Manor houses on the Eastern border of Wales

We left The Bear under a blue sky, travelling up the border of Wales and England (in the Welsh Marches) to the north,and then to the west to get to our lodgings for the next two nights.

Our first stop was a jaw dropping manor house called The Hall at Abbey-Cwm-Hir. They advertise tours of enchantment and we had been warned that it was unusual. It certainly was. It a 52 room house they have decorated lavishly and collected so many oddities and articles that it really does produce sensory overload. The entire house m is open for viewing and the owner took us through personally including their lavishly decorated bedroom with four poster, dressing rooms for him and her, and huge bathroom. I took photos of his novelty tie collection for you Thom (must have comprised hundreds).I didn't take photos of the hundreds of colour-sorted hats, scarves, shoes and other articles of clothing contained in the eight or so wardrobes in his wife's dressing room. We spent an hour and a half enjoying the owner, Paul's crazy sense of humor and wild stories before we ran out of time, and had to miss seeing his marvellous walled garden as we needed to be on our way.

 You   can see the amount of stuff around the place to some extent in this photo. Old gramaphone,  different pottery, flowers, sculpture, taxidermy, a picture made entirely of moths and butterflies, old furniture, etc etc


For the Christmas season they decorate with 52 different Christmas trees in the 52 rooms, each with a different theme which changes each year. Alexa, they are wanting someone  to take the place over when they can't keep it up any more...maybe this is the gig for you? We left with some sense of relief after the feeling of closeness created by the clutter of the house. They had some lovely articles, but it was all so much, and so over the top. As I reviewed my photos taken there, I realised that I singled things out to photograph and don't have one photo which really gives the impression of the chaotic clutter and sensory onslaught created. The photo of the chess set on the billiard table probably comes closest if you take a look at the surrounding background in the photo. The billiard room included room many stuffed animals, a set of armour, a number of oil paintings of war planes and ships, along with a huge sideboard which used to be used by a boys school to serve Communion,but is now used as a bar, and hundreds of other bits and pieces.



Continuing northwards we pulled in at Newtown (built in the 1300s, so not so new) for lunch as rain started to fall, but it didn't last for long, and we were so back in the shelter of the bus heading north again. White clouds in a blue sky once again followed us as we drove between hedges, and along canals, admiring the green fields grazed by sheep and cows and occasional fields of crops as we drove between the little towns.

We started to see canals as we headed northwards. Canals were one of the early transport methods here, and were then partly superseded by railways, which were built in the tracks of the canals in the mid 1830s. Apparently there is now talk of bringing back more of the transport along canals for goods which do not have such time sensitive transport needs.

Briefly we crossed the border into Shopshire for a few miles, but then back into Wales again (no passport check required) as we followed the same road and ducked in and out under another rain cloud, sleeping off our lunch or admiring the ongoing green scenery and pretty roadside wildflowers. A brief detour via the Pontcysllte Aqueduct gave us views of the huge aqueduct which transports barges over the steep gully below, as well as giving an exciting walk to pedestrians who are brave enough to walk across this structure.

Next stop was another Manor House very different from the earlier one. Nowhere near as stacked with colour and stuff,but very stately, with lots of family history, portraits of forebears, racehorses who have won a our races etc etc. Our tour of the house was followed by a classic afternoon tea of cucumber, smoked salmon and egg sandwiches, welsh cakes, scones with jam and cream and Victoria sponge along with tea from fine China cups and saucers.

We were then assaulted by the sounds of a female welsh singer for most of our trip home which delighted some and tortured others in the bus. It certainly ensured that none of us slept and I did enjoy a couple of old classics that were in the mix (from Phantom of the Opera and My Fair Lady).

Tonight we head for a Welsh choir concert after a quick check in, so I've written this in the bus as we head in to Conwy - driving along the coast of the Irish Sea looking at a grey sea, and an array of about 130 wind turbines churning away in the distance out there in the water.