Another great holiday in Wales with Sue and Mike at the wonderful cottage they rent every year. It’s described by the owners as: ‘The Firs’ in the Olchon Valley, near Longtown, Herefordshire is a secluded 17th Century listed cottage, surrounded by mountains, with great walking from the door. It features exposed oak beams, wood burning stove and original flag stones. They go on to explain that it’s a great place to get away from it all as the nearest neighbour is a mile away and mobile phone reception is pretty patchy. Perfect indeed, made especially so by all the home comforts that Sue and Mike always bring, so with fabulous company and great food what more can anyone wish for . . .
(Saturday 4th August to Tuesday 7th August 2018)
Mike ‘showing off’ for the photographer, that’s me, in front of the cottage.
It’s wonderful that even after so many years of coming here (Mila first came here for her first ever holiday when she was only 3 months old), that Mila enjoys being here as much as we do. Despite now being 15 Mila still enjoys swinging on the gate . . . and Sue is happy to indulge Mila!
Our first day and we’re going for a quick walk down to the stream before dinner, let’s see whether there are many changes from last time we were here and I wonder how high the water level will be after the scorching summer we’ve been having.
It’s pretty shallow so Mila decides to investigate by walking down under the bridge and comes up the other side while we wait for her on the lane.
Someone has bought up the land near by with the intention of restoring it to some of its former glory, rebuilding the derelict house and landscaping the area surrounding it. We walked up the bridle path and could see they’ve already started by replacing the old gates with beautiful new wooden ones. It’ll be interesting to see what they’ve achieved by the next time we’re down in Wales.
Then it was back to the stream to have a little plodge about in our wellies before returning to the cottage for dinner.
There’s Pal testing out the depth of the water in the stream, really shallow this year. The new owner has installed new fences and gates here too . . .
. . . and also here. This is actually quite a clever gate as it’s on a pivot, so that in the winter when the stream becomes a torrential flood the gate can swing open to let the water and any debris carried by the stream continue on its merry way without destroying the gate. Clever mmh!
After dinner there’s just time for a quick game of badminton, one of a number of games supplied by the cottage owners, very thoughtful.
We awoke to another glorious day . . . Yesterday Mike found walking sticks for himself and Mila, but I’m not sure whose idea the stick fight was though they both seemed to be enjoying themselves.
Then a walk down to the lower part of the stream and a chance to do a bit of exploring
Mila enjoying just messing about at the stream . . .
This time Pal joins her in the photo . . .
It’s not long before it’s time to return to the cottage for tea and homemade biscuits, yum yum! Though we did go the long way round, up past the bridle path . . .
Then down across the fields . . .
. . . .over the stream and back up the field beside the cottage.
It’s hard to capture the tranquility of the area . . . it’s a great antidote to modern life!
It’s not long before we are back supping tea and eating biscuits . . . and admiring the wonderful array of birds visiting the bird-table. I’m quite pleased I managed to photograph this nut-hatch, but every time I tried to photograph the wood-pecker it fly away . . .
. . . not forgetting the blue-tits and great-tits that also visited . . .
The bird-table is not far from the window so it’s wonderful just to sit and watch . . .
It’s been a real scorcher of a summer and we’re having the hottest summer we’ve ever had in Wales so we’re making the best of it and spending as much time outdoors as possible . . . can you believe the high temperatures we’ve had!
After more tea and seeing how comfortable Mila looked . . .
. . . Mike decided to have a little lie down too, just enjoying the late afternoon sunshine, simply glorious.
The weather was so perfect we ate dinner outside, just enjoying every moment.
Surely it can’t be our last day here already . . . but it is, so we had better make the most of it! Our last visit of the holidays to the stream . . .
I know it’s the last day of the the trip but yikes Mila . . .
Looks pretty dangerous to me . . . that doesn’t mean you have to do it too . . .
You could definitely break a leg with a fall from there but luckily there were no casualties!
Please don’t go back across on the metal girders . . . phew she didn’t!
It’s been a brilliant few days catching up with such great friends.
Thank you Sue and Mike for sharing your cottage and your holiday with us all, its very much appreciated, thank you!
