The Green and Pleasant Land

Having left our cottage in the North of Wales we headed up to Conwy on the north coast. We have been here before with our friends Marilyn and Roger but for reasons presently unknown had  neither dillied nor dallied to take in the many sites which this town has to offer. We both agreed that this was a town deserving of a very thorough  looking at, being a walled town with the wall still almost entirely intact.

Britain's Smallest House

This is reputed to  be Britain's smallest house and  consists of one room downstairs, kitchen come lounge come everything else and a bedroom upstairs.  It must have been difficult for  mum dad and four children which is what it housed at one  stage.

Conwy's oldest dwelling (700 years)

Once again the value of free  admission to National Trust properties through membership of New Zealand's Historic Places Trust is highlighted when one  visits properties such as above as they  would often be  bypassed otherwise.

Five years in the building.

We came out of the pub yesterday after lunch and there, parked right outside, was this little beauty, hand built over a period of five years, reminded me of someone who spent seven years building a boat at the expense of family picnics, or so  the story goes. This little truck runs almost entirely silently and only requires the odd shovel of coal to keep going.  

We spent a good part  of yesterday chasing down an internet signal of some sort to  catch up  on the NZ election and must say the result seems most pleasing.

Greg's Mill

The Mill Garden

There is, apparently, a period drama on TV called "The Mill" and we happened upon the said Mill which is quite a tourist attraction, and rightly so as it has been restored to original complete with apprentices house. There were some ninety "apprentices"

who were  recruited from the workhouses and indentured (?) from age 9 to 18. They were unpaid and lived in the most appalling way. We were shown the girl's dormitory, a little  larger  than our  family room, where 60 girls slept, two to  a bed. The boys fared a little  better with only ten per room, this to keep down the possibility of fights  breaking. They were woken at 5:30 work in the mill stared at 6:00 and breakfast (porridge) brought to them at 8. A 14 hour day was the norm, then chores had to be completed (needlework for the girls and gardening for the boys) then an hours education three times a week for the boys and once or twice for the  girls. Life in the Greg's mill was said to be much better than the norm for the times (18th c.)
I am updating this  blog in Harrogate in a cafe as we are quite unable  to get any form of internet in our current cottage, so must be brief so as to not overstay my welcome.

At the Canal Boat  Museum

Maybe a little longer or shorter would solve this dilemma..

Another fine  house and  garden

A Welsh Beach resort.

Well must away for the above reason.

All the best and take care.

David