My last minute getaway to the Welsh mountains

Can you tell me where this year has gone already?

 2013 is the year that went by at double speed.

Just after the last 4am Project event, I realised I hadn't taken a break this year already. Maybe the odd weekend off, and I have mainly been sticking to having a day off a week, but all of a sudden I felt like I need to STOP.

And there began the rush and many hours of online searching for my the secluded countryside cottage I had in mind. I wanted to be as far away from civilisation (whilst still being civilised!) as I could comfortably get.

It did me the world of good to get away and re-charge my batteries. I slept loads, took walks up hills and down vales and got more fresh air than was probably good for me lol.

The search was worth it. I found the perfect place to unwind, slow down and come to a complete stop.

Check out my Storify for pics and vines and tweets and more! 

My Welsh holiday with my best friend - Part 2

Where was I....?!

I'm having to cast my memory back a bit now as my lovely holiday cottage break with my best friend is now about 3 weeks ago!

Luckily I have lots of photos to help jog my memory.

Did you read part 1? 

I ended that post by hinting that I was going to be in for a big scare! And I still shudder when I think of it now.

I'll try and cut a long story short here...

I stayed in the bedroom that is on the top left of this picture.

For two mornings in a row I was woken at 7.25am by the bed shaking!!!

The first morning it happened, it woke me up, but I stayed in a sleepy state and didn't pay much heed to it (surprisingly) and managed to get back to sleep.

The next morning when it woke me, I kind of went through this thought process (with my eyes still closed)

Hmm..is the bed shaking? Yep
Hmm....is Faith (who was sleeping in the other bedroom) trying to wake me up? But she would just say my name and maybe tap my shoulder.
Yes, it definitely shaking
Am I awake? Yes you are awake.
Okay, this is weird, and now I remember, it happened yesterday too!
OMG, the duvet is moving!!!!!

And I could feel the duvet being pulled off.

"FAAAAIITTHHHHHHHH!!!!!"

And I leaped out of bed and ran into Faith's room.

I scared Faith because of my scream and panic! And I was scared because I had no idea what had just happened. It was so strange.

If you can explain it, please do! Someone said it was a little earthquake, but I have dismissed that because (though I'm not expert) I would have thought the chances of an earthquake happening at 7.25am two mornings in a row would be quite slim. Plus, Faith didn't feel it in her room. Plus, the duvet moved.

Luckily Faith's bedroom had two beds, because there was no way I was going to sleep in that bedroom again!

The rest of the holiday wasn't as scary though and one day we book ourselves in for horse riding at Gwydyr Riding & Trekking Stables. I couldn't remember if I had been horse riding before and presumed that because I couldn't remember, I mustn't have done. Faith, having tons of experience, wanted to do a half day. I, being pretty sure I had no experience, opted for just half an hour.

Getting to the stables was an adventure in itself, though the scenery was lovely!

There was actually a better road to get there on. We just didn't know about it.

Being a city mouse it does sometimes make me wonder how people can live so far away from amenities. What a trek just to get a loaf of bread. Mind you, we saw a Tesco delivery van a few minutes after I took this photo.

We were right in the sticks. 

When we reached the stables, there was a mobile farrier putting new shoes on all the horses. 

I was able to make this little video.



I had a horse called Paddy. Apparently he was naughty as a teenager, but I think he still has a cheeky streak in him now.

He wouldn't do as he was told or pay any attention to my instructions, such as STOP! At one point he picked up speed (just walked a little faster than a stroll) and I thought I was going to fall off!

It was just me being new to the experience, and there was really nothing to worry about. Faith and I had an instructor each, and when Paddy did a runner, the instructors managed to block his route and get him back on track.

They say a horse can sense someone new to horse riding and  they use that as an excuse to do as they want!

All in all I stayed on Paddy for an hour, and relaxed and enjoyed the scenery, and I would try it again at some point if the opportunity arose, but I wouldn't say I've gone crazy about it and now want my own horse.

That's me! On a horse! 

Whilst Faith stayed out on her horse, I pottered around the farm and stables with my camera. A bit of a excitement happened when a horse tried to break out! She ran herself into a dead end though so was easily caught.

Oh, and I got to hold a little lamb!! 

The day was full of new experiences; horse riding, lamb holding...... It's wool was soooo soft, but it's little legs were quite hard and angular and his little hooves poked into me, so not as comfortable for either of us as it could have been ha. 

Aww, this was such a lovely little dog. I can't remember her name, but she picked up a little stick for me to throw for her. As I picked it up, one of the girls in the stable told me not to throw the stick too far, so I threw it about 2 metres, if that.

The little doggy ran to pick up the stick, then fell over and had an epileptic fit! The poor wee thing. And I felt awful, as if I caused it. Apparently she has a condition and it happens. Less than a minute later she was back on her feet and wagging her tail as if nothing had happened.

It was such a beautiful sunny day and I really enjoyed all the animals and the quietness. It was quite a novelty! 

We stayed out for something to eat before coming home to our little cottage. 

On the first night or two at the cottage, Faith lit the log fire. Even though the days had been so sunny and hot, the cottage was really cold inside! 

I'm sure she will agree with me when I say...they were adequate fires.

BUT look at MY FIRES!!! 

The fire lighting skills I learnt as a child in Ireland came back to me! We always had a fire where ever we lived in Ireland. 

I make a damned good fire! 

Actually, I was a little worried that I was going to set the chimney on fire (as I did once in one of our houses  *ahem*). 

On the day before I was due to go home we went for a trip to the seaside resort of Llandudno. 

We had been so lucky with the weather in Wales and this day was so warm and bright. Perfect!

We walked right down to the end of the pier, grabbed a drink from a cafe, and sat outside for hours and hours and put the world to rights.

Whilst we chatted away, we made a 5 Year Life Plan on a napkin; what we wanted to achieve, how were were going to do it and how long those achievements would take. 

I did write a little bit more on my 5 Year Life Plan napkin ;) 

My last day in Wales was on Faith's birthday, and her boyfriend arrived to stay for the rest of the week. 

Faith got tons of lovely presents (mine were the best of course!) and my Step Dad gave her an absolutely beautiful tea set (which I think rightly should have formed part of my inheritance haha), from Kure in Japan. Roger, aka Steps, bought it when he was serving overseas in the Army. When you hold the cups up to the light, a face appears. 

A Birthday Card Tree! 

As always, I was very sad to say goodbye to my best friend. We had such a fantastic time, and really enjoyed some quality best friend time! And I survived being offline and not having a phone signal. 

In fact, weeks later, I'm still feeling the benefit of the break and it really re-charged my batteries. 

As for renting a holiday cottage, I would definitely do it again! 

And I'm off for a mini break this weekend. I am off to have in Italian adventure in Milan! 

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My Welsh holiday with my best friend

Here's part 1 of my fab holiday in Wales. I wrote this post on 25th March with the intention of posting it, but  I was in a wifi/phone signal free zone for most of the time, so here it is now. We had glorious weather in Wales. As I tidy up the post before publishing it, it's a very grey, snowy morning here in Birmingham! 

Oh, this is the life! As I write, I am sitting in the garden of the 17th century cottage that I am staying in with my best friend. This country side break marks the special occasion of her 40th birthday! (We spent my 40th together too!)

The birds are singing, the sun is shining, and we have just enjoyed a picnic and a glass of wine.

This is my view.

This may not sound too exciting to some but it makes such a change for me. I can hear gun shots being fired right now! (not at us) That's adding a bit more drama to the picnic haha)

I don't think I've stayed in a building so old, or anywhere as isolated.

Our Home Sweet Home

We are miles off the beaten track. Up and up steep, twisty, very narrow country lanes. Poor little Bumble (my car) had to work hard in first gear to get up some of the inclines.  

Faith is very much a country mouse & I'm a (New York) city mouse, and yet I'm adapting to the change of pace quite well.

These are our next door neighbours.

I screamed just before this photo. I was just sitting, relaxing on the settee and Faith said, 'Look!' and I turned around and saw this big face! You'd think I'd never seen a cow before haha.

The cows just loved staring at us through the window. Faith said it was the equivalent to us watching tv. We were the daily soap opera. I felt a slight pressure to be more entertaining for our audience ;)

And some days we had sheep with their little lambs. They were too short to peek into our windows.

And we have some very greedy feathered neighbours too. No matter how many times the bird feeder is filled up, they will get through it all! I just had to set up my bird feeder cam to capture them in action.

We need to laze about today as we didn't get home until 5am!

At 9pm last night we joined about 20 other brave souls for a paranormal investigation!

I've been waiting for a night like this for years, so when I saw one fairly close by, I had to jump at the chance to take part!

It was held at Plas Teg a 17th Century Jacobean Mansion.

Photo by Le Simon Pix

Doesn't that look like a house that would be filled to the brim with ghosts?!

The house is owned by a lady called Cornelia Bayley. She is a woman to be admired! She bought this mansion in 1986 for £75,000 and it was derelict. Cornelia restored it all by herself. If you would like to know more there's a great documentary, Country House Rescue on 4OD that you can watch, that shows how Cornelia has struggled to keep the house running, as well as great views inside the mansion too. You need to 'sign in' to 4OD first.

The ghost hunting night almost didn't happen though. As we gathered by the main gate, with only our torches lighting our way, out of the darkness the lady if the house, Cornelia, appeared to inform us that the 8 paranormal investigators who were meant to be guiding the night's activities hadn't turned up!

I half wondered if this was part of the night's entertainment. How could all of the eight people fail to turn up?!

But no, she was serious. "is there no one else you can phone?", I asked, and Corneila disappeared into the house & eventually came back with the good news that she had managed to get hold of 3 paranormal investigators from another team who were going to arrive in an hours time.

We were led by torch light through the grounds and up some steps that lead into the grand hallway of the mansion. It was like stepping back in time! Huge oil paintings adorned the walls, lit by grand chandeliers. It was very cold in there & I would love to have seen the huge fire place lit up.

Eventually the back-up paranormal investigators, Cheshire Paranormal, turned up. Actually, it was very good of them to come as they had no noticed and dropped what they were doing to make sure the night went ahead. We were split up into three groups and given a introductory tour of the parts of the house that were we allowed in (I'm guessing we only saw about a sixth of the mansion).

Then it was lights out and the night's other worldly events began!

The next 5 hours were spent going from room to room with attempts being made to contact the Other Side.

Half way through the night me & Faith managed to break free of the groups and explored some areas on our own. We were over come by the giggles as we crept up creaky stairs cases & along dark hallways. I felt like I was in an episode of Scooby Doo!

We didn't manage to escape the group for long and were soon found by one of the investigators as we were sitting in the dark about to 'call out' and do our own little seance haha!

I didn't really feel scared throughout the night. This was due to a mix of things; not enough 'activity' happened, we were with strangers and some people broke any atmosphere that was built up with laughter. I guess I wanted to just get down to the business of the investigation in order to make the most of the opportunity that I had waited for a long time to experience.

I think the ideal night would have been for me and a close group of 3/4 friends and to have the place to ourselves.

The highlight of the evening was the table tipping. About 9 of us sat at a very heavy round table in the dark for about an hour. I did get scared when the table first moved & juddered towards me. I moved my chair a little further away. It moved again a few more times. What I found strange was how cold it got. We had been advised to wrap up warm for the evening & I had many layers on, and although there was a chill in the air (I don't think the rooms are heated), I had been warm enough throughout the night. Sitting around that table, I suddenly got chilled to the bone. I was shivering & my teeth were chattering. My finger tips were freezing & my body shaking with the cold. Other people around the table commented on how they were feeling the cold too. After about 5 minutes of this, I felt back to normal temperature again. Then later the same coldness happened again. It was all very strange. Was my mind that suggestible? Was it a small scale mass hysteria? Hmmm, I'm not sure. Overall I enjoyed the night & would like to do it again under different circumstances.

At £40 per person, (which goes to support the upkeep of the mansion), it was a good 5-6 hours of entertainment.

Just before 3am it we made our way back to our cottage. We were both so tired after an early start and our drive to Wales and when I got to bed I had no trouble at all in falling into a deep sleep, but little did I know that the biggest scare was yet to come!!!  tbc.......  ;)

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