old place doesn't work out but it looks like you had a great weekend.

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    1. We always used to go round the neighbours asking for pop bottles or sterilised milk bottles to return to the greengrocers for the half-penny during the school Summer holidays. We used to spend the money we made on Black Jacks or Fruit Salad sweets, which were four for a penny and share them out between us.

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    2. Dear Mrs You're-only-three-weeks-older-than-me! Did not get bottles from neighbours but was allowed to spend the half pennies exactly the same as you - Black Jacks or Fruit Salad. Ah, the memories 🤪 🤣

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