Measuring up for a coffin, and leaving Wales...

Having made a small effort at starting 'Christmas', I am allowing myself the reward of writing a blog-post. This whole weekend we have been covered in big fat white powdery christmas snow.

We found a Christmas cake had been delivered overnight to our garden table:-

It can also be quite neighbourly. Our very-welsh neighbour Brynmor keeps clearing our drive - and we clear the pavement so we don't feel guilty that he's done it again. It was interesting to see Ian measuring up for a coffin.......not his I hasten to add, but our landlord is also a funeral director. He does about 2 funerals a week whatever the weather but so many of the local population live up long tracks and lanes they are inaccessible to anything but 4 wheel drive. Hence the measuring of Ians truck. I think he was secretly disappointed he couldn't help out, but the prospect of a coffin sticking out the back of a pick-up didn't seem quite right. A long-wheelbase landrover was found to do the job instead.

Needless to say Ashfield is frozen up - no volunteers, no staff and no work. We cleared the polytunnels of snow this morning to stop the plastic ripping and made sure the heating is still on for the pipes and wet floors. It is truly winter at Ashfield in every sense. It's not a good time of year for a horticultural project anyway, and a lot of the renovation work is still in progress so there are limits on what events can be planned. Ian feels he has contributed all he can at this stage, and with our house project in Somerset getting underway, our time should be spent elsewhere. So it's back to packing and trying to plan the next step day by day. We return to Somerset sometime in Jan or Feb instead of staying till June.

How do we feel about leaving? Well....it's mixed. I could happily live here if it wasn't for having a life elsewhere. Yesterday we were invited for tea by a lovely family from our church, so I feel a little sad at interrupting new friendships before they've hardly begun. Ashfield itself has so much potential - I loved the Apple Day and working in a community group, and the vision for an Art Room will have to be laid down for the time being. On the flip side, we can't wait to get our house going at Pengotton and reconnect a bit with Taunton life. Perhaps we could bring something of Ashfield back with us?

Minus 13 again... let me out!

We woke up this morning to a frosted white minus 13 world again. Every twig and leaf is encrusted with crystals. The snow has an icy crust over the top that you break with a loud crunch every time you take a step, the river is moving only under its frozen surface and the blue sky is the only colour in sight.

We can see Lan Ganol, above, our own version of 'sugarloaf' mountain, from our bedroom window if you lean out and peer round to the right. For all the beauty I am a little tired of being stuck here with my car iced up day after day, wearing two pairs of socks and wellies every time i go out. Cars are parked randomly at road junctions while their occupants walk miles down frozen lanes from their houses to their cars to get to work. Now we understand why there are so many landrovers in this part of the world and i am grateful for ians gas-guzzling truck. Still, the forecast is for warmer weather by the end of the week.... by which time we'll be back down south in the relative warmth of Somerset....not that it's warm anywhere at the moment.

Colder than Greenland??

We arrived back in Newbridge last night to minus 13 and dropping. I have never known such cold in our country - and i am proud to say this week we live in the coldest place in britain...except it took HOURS for our coats to come off and the house to feel warm again. Our wonderful landlord had saved us from frozen water pipes while we were away, and our lovely neighbours had cleared the snow off our drive - what a welcome. I am SO glad our boiler was fixed last thursday before this hit. I think i would have had to stay in bed with a hot water bottle if we didn't have heating.

Here are some pics from my walk to Llysdinam with Barney this morning....

The river Wye was partly frozen over...

the snow formed crystals on everything....

this is Llysdinam house - often visited by the victorian curate Francis Kilvert for those who have read Kilverts Diaries

and the beautiful snowy welsh hills.

Please note I didn't take a picture of Ians reputedly-frozen nasal hairs.

I was sorely tempted to go with Ian up to Bangor today where he was hosting a business visit to the algae plant. But even from here it's still a 3 hour drive each way and even the prospect of seeing snowdonia in the snow couldn't outweigh the tiredness i feel at the moment from all the driving between somerset and wales. This weekend we made some good decisions on the house - and even bought some flooring for the lounge. Dad should be on commission. I love it - it's engineered oak boarding - with a very dark stain and distressed effect. Can't wait to see it down but sadly it'll probably be at least 6 months away as the walls have to be built first and the roof redone.

Some progress has been made however - Roger has been working faithfully on Ians shed. This is how it looks now..... unfortunately i've got to put in more plans for the minor changes from the planning permission. Shouldn't be a problem though. What do you think of our red cedar boarding? purchased here in wales.