The Garden lately

Hi there everyone 😀

We are at home for a couple of weeks … in between lodge visits … and we’ve spent a lot of time in the garden making the most of the good weather. Why is it that when the weather is amazing we are at home and then when we go away the forecast does an about turn? 

Anyway … we have been pretty productive. Both of the old ‘beer sheds’ have been fully renovated and are back in situ. Here are the before and after shots …

There has been jet washing, shed and fence painting, planting, weeding and all sorts going on. 

I’ve had a quick wander round today in the sunshine and it’s starting to look quite colourful and more like a garden again, following the cold and wet winter and early spring. 

We’ve planted up the urn with nemesias …

… and tidied up the plant stand, which is now filled with a mixture of herbs and Bizzy Lizzies …

The pillared Generous Gardener is looking fabulous …

… and the frilly clematis is in full bloom …

… as is the lilac …

Also blooming well are the aubretia, cornflowers, red rhody, choisya and azalea …

There is plenty of other stuff starting to look like they are well on the way … including the strawberries and the Nelly Moser …

Whilst the next picture isn’t that good you can kind of get an idea of the overall layout …

Whilst things are coming on well there is still plenty left to do … including more jet washing, which is the next job. Then I can get my pots distributed around the garden into their summer homes …

… and hopefully spend some time out there just enjoying ‘being’. Though … if you are a gardener you will know … that it’s never finished … always a work in progress 😀

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Walk with us :: Coastal Path to Llanbedrog

Hi there everyone 😀

After a few days of rain we had a bit of sunshine and we were just itching to get back out and about for another short walk.

This time our plan was to park on the road at Carreg-y-Defaid and walk along the coastal path to Llanbedrog … stopping for a drink in the Aqua beach bar before making our way back. 

There’s not a lot of parking in the lane but we were very lucky and bagged a space and were soon on our way …

Before we headed right towards Llanbedrog we couldn’t resist a look at the beach and back along the coast towards Pwllheli … it was glorious …

It’s a decent path … not much mud … and relatively flat(ish) …

It seemed we were following in the footsteps of the SheUltra runners from the weekend … be it in the opposite direction and at a far gentler pace … and with better weather by far …

The path took us round the headland …

… passing plenty of bluebells and other wild flowers …

… towards the beach at Llanbedrog …

We did have a bit of a Geocaching pitstop along the way where we found this little chap …

… but were soon on our way again …

We took the steps down to the beach … the first time on the beach for this visit …

… and it was just a short walk to the beach bar … 

… which was nice and quiet so we managed to get a table overlooking the beach in the sunshine …

We had contemplated continuing up the road to the gallery but decided to just retrace our steps for this time … so it was back down onto the beach …

… back up the steps …

… and back along the coastal path …

… taking it all in from the opposite direction …

It was another really nice little walk … about a mile either way … which was just right for us for this time 😀

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Walk with us :: To Gimblet Rock

Hi there everyone 😀

I certainly seem to be on a bit of a roll with my ‘Walk with us’ posts at the moment … this being our third walk in as many days.

It’s hard to believe that we’ve been coming over to the lodge now for four years, very regularly, and still keep finding new things to see and do.

Martin’s new knee, and us both losing a bit of weight and feeling more mobile, has certainly opened up a wealth of new opportunities.

Having already done a lovely mountain walk and a nice short woodland walk over the last few days … this walk finds us on the coast.

Pwllheli is the closest small town to our lodge park and, whilst quite charming, it is a funny place … with everything very spread out. There is a very busy marina and harbour area, which is quite separate from the town … which is also very separate from the beach and coast area.

We have explored all … driving from one area to another as we haven’t felt up to a lot of walking.

This walk found us parking up in town, by the station, and walking down past the inner harbour area towards the coast.

Towards the right of the next picture, looking across the harbour, you can see Yr Wyddfa, with its distinctive twin peaked summit just obscured by cloud cover. It is the highest mountain in the Eryri National Park and in Wales … and I think we have viewed it from afar from every angle …

Our walk took us down Embankment Road to Caffi Largo, which had been as far as we had intended to walk. After we’d had a quick drink in there we decided to head left up into the dunes just have a look and see what we could see.

It was lovely up there and it was interesting looking back across town from a completely new perspective …

It was an absolutely glorious day and the sea looked so sparkly … it was magical …

It was so nice that we just kept walking …

… and before we knew it we were at Gimblet Rock …

We had a really good scramble about … taking in the views, which were fabulous …

… especially looking back towards Pwllheli across the beach …

We retraced our steps …

… until we were back at the harbour, where Yr Wyddfa was a lot more visible … in the centre of the photo this time …

It was another lovely walk and I’m sure we will do it again … perhaps making it a bit of a circular … rather than a there and back next time 😀

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