picspam the first

[llywela]

Haven't updated in a few days - don't seem to have spent that much time at the computer or even in my own house for a few days - so apologies for spamming up everyone's f-lists this afternoon.

Took a day off work last Friday due to a) time owing and b) extreme frustration that I shan't bore everyone by explaining. Suffice it to say that work is annoying me muchly at the moment. Anyway, I took the day off on a whim and went to St Fagans, which is one of my favourite places to just hang out. It's free entry, so mostly I just have to pay my bus fare. In this instance, I paid half of the car parking fee, as I went with my friend Molly. Didn't get around quite as much as I usually do, because Moll is 67 now so we settled for a pretty leisurely ramble and spent a lot of time sitting around enjoying our picnics or a cuppa in the shiny new cafe. It was a really lovely day, weather-wise, so we had a really good day out.

St Fagans is an open air museum - the Museum of Welsh Life, to give it its full name. It's mostly a museum for old buildings - all kinds of historical buildings from all over the country have been moved here and re-built, brick by brick, in order to preserve them. I just took a few pics last week, enough to give a feel for the place.

First, a collapsed apple tree in the old orchard. I love the way really old apple and fig trees collapse like this, but continue to live quite happily lying flat on the ground with grass and weeds growing over them!


St Fagans Castle. It's actually a 16th century manor house, but they call it a castle, and who am I to argue!


The manor is in the highest part of the grounds, up on a hill. This is the view of the formal gardens and pond down below.


Kennixton Farmhouse, 16th century. Check out the colour - you'd never get lost with that as a landmark to look out for!


A working loom in the cotton mill - you can buy really lovely blankets and shawls woven on site using the old techniques. Expensive, mind. There is also a working smithy, and a mill - I've made fabulous bread using stoneground flour from St Fagans!


Gwalia Stores! Built in the 19th century in Ogmore - my grandfather used to make deliveries there when he was working on the lorries. And now they are a museum piece. The tearoom above the shops does a lovely afternoon tea.


The Rhyd-y-Car cottages from Merthyr Tydfil, dated around 1800. There are six tiny cottages in the row, each furnished and decorated to a different period, from 1800 through to the 1960s.


Garreg Fawr is an old farmhouse built in 1545 - those huge chimneys were a sign of wealth in those days.


St Teilo's Church. The reconstruction of this church, which dates back to the 13th century, has taken about 15 years. Year after year I've wandered down to it on successive visits, wondering if it would be finished yet, but it never was. The roof was the problem - trying to find slates that matched, as the original roof was beyond repair. And now it is finally finished and opens to the public in September. But on the day I was there last week I was fortunate enough to be given a sneak preview, as there was a film camera setting up in there so a handful of people were shown around while it was open. It is stunning - a handful of the original medieval wall paintings have been preserved and are being reproduced, they've already created the most gorgeous hand-carved, painted screen, and while I was there the craftsman was present working on a handcarved frieze about the life of St Teilo and talked a bit about his work. I'm guessing that whatever was being filmed was a piece about the re-building of the church and the craftsmanship that's gone into it. I'm just so happy it is so nearly finished at last!


A random arch in a random wall - there's just something about old stones with plants growing over them. Evocative is the word, I believe.


And finally, a lamppost in the woods - kinda makes me feel like I've stepped into Narna whenever I see this.

Comments

[justwolf.livejournal.com]

It looks like a castle! Like a fiarytale catsle you'd see in a kids' book. It's very pretty! I like the old tree too, and the lamppost made me smile!

I love the kind of museum. I went to one like it in Sweden which was where houses from all over Sweden had been rebuilt to preserve them. It's such an interesting way to see a country.

[jayres.livejournal.com]

In Bromsgrove we have Avoncroft Museum of Buildings, which is much smaller but has a Tudor house and Toll house etc from Worcestershire and surrounding counties.

Thanks for the pics. St Fagans is lovely. Are they still adding to it?

[rosie55.livejournal.com]

It's several years since I visited St Fagans when my chldren were smaller but we enjoyed it there very much, especially the row of cottages and the General store. I visited the Avoncroft Museum at Bromsgrove a couple of years ago and found that very interesting, too on a personal level as they have a nailmaker's workshop reconstructed, similar to ones which many of my ancestors would have worked in. And a windmill!
It's interesting to see these buildings preserved so that we can see for ourselves how our ancestors lived.
Lovely pictures, thanks for sharing them.