Muntjac

After a leisurely morning perusing the market and coffee shops of Hay on Wye, we walked the estate, spotting muntjac deer and a wonderful door to a garden through an oak tree.

Snowdrops

Hannah and Pam arrived for lunch and a few days of rural relaxation. Keen to explore locally, we took an afternoon walk to Monnington on Wye and a wonderful snowdrop bejewelled church. The path followed the river to the right and cider apple orchards to the left. Turning away from the Wye we reached Byford via very muddy tracks, before traversing Garnons Estate back to Woodside Cottage. We had brought so much of the environment back, we even had to clean our wellies.

Brecons

Crossing the border into Powys, we set off from The Storey Arms on the A470, walking into the centre of the white dusted Brecons. The track was immediately slippery with melted and refrozen ice. We carefully headed East and up, reaching the Western ridge up to snow capped Pen y Fan. The wind was howling around the glazed summit, making standing up quite difficult. The fast moving air had sculpted the ice into pine bark-shaped layers. To spice things up further, at this point Jerry's walking boot heel detached from the shoe. Claire's innovative solution of tying it on with the laces was sufficient to get back down with dry feet.

The sun came out and we descended for late lunch in Brecon and a bit of boot shopping. We arrived back at the cottage in time for tea on the patio and watching the sun set over Hay Bluff and The Black Mountains.

Woodside Cottage

Mid-February spent in rural Herefordshire seemed a pleasant way to shake out those Winter blues and stretch our legs. On our first morning we awoke to flurries of the white stuff, which barely settled. A walk in the woods with Luke (who arrived for the day) enabled some small snowpeople creating and half-hearted snowballing. A deer leapt about in the frollicking panicy way that deer do when they meet hunter-gatherers; disappearing as silently as it arrived. 

We popped back to The Shire, for a previous engagement. After watching a magnificent Rugby test between Wales and England on TV, we took Simo and Claud to The Everyman for the final performance of 'The Play That Goes Wrong' where we chuckled our way through our sweets. Then we headed back to Woodside Cottage and the promise of wood smoke.

New Year 2017

We saw the New Year in with friends (Nige, Sarah, Tim, Sharon, Steve and Julie) accompanied by Fois Gras, Pork in Apricot, Lemon Drizzle cake and cheeses. With New Year's Day being rainy we waited until the 2nd to climb the Malverns under blue skies. With tea in The Abbey Hotel at Great Malvern, it was a great way to start 2017.