Bodnant Garden with Granny and D

Hurrah, Granny and D came to North Wales for a visit and The Family joined them for a walk around Bodnant Garden.  The had visited previously at this time of year and thought that Granny would enjoy the colourful flora.

Dad took pictures with his new phone and did a splendid job of capturing their walk.

Mum seems to be in 'tree mode' at the moment and took pictures of trees.  Here's one of her favourites.

The buildings down in The Dell are topped with bright moss which makes them very eye-catching.

The river was flowing nicely thanks to plenty of rain recently.

It's always a pleasant surprise to see so much colour at this time of year.

A super shot of the rushing river.  Nice one, Dad!

Dooo, doodoo, doo doo doo doo dodoooo (Only Dad will get this reference)

A photo taken from a newly-opened area of Bodnant Garden called 'The Far End'.  It was beautiful and amazing to think that this area had been there all that time.

D, The Boy and Mum.  All enjoying their walk.

A lovely shot in the formal gardens.  Mum is very impressed!

Here are Mum, The Boy, Granny and D all happy to be together in such a fine place.

After a wonderful walk, The Family went back to the car park to fetch the picnic basket.

Granny and Mum had a cheeky glass of Prosecco.  It was a super picnic indeed!

Sadly, the day out had to come to an end and Granny and D needed to head back up north.  The Family were so pleased that they had both joined them for a walk and look forward to seeing them again in the not too distant future.

Return of the BBQ

Dad took Mum and The Boy out for a surprise meal.  They weren't very surprised when they found themselves at the threshold of the Istanbul BBQ restaurant since this has to be in Dad's top five favourite local places to eat.  He does like to talk about Iskender a fair bit.

 The Boy was very happy to be seated downstairs this time, where he could watch the chefs work their magic at the grill.

 Mum's Chicken 'Kluck' Special (Chicken chunks BBQ grill cooked under a delicious yoghurt and chilli sauce with melted butter, served in a sizzling dish)

 Dad's mixed platter of Lamb Meatballs/Izgara Kofte (lean minced lamb, seasoned and served in a rich tomato and garlic sauce) and Istanbul BBQ Spicy Chicken Wings/Tavuk Kanadi (charcoal grilled spicy wings with chilli peppers)

 The Boy's mixed platter of Chicken Kebab/Pilic (marinated chicken breast chunks on a skewer) and Lamb Chops/Pirzola (lightly seasoned lamb chops - simple and delicious)

Mum's dessert of Baklava (filo pastry heaven with pistachio nuts in syrup and a scoop of honeycomb ice cream) If she could she would have this for starter, main and dessert.  It was divine!

Dad and The Boy's dessert of Sekerpare (classic baked Turkish dessert, with sweet pastry balls dipped in thick lemon sugar syrup, served with a choice of ice cream)

Happy Mum and Dad with happy, full tummies.

The meal was absolutely delicious and The Family wish they could go to Istanbul BBQ more often.  It was such a lovely treat from Dad and everyone left full and content, if a little slow on their feet!

The Boy spotted this mural on the way back to the car, so Mum took some photos so that he can remember it.

The other side of the fab mural.

The Family waddled back to the car and headed home to enjoy a bout of Sunday Lunch syndrome.  Zzzz!

The Travellers Rest

The Family have passed a carvery called The Travellers Rest many, many times on their way to Dad's house on Fridays but had never paid it a visit.  But this week both Mum and Dad had had a very tiring day at work and so they thought it was high time they popped in.

The sunshine was out and it was warm enough to eat al fresco.  There wasn't a queue for food and it wasn't long before they were all seated an munching away happily.

 Here's Mum's carvery.  The beef was absolutely divine.

 The Boy, happy in the sunshine.

Mum and Dad, weary after work and very glad to have their dinner cooked for them.

The food was delicious and had a home-cooked feel to it.  The vegetables were all fresh and it was nothing like the cattle market free-for-all that can be found at The Bells of St Mary.

A great end to a busy day.

Davvers in Wales

Dad's friend Davvers came to stay for a few nights as he was taking part in a run not too far from The Family's neck of the woods.  Today they all decided to get together for a jaunt around Loggerheads.

They walked up to the top of the cliffs and enjoyed the view of Moel Famau and surrounding hills of the Clwydian Range.

Moel Famau and the beautiful springtime scenery.

 Mum and Davvers at the top of Loggerheads.

 Dad and Davvers in the warm sunshine, being photobombed by The Boy.

 Mum and The Boy

 The Boy was given a brand new pair of wellies and his old fishing net.  It wasn't long before he was larking about in the river and yes, Mum wondered why she bought the wellies as he got soaked anyway.

 A tiddler was caught in the net.

The trees showed signs of life.  At last!  It seems to have been a long wait!

They all thoroughly enjoyed their amble through the woods and ate ice cream back at the visitor centre.  Then they made their way up to the Moel Famau car park.  It was bitterly cold up there and after a quick look around the pond for frog spawn they headed back to the car to go home and warm up.

It was lovely to have Davvers visit us and we hope it won't be too long before we see him again.

Thai Food Time

This day was very windy.  So windy that the roof of Dad's house creaked and groaned, leaves blew everywhere despite it not feeling like the right season for leaves blowing everywhere.  Fence panels rattled threateningly, people braced against the relentless great gusts and dogs barked at nothing.  Oh yes, it was a windy day indeed!

It was not the right day for a day out and so Mum, Dad and The Boy spent some relaxing time at home.  Dad decided that it was finally time for them to open the board game that had been sitting in its cellophane wrapper for precisely one year and two months.  It was called Forbidden Desert, and Mum had bought it for him for Christmas.  That's Christmas 2014, just to be clear.

It took a while to read the instructions and it sounded like a complicated little game involving lots of rules and things to remember.  But they dived on in and had a great time trying to find the parts of a flying machine in order to make it out of the desert before they all died of thirst or got buried in the sand.  They didn't manage to make it out alive but thoroughly enjoyed working together as a team to try to beat the game.

Later on, Dad announced that The Family would be eating out that evening.  They all got ready and drove to Colwyn Bay along the A55.  The wind was still horrendously strong and buffeted the car around on the journey.  They arrived at the Tamarind Thai Restaurant far too early, as is often the case when is driving.  Mum calls him Captain Contingency.  Still, it gave them time to find a place to stop and take photos of the Bay below.

The wind whipped up a frenzy of seamist and the water looked stony grey.  But the rays of the setting sun bathed the town in a warm light and Mum snapped away happily.  The wind was very cold high up there on the hill.  The Family didn't spend very long outside the car, just long enough to admire the view.

Colwyn Bay from the hills above.

They arrived back at the Tamarind Thai just in time for opening.  They were greeted by a very polite man who showed them to their seats.  He was very, very polite.  Actually, he was very, very, very polite and maybe a little too polite, if such a thing exists.  The restaurant seemed clean and airy and fresh and The Family sat down and ordered drinks.  To their disappointment, though, they all received a glass of Diet instead of the Diet Coke they had asked for.  Thumbs down for the drinks!

Whilst waiting for the starters to arrive, the camera was pulled out once more.

 Dad took this photo of Mum and The Boy not drinking their drinks.

The Family, waiting for their starters with rumbling tummies.

It didn't take long for the starters too arrive and, fortunately, they were much nicer than the glasses of Diet.  In fact they were fantastic!

Mum had crispy duck with honey and sesame.

Dad and The Boy had the Chef's recommended starter platter which had a selection of things from the starter menu.

Yumyum, well the food was lovely and The Family really enjoyed munching.  Then it was time for their mains.  Mum ordered river prawns which came with their legs and heads on.  Mum was a little unsure as to how to eat prawns with legs and heads but the restaurant had already done the cracky part.  Phew!  Dad chose sizzling sirloin steak with black bean and The Boy chose duck on a bed of noodles with Tamarind sauce.

Mum's river prawns in a delicious garlic sauce.

Dad's sizzling sirloin.

The Boy's duck with noodles in Tamarind sauce.

One must have Thai green curry when one goes to a Thai restaurant.  This one was tasty, aromatic and rather spicy!

The Family had a wonderful meal at the Tamarind Thai and vowed to go back there again one day.  They left the restaurant to find the car covered in a fine layer of sand even though they were high up above the shore!  The wind hadn't died down at all by then, and so they took a slow drive home so as to avoid the strewn tree debris.

Goodbye Tamarind Thai, we'll see you again in the future but please stop saying 'excuse me' every five seconds.  Thank you!

Happy St. David's Day! / Dydd Gŵyl Dewi Hapus!

Mum, Dad and The Boy went for a day out to the Isle of Anglesey.  Before they left for the island, Dad took Mum to the supermarket where she bought daffodils, tulips and bara brith to give as St. David's Day gifts to her Mum and Sis.  They had a nice surprise but The Family couldn't stay as they wanted to get on their way.

Getting to the island was relaxed and easy, but as they arrived at Menai Bridge (the town, not the actual bridge) they noticed an awful lot of lycra-clad people milling about.  As they approached the town centre things got a bit tricky as the way through to Beaumaris was completely blocked off.  It turned out that there was a very popular race being held called 'Jones o Gymru Anglesey Half Marathon'.  Running races are all well and good, but Mum, Dad and The Boy wanted to go to Beaumaris and they weren't too sure how to get there without passing through the town, so they thought they would follow the yellow signs marked 'Traffic Diversion'.

Well, it took them all around the town and back, here and there, round and round, off the island and back onto it again.  What a palaver it was trying to bypass the little town that blocked their path!  The diversion eventually took them out of Menai Bridge and down some very narrow lanes.  Lots of cars were taking the same diversion, in both directions, and there followed a lot of stopping and pulling over and a lot of wincing as the car brushed up against the twiggy hedges making cringeworthy squeaky sounds on the paintwork.  Yeesh!  Mum and Dad did not want to go down those lanes again!

They finally arrived in Beaumaris, feeling somewhat relieved.  After parking up in the big car park on the banks of the Menai Strait, Mum and The Boy ran to the shore whilst Dad quickly checked his work emails and all that kind of stuff.

 The Boy spent ten minutes looking for oyster shells and interesting stuff.

It was very windy on the shore and very, very cold too!  So they all made a very hasty retreat to the castle.

Mum liked this little alleyway.  She wondered where it led.

The day didn't feel very much like Spring was around the corner, but there were little signs of it in places.

The family headed to the castle entrance.  Normally they would have had to pay to get in, but since it was St. David's Day, CADW (the organisation that cares for a lot of the castles in Wales) kindly let all visitors in for nothing.  Hurrah and thank you CADW!  The Boy was given a quiz sheet and pencil and they made their way through to the castle grounds.

Woo the outside of Beaumaris Castle, with a real moat!

Dad and The Boy on the drawbridge leading into the main gate of the castle.

Eh up, The Boy is getting tall, isn't he?!  Mum stood next to the smoked sausage stall to take this picture.  It smelled very nice.  Very nice indeed!

Cheeky, giggling boys, because they were trying to make a funny photo and Mum said 'No, a nice one please!'

They all went up onto the walls of the castle.  It was bitterly cold, windy and raining too.  Brrrr!

Down in the centre of the castle were a few tents that looked interesting.  The Family went to see what they were all about.

The first one they visited had owls!  Mum, Dad and the Boy all enjoyed stroking the barn owl gently. She was extremely friendly and patient.

The ever-so pretty Barn Owl.

The grumpy Tawny Owl reminded Mum of being a Brownie when she was little.  And the big one on the floor was a European Eagle Owl.  It had superbright orange eyes.  WOOOoooo!

The next tent showed The Family a little bit about life in medieval times.  It looked cold and rather draughty.

The third tent had some people in it in medieval dress.  A man showed Mum, Dad and The Boy how to make fire using a flint and steel.  Dad made big sparks, The Boy made little sparks but Mum did not make any sparks at all.  She chipped and chipped away to no avail.  She decided that it was a good job she wasn't living in medieval times as she likes her meat thoroughly cooked.

They also went into a little hut and watched a very strange film.  They weren't sure what it was all about as there were no words.  Something about a man putting a toad into a pot and a spearhead diving in a lake with bubbles, all set to strange music.  The Family scratched their heads, shrugged and left.

They had better luck with the information boards about King Edward, who built the castle in 1295 in order to keep the Welsh folk out.  Cheeky man!  It was a fabulous castle, though, and The Family enjoyed their visit very much.  But the more they explored, the colder and wetter and more blown around they became.  They decided it was definitely time to find some postcards for Mum's American friend then head back to the car for lunch and some respite from the wintry weather.

Dad turned the engine on to warm the car and passed round the chicken salad and dijon mayo wraps that he had made.  They ate them with crisps and Bourbon creams.  Yumyumyum!

Getting warm in the car.  Dad doesn't look very happy.  Mum thinks it's because she asked him to get in the shot, right in the middle of his wrap-munching.  They _were_ very nice wraps.

As they sat in the warm, they noticed that the low clouds had begun to roll away from the Snowdonia mountains across the Menai Strait.  The rain that had fallen in Beaumaris had fallen as snow or hail up there!  It looked every so pretty so Mum jumped out of the car to take a few more photos.  Brave soul.

One of Mum's fancypants panoramic photographs.

Freshly snow-capped mountains.

It looked like someone had been and sifted icing sugar everywhere!

It was time to head home and get ready for school and work.  Dad thought he would take a different way back instead of going on the dreadful winding lanes again.  They ended up on winding lanes again, of course, since Anglesey seems to have an awful lot of them.  But The Boy was happy as he caught sight of the sea with lots of shipping boats.

The shipping lane, taken by Dad!

Despite the hairy lanes, the wind, the rain, the biting cold and the long traffic jam on the way home, Mum, Dad and The Boy decided that they were very glad to have had a day out rather than sitting at home.  Hurrah for going out and hurrah for living in Wales!

Cymru am byth!!! (photographer unknown)