Wales: Exeter and Welshpool Powis Gardens and Lord Snowdon Country House

Here is the Exeter Cathedral or the Cathedral Church of Saint Peter in Exeter with Its high gothic ceiling bright and light from a recent cleaning as it turned 1000 years old.  A really beautiful Cathedral. I particularly liked the strange tombs and effigies.

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Alabaster effigy and tomb of Edmund Stafford, Bishop of Exeter 1395-1419, complete with modern graffiti.

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Memorial alabaster effigy of Lady Doddridge.

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Beautiful countryside in Wales with sheep, green hills, then rain and waterfalls. Exceeding expectations!

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Welshpool and the Medieval Powis Castle and Gardens. Country house built in the 13th century.    

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We stayed at a wonderful hotel in Welshpool named the Royal Oak.  We started with afternoon tea then good conversations at dinner in their cozy dining room.  In the morning we were treated with an amazing story of inspiration and hope from the owners, Chris and Lucy Birdsell-Jones.  During the COVID shutdown they came up with a creative idea for raising money for the local fire department (he too had been a fireman).  Through random phone calls, persistence, and luck, he and his wife coordinated the production of a Christmas song that made it to No. 4 on the UK music charts.  They coordinated over 40 singers from various fire departments into a band they called the Fire Tones raising over 80,000 pounds for fire departments in the UK.  They managed to get approval to sing the hit song by Band Aid “Do they know it’s Christmas” (a charity song written by Bob Geldof and Midge Ure in 1984 for the famine in Ethiopia).  Truly inspirational.  Here Janice and I are with him after he gave us a signed copy of the CD.  Also below is the link to the song.

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North Wales, Plas Dinas Country House home of Lord Snowdon (husband to Princess Maragret, sister to Queen Elizabeth).  Decided to skip the castle and enjoy this beautiful country house instead.

Walked the gardens, took a bath, and then was treated to a an excellent dinner with a famous chef. I personally liked the smoked butter – love a ceremony.  I have to now try that at home when entertaining guests.

See the smoked butter:

https://youtube.com/shorts/672rQtqBBDo?feature=share

Ferry to Dublin - Sailing in Style. Dublin and Powerscourt Gardens

And now on the ferry to Dublin from Holyhead. Premium Plus - wonderful. I can tell this ferry ride is not going to be long enough.

St Patricks Cathedral, Dublin

Finally a Guiness and Jameson's in Dublin

Stopped in Limerick for a coffee break, so naturally Dean wrote me a limerick.

there was a young girl named laurie

whose photographs told quite a story

the pictures of sheep made everyone weep

and now she basks in the glory

Powerscourt Gardens. Just gorgeous. It reminded me of Schwetzingen Palace gardens in Germany. This was from the Japenese Garden.

Always eating well. Dean picked only the best restaurants and ensured we always had a reservation.

Victory and Stairway to Heaven. Portsmouth and Bath, UK

All aboard the HMS Victory built in the 1700s and famously known as the flagship of Lord Nelson from the Battle of Trafalgar in 1805. Portsmouth is also the place Dean sailed to on the Intrepid as US Naval sailor in 1972. so it was a special nostalgic experience for him.  Although the Victory was under renovation in dry dock, we were able to walk each smoke scented (from the engine) deck of this 104 gun ship with original equipment, furniture, books and dark wood floors.  Imagine the sailors in the 1700s stooped under low ceiling urgently preparing for battle. 10/9/22

Bath, home of some very old Roman baths is a beautiful city on the River Avon. You can still find some of the Roman ruins from 60 AD on the very lower level of the baths. Another highlight of the city is the majestic medieval Bath Abbey in the center of the city surrounded by courtyards filled with live music and lounging locals and tourists.  We were so fortunate to have a sunny autumn day.   The Abbey with its fan vaulting inside had a unique feature on the façade where you can find sculptures of angels “stairway to heaven” via Jacob’s ladder.