Buildings of Trawscoed.

Chilly and a bit showery today.

It has been a good day, not as exceptionally good as last Friday but not bad. There were two deliveries in the morning, first the bags of gravel and a couple of paving slabs came and now the delivery man knows where to put them he won't need us to be in for future deliveries. Then the last glass panel for the balustrade arrived. The builder has been informed and it shouldn't be too long before we have the complete balustrade. I'm still not thrilled with the hand rail but the storms when we get them can be pretty fierce and the advice was that the hand rail was needed for extra stability. Then I had a pleasant walk along the beach to collect my prescription from the pharmacy.

And then came the big event of the day, going out for a two and a half hour hack up and down the hills above the Vale of Rheidol. It was enjoyable enough and it was great to ride through varied countryside and see all the lambs in the fields but I think on the whole I prefer having lessons. My aching knee and back (too much trotting on the roads) agree. ( I had put my name down for a four hour ride next week but have decided to stick with my usual lesson instead.) I rode Cadno who had a tendency to lag behind even though he had the longest legs of all the eight horses and ponies out on the ride. The best bit was a long canter up on a narrow forest track. I was at the back and Cadno's canter was so steady it got me singing 'Stately as a Galleon.' Then as we cantered through the trees I got whipped across my cheekbones by a conifer branch even though I was crouching down along Cadno's neck. It stung so much I was convinced I had blood running down my face but it was only rain. Yes, it rained quite a bit, on and off. We crossed back and forth across the railway line that runs up the Vale of Rheidol to Devil's Bridge. Today was only the second day of the tourist season and it was fun when we stopped soon after we set out and turned the horses towards the line as the steam train approached and waved to the tourists most of whom were waving to us. We did the same again as we were nearing the end of the hack. Afterwards I brushed Cadno off a bit and after a few false starts got his very heavy rug on him before taking him out to the field.

More from Sunday's Walk.

Walking past Trawscoed (also spelt Trawsgoed as C mutates to G.) or the English version Crosswood Mansion led me to looking for more information about the estate. The first thing I found was this listing, now expired but you can still access the photos by clicking on the '65 photos' tab. I couldn't find a date but the whole mansion and 10 acres of land were on sale for £750k. That seems a low price but looking at the photos you can see that there was a lot of work needing to be done to renovate the property and being Grade 11 listed that would be very expensive. The grand rooms looked like they would be spectacular when restored to their former glory. I then found this listing where the central block had been renovated and was on the market for £765k.

As I guessed our walk took us through what was the landscaped parkland belonging to the estate. In the Middle Ages the Vaughans were minor officials and Crown agents accumulating land and wealth. (It's a particular bugbear of mine to think that the same few families have been in power over the people of the UK for the last 1,000 years. No wonder they think they are entitled with generations believing that it was a God given privilege rather than simply having ancestors who were good at fighting and scheming.) The estate and vast parkland and farms expanded dramatically in 1630 and the house was rebuilt by 1756. More historical details can be read here on the Ceredigion Historical Society site.

We were intrigued by this grassy mound topped with an entrance hatch and ventilation shafts. Our first thoughts were a water or slurry tank. Peter's suggestion is some sort of air raid shelter though it is a long way from the house, good if the house is being targeted but not so good if you have to get there quickly.  Having read that the mansion and lands were sold to the Ministry of Agriculture and Fisheries in 1947 (so after the war) to be used as offices and by The Institute for Grassland and Environmental Research I'm wondering if it was something to do with the research.

We passed through a number of farms with more traditional buildings on our walk.

This sturdy shelter was at the well appointed football pitch where we had our lunch. The orange things inside were nets for the goal posts. We sat at a couple of picnic tables with a barbecue of the oil drum variety just by the hedge.