Llandudno, On The Welsh Riviera

We were just the one night in Llandudno, a beautiful old resort town on the Irish Sea, but we made the most of it, taking in the scores of Victorian hotels (including ours), the beach, the Parade, the shopping, a fine fish and chips dinner for me, and a full Welsh breakfast the next morning. It's not the season here yet (July?), cool and cloudy, and although our hotel was fairly full, not much else seemed that way. Llandudno struck us as fairly stuck in time, Victorian time--not a bad place in some ways--but certainly not what would attract younger people these days.

Many Victorian beauties such as this

Our hotel, the Winchmore, is the coral one

Looking down the Parade, the two miles of sand, shingle, and 
pebble beach stretching between the two heads, the Great Orme 
and the Little Orme

Other way, the Littel Orme or possibly the Grand one, with the
19th century pier and amusement park

Lined with hotels its length

Amusement park

No Fidos!

Apart from things like latitude, climate, etc., Llandudno has a
sea gull problem; the front of this hotel looks like it's been carpet-
bombed by the birds; every building along the Parade suffers
similarly

Interesting water feature; locally sourced

Famous Victorian writer, cultural critic

Adverts everywhere, special specials for week-days

Not everything is Victorian

One block over from the Parade is Mostyn road, the shopping/
eating area

Gotta' like a place that sells Monkey Puzzle trees
right on the main drag

Full Welsh breakfast

To Llandudas, Via Snowdonia And Betsy Coed

From Llanfair Caerinion we drove on to our next stop, a hotel on the beach at Llandudno, from which we would visit the great Bodnant Garden, one of Wales, and Britain's many gems. The day's slow drive took us across the Snowdonia national park and old friend Betys-y-Coed, known universally among the English-speaking peoples as Betsy Coed. Below mostly are pix by Vicki, who dislikes mountain driving and distracts herself by taking photos.

Click to enlarge and you'll see a stone fence going right up the
mountain and straight through the immense rockfall; they make
good neighbors 

The usual narrow, twisty roads, with lines down the middle mostly
for bicycle traffic

In a town on the way

Today's fixer-upper

Hard to tell tailings from mountains here

We stopped for lunch in Betys-y-Coed, outside
the train station; we've been there before, mostly
for the scenery and the abundant hiking and
camping stores--at our present age and status, alas,
somewhat of less interest than in bygone years

An old railroad car now serving as a restaurant

Betsy Coed was as amusing and youngish a place
as ever; here, some soft sculpture

A rhino made of bottle caps

Llanfair Caerinion

We stayed in the Welsh village of Llanfair Caerinion two nights, wrapped around our visit to Powis, and managed a stroll about one afternoon. Llanfair Caerinion is about 10 miles up the river/over the hill/whatever from Welshpool (like Liverpool) and Powis. Our Airbnb was a nice one bedroom unit converted from the old police station, aptly called "The Old Police Sation." Or "Yr hen orsaf heddlu" in Welsh. Seriously. Look it up.

One sees fewer and fewer real Minis in Britland these days; the only
one we saw during two months in London last year was in a display
at Harrod's; of course the BMW Minis--"Binis" I call them--are
plentiful and of no interest; the specimen above looked like it was 
being parted out; sad but true

Chippy not visited

Parish C of E, locked up tight (it was after five)

The church has a relatively massive cemetery...with nearly all
the tombstones, etc., sorted to one side or another, evidently to
facilitate the mowing program; we speculate that only the
tombstones themselves were moved, in Thomas Hardy fashion
(see https://roadeveron.blogspot.com/2021/08/london-out-takes-1.html)

Down the hill, by the creek, St. Mary's Well,
noted for curative powers; needs some chemical
attention presently; probably pagan in origin

Carving of interest on the church exterior

Have to use the weed-eater here

And here

Did not get the "NoMowMay" memo (about encouraging wild
flowers; perhaps just an English thing)

We interpreted this as signifying the Presbyterian
church; also that its Sunday morning service is a
bore

Llanfair Caerinion street scene

So old and weathered we could not tell whether
it was a mile marker, a street sign, or a menhir; or
perhaps an errant tombstone

The creek and a nice place overlooking it

The slate does not erode into pebbles

Yr hen orsaf heddlu

Powis Castle And Garden, 2022

We visited Powis (aka Powys) castle and gardens on May 19th. Alas, there was now a "no fotos!" policy in the wonderful castle itself, and the great Clive of India museum was closed due to COVID staffing shortages. Total bummer. We toured the castle, however, took a few clandestine pix, had a picnic on the grounds, and then walked the beautiful, historic gardens, snapping a few more pix. 

Our pix from 2009 and 2016, including some of the house and the Clive museum are below:

https://roadeveron.blogspot.com/2009/10/powys.html
https://roadeveron.blogspot.com/2016/06/powys-2016.html
https://roadeveron.blogspot.com/2016/06/powys-gardens.html

The National Trust's Powis site also has some great photographs of the castle and its furnishings and collections. 

Approaching the castle entrance; dates from the 13th century

Man cave 

Phony door to library

Library; end of clandestine interior pix

Aggressive picnic guest

On the high walk around the grounds

Powis is known for its enormous giant yew "mountain"
topiaries; all were planted in 1680, and have gone
through different phases of topiary taste since then

The gist is that the yew regenerates from within when 
cut back; see the photo of explanatory signage at the
end of the post

Now walking the "Italian" terraces below the castle

Most unusual, a fragrant rhododendron...

Lead statues on the terraces...the estate owned lead mines in the 
mountains across the valley

Trolley for the gardener in charge of tagging all the plants

The tropical garden on the terraces

About the giant yew and the mountain topiaries; regular pruning
promotes more vigorous growth...

Inside one of the topiary mountains...growing since 1680!