Family Holiday

Our family holiday to Wales has come and gone, and was badly needed this year, especially after my uncle's unexpected death last month.

The children love vintage steam trains and Wales has lots of restored and heritage railways. Most are within reasonable driving distance from each other.

Some of the railways cater a lot for children - like the Conwy Valley Museum in Betys-y-coed ....

 

.... and many others are for railway enthusiasts!

 

 

One of the best days we spent was at the Blanevon and Pontypool railway, who were having a wartime/1940's weekend. Passengers were given identity cards and rations (of sweets!!), people were dressed in 40's styles, and we met a man who was in his teens in the 40's who showed us the gas-mask he was issued with. My 7year old got to try it on and was a LOT more interested than he looks in the picture!

 

We stopped off at what is known in south Wales as the Big Pit, and with headlamps and battery packs, went into a coal mine. Apparently there is enough coal in the mines in Wales to last 300 years!

 

More old engines at The Big Pit - I took these pictures from my 12 year old's camera - he'd be able to tell me all about this engine, if he was awake!! (12.01am)

 

We stayed in a lovely hotel called The Plough, which has a wonderful, highly recommended by us, restaurant.

My 'sewing fix' was a couple of magazines, that would be impossible to get/too expensive in Ireland. I had intended going to a fabric shop like I did last year, but we didn't manage to get there

And on the way home on the ferry, there was something oddly comforting in being surrounded, on the Stena Line ferry, by Marimekko prints!

 

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A Short Break

We went to North Wales for about a week for a holiday - that is our main summer holiday as my husband is very busy for the rest of the summer.

We stayed in a very pretty village - Beddgelert,




Saw a little squirrel in a slate mine!




Trains on top of Snowdonia (look closely!)







trains at the bottom of Snowdonia,




Festiniog Railway trains,

and lots more...

... and saying goodbye to trains at the end of the holiday...

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Easter Holidays

Some Easter cakes, chocolate of course ......





with eggs in nests as suggested by the children ( and eggs donated from his Easter Egg by the second boy)



table decorations with lots of yellow (daffodils have flowered at long last)




and with very active bunnies



and daisies presented (singly!) to me from the garden by my younger two each time they went out



Also

• my husband asking the children over tea how they were - with the usual answers around the table of "perfect", "great", "lovely", and the answer which has had us laughing for days - "heroic" from the 4 year old
• the wife of a friend of my husband asking me if I would make some clothes for her daughter for the autumn - and I said yes! (have had to cut out all the "I wouldn't be good enough" thinking)
• haven't been out for dinner in over a year, and we went out with a couple this week and really enjoyed it
• have found myself able to laugh this past week, and it's like I haven't been able to do that in months
  

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Away....

We went to Wexford in the 'Sunny South-East' of Ireland for 2 days before my husband went back to work. We stayed in a great hotel Whitford House. We didn't have any plans but ended up going to see the Heritage park,



Johnstown Castle,

and the 'Dunbrody' famine ship



in New Ross on the way home. The highlight for the children was the pool in the hotel.

On the way home we got the requisite train trip ( my children love trains!) on the Waterford and Suir Valley Railway.



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Wales and Steam Trains

It's been a little while since I posted. I did try a few times but couldn't seem to upload the photos for the last post until this evening.

We spent a week in Wales for our summer holiday. We have visited Wales for the last six (now 7) years, mostly because the children love trains and Wales has many beautifully restored steam engines and railways, as well as being the source of Thomas the Tank Engine stories (Talyllyn Railway).

(pic added 16/7/09 from www.llangollen.co.uk)

This year we stayed in the most impressive B&B/small hotel Ffynnon in Dolgellau. The town is one of the nicest we've stayed in - that includes Llandudno, Barmouth, Porthmadog and Ffestiniog. The restaurants in Dolgellau seemed to be better than many in other towns in Wales as the food is freshly cooked - not that common in many restaurants we've been to.
Ffynnon is very impressive, real luxury where you'll feel minded - not intrusively and where you'll really be able to relax and shut out the world for a while.
That's how it was for me - moments where I really felt I was on holiday, able to relax and felt comfortable and able to switch off some of the unhelpful thinking. Pin It Now!