Grey again today but brighter than yesterday. We drove out to Mach in the morning to practise our Welsh with our friends. We shared the library with a mother and baby group but I think we were the noisy ones. The babies were a lot quieter than the toddlers that are sometimes there, especially the little girl who has perfected an ultra high shriek. Although none of us are planning to take the exam Anne brought along some past papers for us to try. They were surprisingly easy, at least when there were four of us armed with dictionaries and grammar notes.
Afterwards while Peter went to play pool I had a domestic afternoon. First I made a large pot of hearty soup. Lots of root vegetables with a tub of my tomato and onion base and some smoked sausage. But oh no! when I had a taste to see how it was doing all I could taste was chilli. As I prefer tasty food rather than hot food I never use chilli in my cooking. Garlic - yes, pepper - yes and even curry powder but not chilli on its own. I had added a generous amount of smoked paprika which is one of my favourite spices, had I bought chilli powder by mistake? But when I looked at the jar it said Smoked Paprika and then in much smaller font underneath was the word Hot. Looking at the back of the label in letters about 2mm high was the information that this was smoked paprika with chilli powder. I added more potatoes and may even add plain yoghurt to mine when I serve it up which should ameliorate the matter.
While the soup was cooking I did some ironing and then gave the wooden furniture in the sitting room a polish with Brywax. All bar the coffee table which could really do with being sanded to remove the marks before I polish it.
Now back to the second half of yesterday's walk.
The mansion of Plas Nanteos is approached by a driveway through grounds that were landscaped in the natural style with sweeping vistas. It was interesting to see that the metal fencing and elaborate gates had been made by Ray Burrell, the local artisan blacksmith who originally was going to put in our balustrade but in the end was too busy.
The mansion is currently run as a hotel and restaurant but that very morning they had posted on FB that the restaurant and events side of the business was going to close. You can read a short history of Nanteos here. That site has b&w photos of the mansions interior though I couldn't get them to open properly. This site has a much more detailed history with many photos including portraits of the previous owners.
We of course did not go in to join the fine diners but made our way around the outside of the walled garden to the pet cemetery. Horses and dogs including favourite hounds had been buried in the grounds and at some point the surviving headstones had been gathered together around an ancient mulberry tree.
Nearby was a stone maze, built by Bob combining pagan beliefs about labyrinths and the Nanteos Holy Grail, a medieval wooden bowl said to have been carved from the true cross and to have healing powers. The remnants of this bowl are now in the National Library of Wales.
Some of us followed the circular labyrinth to the centre and back out again with no cheating by stepping over the stones.
The central stone represents the bowl with scenes from the legend carved around the plinth.
After eating our lunch sitting on a nearby log we went into the walled garden. This 2 acre garden once housed a vinery, hot beds and cold frames and provided all the produce for the house with the surplus being sold in Aberystwyth. An attempt is being made by a local group to create community plots, strips rather than allotments. The gardeners amongst us were not convinced that having such narrow strip beds of a thin layer of mulched woodchip separated by paths made of fresh woodchips over weed matting was the best way to restore the beds which were already full of buttercups but I'm sure somebody has a plan.
Beyond the far end of the walled garden was the old stable block in which some of our group remembered going to wild parties back in the '70's. A large bronze horse once stood over the central arch with stone eagles on either side but these have been long since sold off.
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