Powys and Leominster...

Monday, 16^th May – (Catch-up)

POWYS CASTLE

Seemed to be a lot of traffic through Berriew this morning, and we were told there was a market day in Welshpool. Lots of local farmers seemed to be taking livestock in small trailers. We drove into Welshpool but could see no evidence of the market and assumed it must be elsewhere in the town.

On to Powys, and was initially taken aback with the prospect of a very long walk from the car park, but the road winds around a bit and it isn’t too far. There were already lots there waiting for the opening, and we had reciprocal entry rights through our National Trust membership. (Well worth having if you intend going to  more than a couple of properties).

 

Found an Aussie girl working for the N.T. and she said she’d knocked on their door for a couple of years before she got the job in the garden centre.

Had a coffee first, and then ventured out to the gardens. These are open from 11.00am, which seems late to me, and the castle not until 1.00pm, so we decided we would not be here for the castle, as it would make us too late for the rest of our journey later in the day.

The gardens are magnificent, and some of the Yew trees date back to 1610! The terraces are beautifully managed and descend a long way down to the lower areas of the garden. Beautiful plants everywhere, and some we’d never seen, along with different varieties of those we knew. 

We ended up spending 2 hours at Powys, and they are so well maintained. You can tell the difference in the plants, just because they have so much more rain (usually), than we do.

On to Leominster (pronounced-  lemster ), which pronunciation we got from two different sources. The road in and out of Wales and Shropshire was quite good, and after a small bit of getting lost finding the B & B, we arrived at Rossendale Hall, which is very nicely done, but our room was right at the top, and again on a main road, hence the triple glazing to cut out the noise. (These small towns might not be suited to vehicular traffic, but they still have trucks and semi’s driving through them!)

Very nice dinner at a hotel called the Dukes Head, which had formally been a Post Office, and the theme was carried through in the decor, with some old ‘pigeon holes’, and letter sorting signs.

Our 'loft' in Rossendale Hall B & B

We didn’t sleep well as we had hard lumpy pillows again. (Is it so hard to get sameness in pillows used in accommodation?)