UK, Day 4 - Hereford & Welsh Castles

We woke up Sunday morning and went down for breakfast. We had time before we were to meet Rob & Emily, so we decided to go out for a bit. They had told us about an old timber-frame house in town, so we headed there. I love that sort of thing. It was a pretty cute little museum. It was neat, because while I have seen a lot of Tudor homes from the outside, the only ones I’ve seen on the inside were the Shakespeare properties. Even cooler, this was actually Jacobean, and I haven’t seen any Jacobean houses on the inside at all. The best part was on the customer survey, when it asked for ethnic origin, it had both Asian and Chinese.

We passed a bunch of closed stores (It was Sunday in Europe, crap all is open), but there was an open bookstore. They were having a 3 for 2 sale, and a whole table of royal wedding stuff was on sale. We picked up a couple of gifts for friends, and I got a Will & Kate paper doll book and a book on knitting the royal wedding. I had seen a review for the book online, so I was so excited to find it.

We also went to Boots, where I picked up some painkiller with codeine. I can’t get it anywhere else, and I need it for the days that nothing else will work on my headaches. 

After that, it was time to meet Rob, Emily, and family. We were going on a tour of the Three Castles in Wales. The first was Skenfrith. All three of the Three Castles are in southeast Wales. There isn’t a whole lot of castle left at Skenfrith, but it’s still cool to see. You may recognize the village from the episode “Amy’s Choice”, if you watch the new Dr. Who. This is where I discovered that Welsh looks like my cat sat on the keyboard. The Welsh name for Skenfrith is Ynysgynwraidd. Behind Skenfrith Castle is the River Monnow. On the River Monnow is a swing. Max decided that he needed to swing out into the river. He stripped off his shoes and socks, emptied his pockets, and swung. It was cold. He was soaked. It was fun for all of us. 

Our next stop was Grosmont Castle.  This one has a bit more castle, but it’s still definitely classified as ruins. It had a pretty awesome moat. Rob & Emily had packed a lovely picnic, which we ate at Grosmont. It was Abigail’s (Rob & Emily’s youngest child) birthday, so it was quite the picnic feast. We discovered lots of little goodies from the grocery store for which we needed to be jealous – little samosas, sausage rolls, all sorts of yummy snackish things. 

A pretty fence by Grosmont

Next was White Castle. It is a partial ruin. The stone walls and towers of the outer and inner ward still stand, and are mostly in pretty good shape. Even in partial ruin, it’s an imposing structure.  It also has hills perfect for rolling contests, as discovered by Rob, Max, & the kids. 

After that, it was time to say goodbye. Rob and family went back to Hereford, and we headed on down to Cardiff. One of the places Max really wanted to see was Tintern Abbey. Luckily, we had enough time to see it on the way down. The abbey is in ruins, but what spectacular ruins they are.  It’s gorgeous. Max found a pen that he really liked in the gift shop, and I found a pair of earrings.

It was only another half an hour or so to Cardiff. It was again difficult finding parking, but we again went in and asked the desk. The room was quite nice, and we had a partial view of Cardiff Castle. We were also on the edge of a pedestrian shopping area, so we walked around there for a bit to find dinner. Since it was still Sunday, there was still nothing open. Plus, it was after 5, so nothing would have been open, anyway. That’s my one beef about the UK, it seems like nothing is open past 5. But, we found a restaurant called Wagamama, and ate there. It’s a ramen shop. On the way back, we saw a Jamie Oliver restaurant, so we decided to eat there the next day.

Emma says - I really enjoyed Skenfrith because we got to see where Dr. Who was filmed, and I love Dr. Who. Grosmont was pretty, and I got to drink blackcurrant juice at the picnic, which was totally awesome. I love blackcurrant juice, but I can't find it anywhere else. At White Castle, we kids had a wrestling match with Rob, and I think we won. We also rolled down a hill, and I learned how to do an awesome penguin impression with my sweatshirt. By Tintern, I was really tired, so I sat in the cloisters while Mom & Dad looked around. They had some nice bugs that I poked with dandelion stems.