07th September 2015
Penrhyn Castle
I woke up at around 08:00, despite the headache; I had a good night’s sleep! But as I walked into the kitchen, I could feel the headache coming back, so I took some more pain relief, made myself a cup of spicy chai, I then went to the top of the garden to enjoy the peace and quiet, and also wait for a text from Susie, which came through at around 08:50, I called her and we had a quick chat. I then came back down to the cottage and made myself a coffee. (Headache still lurking)
Andy got up at 09:50. Breakfast all done and dusted by 11:00, Andy made homemade hash browns just for me.. nom nom!
Today looked like it was going to be a really nice day. So today we decided to go to Penrhyn Castle, you have the choice of looking around the castle and the gardens or just the gardens, but it is, to me a bit pricey, so we just visited the gardens (if you have seen the inside one castle, you have pretty much seen inside all of them), this castle is what you would imagine a castle to look like, it wasn't designed as a fortification, more to do with how it looked, what an amazing place! We started to take some photos, then Andy realised he made a rookie mistake, forgot to recharge his camera battery! This turned out to be good for me, as he lent me his lens.
While James and I continued to take photos, Andy wandered off for a fag and a sit down. When I found him he was waiting just round the corner from the castle tea rooms, I joined him on the bench while we waited for James to arrive, we just chatted, then I noticed something moving behind us, a very tame robin, it came to within a foot of us while we sat on this bench, another photo opportunity for me. I tried to bring my camera round slowly as not to scare the robin off, but it flew off round the corner, Andy and I carried on chatting when the robin reappeared again about a foot away from Andy, this time I was ready with my camera (Andy had said use the camera on my mobile, but I was sure I could get it on my DSLR)
Our cheeky little robin.
James eventually came ambling round the corner, stopping to take photos as he did so. We decided to go for a coffee at the tea room, which was just round the corner from where Andy & I were sat. We walked into the extremely empty (except for tables and chairs and used tea cups) and dark tea room, as silly as it sounds, we still looked around to see if the place was still serving! I then noticed the room where you paid for your drinks, and yes it was all closed up! So we left the tea room a bit disgruntled at not being able to get some refreshment, but as we walked out, a man in an apron came hurrying into the tea room carrying till rolls. I think at this point we all made an unspoken mutual decision to leave the tea room. James and I carried on taking photos, while Andy because of his battery issues carried on looking around, he then called us over, he had found another tea room, which was open, so in we went, and James treated us to our drinks and some cake. My choice of cake was a slice of Bara Brith, this had to be the best slice of Bara Brith I had tried in years.
After our refreshments, James & I popped into the gift shop for a look around, James bought something, but the only thing I liked the look of, was a painting of Snowdonia, but it was a bit too expensive for my pocket. We all went back into the grounds of the castle, taking photos as we went. One thing I found a bit odd was the owners had decided to erect some small goal posts on an area of grass within the grounds of the castle ( I mean who thinks lets go and pay money to visit this lovely castle, and let's take a football with us, because there is bound to be some goal posts set up and we are bound to get bored of looking around this lovely castle and it's grounds). Or is it just me?
Notice the offending castle photobombing my photo of the football pitch!
We made our way to the gardens of the castle, which were designed by head gardener Walter Speed. These gardens are worth the visit, as they are a nice tranquil area to go to and just relax and think about your day or just take in the beauty of the garden it's self. We set up my camera to take a group photo us in the garden.
Andy, James & me.
I say we set up my camera, I should say Andy set up my camera for the above photo, but it was left to me, to click the shutter on timer and then leggit round the ornamental pond to the bench and sit next to James before the picture was taken. I did notice they left it to the old git (me) to do the running about!
We continued to look around the rest of the gardens, James was setting his camera to take some photos of a long archway of flowers, so Andy and I went to the other end of this archway and found a bench to sit on while we waited for James, this bench was in some shade which helped me as my headache was threatening to come back. James was just out of our sight round the corner, or so we thought! I eventually went to look to see what he was up to, but he was nowhere to be seen! I returned to Andy with this news, so we thought right lets head back towards the castle and keep an eye open for James, we found him half way back to the castle taking photos, he thought we had headed back that way!
Once back at the castle we continued to follow our way round the outside of the castle, still taking photos as went, eventually making our way back to the car.
We arrived back at the cottage at around 17:30; Andy started to prepare tea, which was to be spaghetti bolognese, which we had in the dining room at around 18:45. Another lovely meal by Andy, which we had the remainder of the Echo Falls red wine.
After the evening meal, we settled down to watch the film Kingsmen, I had been wanting to watch this film for a while now, and I was not disappointed. After the film I went to the top of the garden to call Susie, to tell her about our day and hear about hers.
While I was talking to Susie, I noticed how clear the night sky was, so when I went back into the cottage I informed Andy & James, I then grabbed my camera and tripod and borrowed a head torch from Andy, and headed to the top of the garden to take more photos.
One of my better night sky photos
