Travels – Pembrokeshire, Stackpole

 

Greg wants to take our new car for a run so we head for the nearby coast of Stackpole. The sat nav soon finds us on some narrow country lanes, clouds of cow parsley and buttercups brushing the sides of the car. The satnav is convinced we are not a road at all! Fluffy clouds hover and float in the bluest of skies. We steer through a patchwork of fields and rolling hills, glimpses of blue bays beyond and eventually reach Stackpole quay.

Stackpole (and those named after it) is probably named after a stack of rocks on the coast at the entrance to Broadhaven from which settlers of Norman descent made their way into Ireland (From the Old Norse stakkr  for stack and polr for pool).

The Stackpole coastline is also owned by the National Trust, consisting of sandy beaches, tranquil wooded valleys, wildlife rich lily ponds and walking trails. We only went as far as Stackpole quay, a tiny harbour nestled in between the cliffs and a favourite venue of kayakers. The beach here is stony with beautiful rounded flat pebbles and dramatic outcrops of rock.

The estate includes 100 acres of lakes (known as the Lily ponds) created by damming the  three narrow limestone valleys in 1780 and 1860 by the earls of Cawdor. The estate once centred on an elegant baronial mansion Stackpole Court, eventually besieged by Parlimentarians. A later mansion of limestone was requisitioned at the beginning of WW2 for training and remains part of the Castlemartin range today. We must go back and finish exploring!

Our journey back along the country lanes is delayed somewhat by a sheep that stands in the middle of the road, staring at us. Eventually it decides we are not being much help just taking its photo, and wanders disdainfully off to try and find its way back into a field with other sheep.

Travels – Aberdulais, Wales, tin mines, waterfalls and artists

We crossed the Severn Bridge and headed north into Wales.  Aberdulais tinworks and waterfall is now managed by the National Trust. Aberdulais has a long industrial history thanks to the abundant supply of energy derived from the magnificent waterfall and the ready supply of local coal and timber.

The first industry here was copper smelting using ore delivered by boat from Cornwall. The site was also used as an ironworks, a corn mill and tinplate works. The works finally closed when the US government levied heavy duties on imported tinplate to protect their own industries, putting the Welsh miners out of business.

Today the waterwheel was sadly not working. Built by apprentices of British Steel at Port Talbot, this is the largest electricity generating wheel in Europe, with a diameter of 8.2m and 72 buckets! A great little video about the opening of the wheel by Countryfile presenter is here

Many artists visited this beautiful site to paint including Turner. There’s a fabulous painting by James Ward here

We arrived after heavy rain so the falls were indeed spectacular! The water thundered past, an immense power rushing through a beautiful valley, lush with vegetation and rich with wildlife.

Some mine buildings still survive including a waterwheel and the original schoolhouse (which is now a very welcome tearoom!) It’s an interesting place, well worth a visit.

Travels – Mottisfont, Wiltshire

We were headed for Wales, and for some misguided reason we thought it might be better to avoid the motorway and head across country, stopping at Mottisfont

Mottisfont is an Augustinian priory and country estate, now managed by the National Trust. The walled gardens are home to the National collection of old fashioned roses, which were starting to bloom

Mottisfont was originally an Augustine priory that had to be conceded in the Tudor era when King Henry VIII gave the estate to  Sir William Sandys, 1^st Baron Sandys, an English Tudor diplomat and Lord Chamberlain.

In Georgian times the Mill family transformed the house, including the elegant stone facade. It was then let to wealthy banker Daniel Meinertzhagen who had ten children.

The house was brought back from a state of disrepair by society hostess and art lover Maud Russell and her banker husband in 1934. It became a place for extravagant house parties for their literary and artistic friends. The overall look was Neo-classical and luxurious with faux marbling and pastel shades. In places you can still see glimpses of the original priory building. The original entrance hall was transformed into a large salon commissioning artist Rex Whistler to create spectacular trompe l-oeil murals. These are rather imposing and the artist apparently was very glad to finish this assignment for a rather difficult client. The specification was very much dictated by Mrs Russell and her interests, but the artist managed to sneak in a few personal touches, including writing a tiny message about how he had been painting this particular section when Britain declared war on Germany. Another image of hands tied together perhaps show his feelings about the seemingly endless commission.

The house also houses a permanent collection of 20^th century donated by “the last of the gentleman painters”, Derek Hill. Also a rather bizarre sculpture called Alien by David Breuer Well.

Talking about burying your head in the sand!

My favourite bits though – the wonderful wire horse and this fantastic potting shed (I want it!)!