The Cottage, Alfresco Lunch and Hiking

Qimmiq and Billy.
(Cottage on the left, barn on the right.)

The Cottage
When I arrived at the cottage it was raining a bit and totally dark. The light shining out of the cottage windows was enchanting - I'll try capturing a photo one of these nights.

The front of the cottage has vines and roses growing on it so when I look out the windows, many of them are framed with a border of twigs or leaves. Romy has decorated the place with objects from her travels so there's lots of interesting stuff to check out.

The cottage used to be a barn so it's made up of many little rooms, big wooden beams, and the walls on the lower floor are exposed rock. Upstairs the floor boards move and creak as I walk around, and in a corner of my room I can see light from downstairs through the cracks. This makes it sound like the place is falling apart, but it really is beautiful and not rustic in a nasty way.

The bathroom situation is a little odd... there's a toilet upstairs in a tiny "closet" in the open area between the three bedrooms, another room across the hall with a bathtub and sink, and one of the bedrooms has a full washroom with a shower, toilet and sink. There's also a sort of laundry room/mud room off the kitchen and there's a toilet tucked in the corner - handy if you're mucking around outside.

Alfresco Lunch
My first full day here was on Sunday and Romy had invited three couples over for lunch. Romy's friend, Bernie, used to be a pub cook and she hates cooking so he did the honours. He made a delicious spread and I was assigned tasks like setting the table, picking blackberries (was stung by nettles twice), and sat in the sunshine peeling apples and plums for pie. First thing in the morning there was a heavy mist but the sun soon burned it away and we had a warm day with full sunshine - I was told it does nothing but rain here so I felt quite spoiled.

The guests included Pippa and her husband Rob. When Pippa introduced herself I thought she said her name was "Pepper" so I asked her again and they got a kick out of me not understanding the accent. Pippa and Rob live on a nearby farm.

Enjoying drinks before lunch.

Judy and Chris Menges also attended - he is a famous cinematographer and Romy warned me that he's very quiet and would likely disappear... which he promptly did upon arrival. He likes to wander around the property as a way to avoid the crowd. Really nice couple - I chatted with Judy for a while and they said they'll invite me over to their place while I'm house-sitting. Romy says Judy keeps Chris's two Oscars in the chimney because he doesn't like the attention of having them out... hopefully they'll let me see them!

Looks more like Italy than Wales!
(L-R: Chris, David, Pippa, Judy, Pippa's husband, Penny.)

The other couple was Penny and David and they were both adorable and friendly. Penny said she'll take me out to show me the area and take me to Powys Castle while I'm house-sitting. They asked if I'll be going into Europe and told me I can use their cottage in Italy!

Such a friendly group and everyone I've met in the UK has countered everything I've read online about people here being snobby and aloof. I've spoken to a number of people on the trains and I haven't been punched or picked up even once (I read in many places that eye contact should be avoided as it invites a pickup or a punch... maybe that only applies to the Tube in London... I'll have to experiment).

Oh - speaking of meeting people on trains, a girl in her late teens or early twenties sat across from me on the train on my way here and she started chattering away - not an accent like Julie Andrews, more of an accent where she says, "everyfing" instead of "everything". I told her I recently arrived in England and she immediately said (read this part out loud with a dramatic English accent and it should work), "Oh well, den you'll be wantin' to know some slang, yeah? If you say, 'ow gaw-on?' it's like sayin' 'How's it going?' yeah? It's sorta like black people talk, yeah? I'm good at talkin' like vat, ya' know. Like, I fink it's good to be able to talk to all sorts of people in de way vat dey talk, ya know."

Yes, she was quite a multi-cultural woman.

The Hike
Romy, Bernie, Qimmiq, Billy, and I headed up the hill behind the cottage for a hike after everyone left. Bit of a trek with beautiful views. We heard someone doing a lot of shooting near the top so we took an alternate route - heard today that the neighbour's grandson was shooting clay pigeons up there. Much of the walk was along little sheep tracks (they're not sheep trails, I was emphatically informed when I apparantly used the wrong term) in the side of the hills. Lots of heather and many different kinds of moss. Such a beautiful place. But Qimmiq is a bit of a brute on a leash so I'm not sure how walks are going to work with him and he chases sheep so he can't be off-leash.

Romy, Bernie, Qimmiq and Billy.

Billy after rolling around on the crazy-steep hill.

On the way up the hill.

The view from close to the top.