Travelling with Jeni is a different experience to travelling alone, and a very nice one, too! For a start, we packed a picnic to have on our way from Cheltenham to Oswestry – something I would never have thought of myself. Secondly, I didn’t have to try and memorise the Google directions (the reason for many a strange, dog-legged journey last year!) and that was an enormous help. The weather was glorious, not a single cloud in the sky and we eventually stopped for our picnic at the Severn Valley Country Park near Bridgenorth overlooking the Severn Valley Railway – we even got to see a steam train labouring up the incline in front of us.
We arrived at Moelfre near Oswestry by mid-afternoon and were made very welcome by Dawn and Tony. After a cup of tea we went on a walk round the garden to see how things had progressed since last year. They have managed to trim back a lot of the overgrown shrubs and the herbaceous borders were looking a lot more under control than they did last year. Tony’s vegetable plot is a thing of beauty even this early in the season with most of the raised beds already full of onions, shallots, peas, broad beans, spring cabbage etc, and many more pots and trays waiting in the greenhouses for the threat of frost to pass. They had also created a new area on one of the levels where you can go and just be quiet amidst the trees, and our first job was to build some rustic steps up to it: this involved staking half-round rails at each end and evening out the slope to create flattish steps. Jeni proved surprisingly good with a sledge hammer having greater accuracy and stamina than me – a fact which I think pleasantly surprised her.
For the most part our work here has involved digging and weeding in the vegetable plot and flower borders, planting seeds, transplanting seedlings and general tidying up, although we have also been involved in the construction of a new decking area outside the cottage as any flat space is at a premium on this Welsh mountainside. We have both found it challenging working on a permanent slope and it is surprisingly tiring when you have to climb several flights of steps to get to the level you are working on – I found myself muttering little mantras as I walked along – ‘spade, fork, watering can’. ‘spade, fork, watering can’ as it was very annoying to get to your chosen spot and realise that the tool you needed was down a 45 degree slope in the potting shed!
The weather has been incredible all the time that we have been here (nearly three weeks) apart from the last couple of days when it has been heavy showers and sunny spells. The rain is really welcome as, despite Tony’s elaborate water catching systems, we had emptied nearly all the water butts and were having to carry watering cans further and further to nurture the new seedlings.
On our days off we have been to Chirk Castle, a National Trust property on the way to Llangollen, which has the most elaborate clipped yew hedges. I kept expecting to see figures from Alice in Wonderland playing croquet on the lawn! We also walked across the Llangollen Canal aqueduct at Chirk which is breathtaking and had another picnic sitting by the canal watching the narrowboats going back and forth. The next day we went to Lake Bala and took a trip on the Bala Lake Railway, a narrow gauge steam railway that runs along the banks of the lake, and then had another picnic on the mountain road to Trawsfynydd. There were just us and a few sheep and one house that could be seen in the distance and mile after mile of mountain terrain. The reason that we were on the mountain road was that we fancied an ice cream and the only place to get a really good ice cream is at Beddgelert!! I don’t know how many miles I drove that day but it was worth it for a double scoop of crème caramel and cheesecake ice cream in a waffle cone! This week we went to Erddig, a country house near Wrexham which has the most stunning formal gardens and more espaliered fruit trees than I have ever seen in my life. It is also very interesting in that the family who lived there kept detailed records of all their servants and had portraits of them painted and, more recently, photographs taken, so that there is a tremendous amount of ‘everyday’ history chronicled, which is unusual. From there we went on to visit my aunty who lives nearby, and had a lovely cuppa and catch up, as I haven’t been in touch with her for some years.
Also, we were invited to some traditional May Day celebrations that Dawn and Tony and their friends go to. Everyone takes food to share and a maypole is erected for dancing round to traditional tunes. Again the weather was fantastic and we all wore bright colours and the girls made flower garlands for their hair – a really joyous occasion and celebration of friendship. All in all we have been made so welcome here that it has been a great pleasure to return – so much so that we may come back this way again later in the year to see how our recent endeavours have progressed.
Tomorrow we repack the car and head over 100 miles north to our next hosts who live on a narrowboat and run a smallholding nearby................
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