Sunshine.

It was positively balmy today with lots of blue above. 

Hoping for a dry day the builders are due to put up the balustrade tomorrow so I went to the zoo this morning. The weather has stopped me going for a few weeks but so far no weeds have appeared in either of the play areas. But what there is is a lot of water around the place. The ditch that runs along the lane leading to the zoo was filled to the brim with water and there were lakes of water in the fields beyond. As the gravel and woodchip areas didn't need work I turned my attention to the ponies' paddock. It's only small as they spend most of their time in a field on the hill behind the zoo. Lat time I had noticed some ragwort which is toxic for horses. I checked the whole paddock and pulled up quite a bit and then removed all the stinging nettles that were growing along the fence that the public lean over. I also dug out some very large dock roots from the wildflower area and relocated dandelions from here.

At home I've been researching private clinics in Wales and have contacted a number to find out how much (roughly) removing the cyst will be. My plan to have it done under a local anaesthetic was initially because I didn't see the point of a general anaesthetic and now it is also because of the cost factor. 

Meanwhile here are the photos of the abandoned farm we passed yesterday.

The ruined buildings were on either side of the track. Walls and mature trees at the side of the track showed that it would have been a drovers road or even part of the toll (turnpike) road network going back to the late 1600s.

Further along stone pigsties were built into the hillside. There's always plenty of stone to use as building material in Wales.

Then came the farmhouse itself, also built into the hill. It looks quite a substantial building but must have been cold and damp and no doubt would not be worth restoring. We had no idea when it was last occupied but the field beside it looks to have been some sort of garden and was filled with clumps of daffodils almost ready to flower.