llywela | picspam! Image heavy - click at own risk *G*

To celebrate my Dad's birthday yesterday, we went out for the day - myself, Mum and Dad, and Dad's sister Lesley. Had to be a short one, what with needing to get Small to school first thing, and then pick her up on time in the afternoon. So, we went to Aberglasney in Carmarthenshire. Only about an hour and a half from Cardiff, and instead of following the signposted route we went exploring and found a short-cut through Gelli Aur that knocked about 20 minutes off the journey.

Aberglasney is absolutely gorgeous - really haunting. I took loads of pictures, so here's a selection - dial-up users beware.

The old manor house itself, viewed from the outside. It looks almost like people could still be living there - from this view, you'd never know just how derelict it became at the end of the last century, before it was rescued. In this first image, you can see the yew tunnel right in front of the house.

Another view, taken from the parapet walkway.

A view of the back of the house - from this view, you can see the glass roof in the middle of the building, replacing the original roof that collapsed due to disrepair and hinting at the new use the building has been put to.

Ninfarium.
From outside, the house looks liveable still. As soon as you get through the door and see the bare stone and missing upper levels, it is clear that appearances are deceiving. Instead, the building has been turned into a beautiful ninfarium - a glass-roofed hothouse, filled with gorgous plants. There really is something haunting about walking through what was once a house but is now a garden, seeing the fireplaces and doorways amid the plants.

Back outside. This is the yew tunnel that sits close to the main entrance. No one knows when this was planted, but it's at least two centuries old, possibly many more than that.

Gardens.
At the back of the house is a parapet walkway - again, no one really knows when or why this was built. It's rather lovely, though.

Look at that beautiful and enormous copper beech.

Yews have been venerated for longer than Wales has been Christian. Growing in a corner of the parapet walk, shading a bench for visitors to enjoy the view, is an ancient yew tree that must have been there almost as long as the parapet itself has been standing. Yews are shallow-rooted, so this is an ideal home for it.

View of the house from another of the gardens.

And some more random views of the gardens and woodland walk nearby.

How wrong it is that a stream should be this dry in West Wales in April!

I could have posted twice as many pics, but that's enough to be going on with! It was a really lovely day out, and the weather was fab. Such a shame to have to come back to work today...