A wander back through time at Dale Abbey

Last weekend we went for a quiet evening walk around the village of Dale Abbey. It's a small place, surrounded by open countryside but for its size it has a lot of history. First there was a hermitage, then an abbey (whose stones have found their way into local house walls), then a village church attached to a farm (which was once a tavern). As if that wasn't enough, there's a village green with a proper seat around a tree, an old thatched-roof barn, and a distant view of a windmill. (Only the tiniest speck in the photo above, but clearer when zoomed in - right)

On previous visits I've parked in the village but this time used a large lay-by which is conveniently marked on Google maps as Hermit's Cave car park. From there it's a pleasant, easy walk across fields, with the windmill visible on the sky-line, to the woods in which the hermitage is hidden. Last time I got a little lost but from this direction the cave is much easier to find, with good signposting and information boards about its history.

The cave is dug out of the hillside, with doors and window space, and a row of holes above them which presumably held roof joists for a small wooden 'extension'. Despite hermits giving up all their worldly chattels, this was probably a warm, dry place to live, and it's easy to imagine the hermit living there in relative comfort.

Imagining anything about the abbey takes a lot more effort. The only remaining section is a huge window, or at least it's frame. Access is through a field to the east of the window so at this point I'm presumably standing outside the building, looking in.

I could only look from the outside of the church too, but this was due to building work taking place inside. The right-hand side of the building is Verger's Farm - once no doubt a 'perk' of the verger's job, but now a private house. 

I didn't take photos of the houses in the village as it seems intrusive to do so without asking permission, but here's the tiny village green and - the white rectangle to its left - a notice board telling more of the history of the place and directing us to other footpaths in the vicinity.

Heading along one path before circling back to the green, we passed an ancient-looking thatched barn. It still seems fairly sturdy but I think the tree needs weeding out of the thatch.

Heading back up the hill past Verger's Farm towards the hermitage, I turned for one last look and caught the evening sun shining on the abbey's window before the sun set.

 

Get Outside Day

This Sunday, 29th September, was the Ordnance Survey's annual Get Outside Day, aimed to encourage us all to, well, get outside. If you're a regular reader of my blog you'll know that any chance I get I'll be off outside - gardening, walking, visiting gardens; they're all outside things - so I'd probably have been doing something anyway, but as it turned out we were away for the weekend staying near St Davids in Pembrokeshire, so the day turned out to be more interesting that it might have been at home.

It wasn't a brilliant day weather-wise, but considering the days either side Sunday wasn't too bad. Our first stop of the day was the village of Porthgain - once a busy port handling material from nearby quarries, it's now a sleepy sort of place, particularly outside of tourist season, but still has a couple of art galleries and places to eat.





There'd been a lot of wind and rain overnight and early in the morning but by the time we headed out the rain at least had stopped. The wind was still ferocious, whipping up huge waves - in fact out on the quay it was sometimes hard to stand up! I quickly gave up on any plans of walking along the cliffs to Abereiddi

The sun was just starting to break through the clouds, so we went to the Sloop Inn for lunch hoping things would improve while we were inside.

They did, but it was till too rough for walking at the coast, so we headed into St Davids itself for an hour or so. As cities go St Davids is small, but it's my kind of city, where looking down the street you can see the blue line of the sea.

In a valley below the 'business' part of town lies the cathedral and the ruins of the Bishop's Palace, from this angle seeming to sit in the middle of the countryside

The weather was definitely improving by now, so it was time for the beach.

 There are several to choose from close to St Davids, but Whitesands is the biggest. It faces west though and was still being battered by rough seas, so no chance of going for a swim. I didn't even get opportunity for a paddle as we had plans to climb the hill which overlooks the bay, and I didn't want wet, sandy feet.






Carn Llidi isn't high (just under 600 ft) but its position gives wonderful views up and down the coast. The climb, first along the coastal path, then inland and uphill, was steeper than I remembered, and I wished I brought my walking boots.

Stopping to admire the view - over Whitesands bay and Ramsey Island, or inland to St Davids - gave me chance to catch my breath and let my legs recover a little before continuing.
























I didn't make it to the top though but stopped at the old war-time early warning station whose concrete footings still remain

As we headed back downhill the sun began to set, so we waited on the coastal path to watch it sink into the sea. A wonderful end to an outdoorsy day.

St Davids

Over the half-term holidays, we headed to far West Wales - to St Davids, Britain's smallest city, feeling barely much more than a large village, with a village square, colour washed houses and, tucked in the valley below, the cathedral and ruined Bishop's Palace.

































We've been visiting for more than 20 yrs - climbing the tortuous stairs in the Bishop's Palace ruins with the beautiful restored Rose Window














taking in the scenery on the coastal path

building sandcastles and paddling

I just haven't got round
to the local sport of coasteering - scrambling round rocks at the sea's edge or plunge diving into the Blue Lagoon at Abereiddi