Anyhoo...so, final day in Wales and the parentals had decided to travel down to Carmarthen to visit the National Botanical Garden of Wales...admittedly it's not normally my thing...I don't have a single green finger in my bunch of ten...though then mother mentioned something which perked my interest...which I will get to presently.
Off we set...Carmarthen was around an hour away by car and dad had suggested we stopped for a pix opportunity at a nearby waterfall on the way...so, after a hard slogging 20 minutes we pulled into the waterfalls at Cenarth...where my parents promptly decided a cuppa was in order (are you sensing a theme...I swear my folks would shrivel without a cup of tea every half hour)...anyway, I abandoned them at the cafe while I went exploring along the river:
The falls and mill...the recent rain the cause of the murky brown water...and not Willy Wonka as I had suggested.
I love little woodland paths which look like something out of a Tolkien novel...Orks, trolls and other such fantasy creatures waiting to pounce around the next corner....
What I wasn't expecting as I turned one corner was a bare white arse staring at me from under this bridge...
a camper who had decided this to be the perfect spot for a bath...it's idyllic I'll give him that...less so when there's a nekkid Scandinavian with a farmer's tan under the bridge....ever the Brit I gave him a nodded greeting and continued on my way.
Now this is why I was a little excited about the Botanical gardens.....
otherwise know as Mars:Oh yes...the greenhouse...the largest of it's kind in the world was used for the forthcoming Doctor Who special and it's easy to see why it was chosen the glasshouse looks very futuristic and houses an impressive array of plants and trees themed in regions from Africa to Australia via California and Chile...here's a few facts:
The dome is the shape of an elliptical torus and consists of 785 panes of glass.
The glass dome is tilted by 7 degrees on its axis and is orientated to face south this helps capture the maximum amount of sunlight in a day.
147 computer controlled vents regulate a fully controllable and natural airflow.
Heat is provided from a biomass furnace which in conjunction with the climate control prevents the glasshouse temperature falling below 9oC.
Don't ask me what the flora and fauna are exactly because as previously mentioned I'm a little agriculturally challenged...so I haven't a clue...Oh, and yes I've discovered the awfully clever mega close up function on my camera which I may have over used around the glass house...but meh.
There was much to look around in the other areas of the gardens...I particularly liked the walled garden.....it's an English thing
And the Welsh meadow walk...which had fantastic views across the hills
A unknown fighter jet which sped by ridiculously low on more than one occasion, though this is the best....and only....shot I managed to get.
The tower in the distance is Paxton's Tower built in tribute to Admiral Lord Nelson after he was killed in the Battle of Trafalgar in 1805
The great thing about the gardens is that the glass house is prominent and visible pretty much everywhere....which make for some fabbo arty farty shots.
There were two lakes...which were covered in Lilies
So, there you have it, my ickle tour of a bit of Wales is now complete...I'd love to visit again, with a little less rain and a fully functioning ankle, so I could explore more of the coastal paths...and the castles...of which there's loads and we just didn't have time to visit on this occasion.
4 comments:
What, no pics of the naked arse? LOL I can just picture you turning 5 shades of red and getting out of there as fast as your feet would carry you!!!
Love the pic of the steps!
Ack - there's no Welsh translator on Babel Fish! Please, tell me what it says before I go nuts ;D
I'd have gone, too, just for the Doctor Who-edness of the location. Then again, it *is* a pretty cool greenhouse! And not enough time for any castles?? You know - SOME of us don't even have a castle (unless you count Sleeping Beauty's castle ;)
Kim - Um, nope sorry the nekkid arse pix would make this innocent little blog a whole other type of site...besides the giggling was having an adverse effect on the steady shot feature of my camera ;-)
Carri-Ann - It was of coruse 'Thankyou very much Wales, Goodbye for now'...stooopid Babel Fish....
I really liked the idea of walking in the steps of David Tennant, didn't sight a single water-drippy alien though, so a tad disappointed about the false advertising there ;-)
Castles are uber cool...even the Disney facsimile there of...generally ours have a little less dwarf and a little more 16th Century graffiti.
16th century graffiti? Like what - Kiss my codpiece?? ;D
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