Why Llanfyllin?

When we're introduced to new people in town, we keep getting asked things like, "What made you choose Llanfyllin?" "Out of all the places in the world you could focus on after being in the U.S., why Llanfyllin?" Or, "did you know this is kind of a  ... umm ... a hippie type community?" " A bit ... alternative ... quirky .."

"Then we'll fit right in," is our response, but yes ... we have encountered a few 'woo-woo' beliefs and ideas during our introduction to the B.R.A.C.E. (Building Resilience And Community Engagement) contingent. Our heart attack-recovering neighbor (he's doing well), who stopped in for a social visit, said, "Ah, yes, these people can be a bit ... pious." I thought he had a lovely accepting way of expressing his sentiment.

I think they should have said OLD hippies! Is this how they end up?

It's really hard to explain how it came to be LLanfyllin. We didn't focus on a particular town for any reason and ask 'what are the schools like?' 'Do they have a library?' Or, 'ooh, that town looks pretty, I want to live there.' Rather, we searched for houses with our particular specifications and 'dealbreakers' (shared driveways, pasture, nature reserve, 4WD needed, urban, public footpath through property, contingent deals (called a chain here), and no parking spaces were all a big NO-NO). It really eliminated a lot of homes and brought the search down. We adapted some requirements once we saw what the 'lay of the land' was, for example, having a place to park the car on our own property was critical, as opposed to specifying a garage. Older homes had very poor insulation and some had low doorways. Having open fields to look out at on the edge of town, which seemed nice to us, could become a development in later years. Or fly grazing could come and use an open pasture on our land. There are some strangely ancient laws and acceptances of 

Almost every house we liked the feel of was in Wales, just by chance. So we had to follow our desires. We had 3 to choose from in Llanfyllin, and we're super happy with the one we chose. It was a house and surrounds we had our focus on, and being near a town was another consideration. We got it all!

This is the beer garden at the back of our local pub, The Old New Inn.

Settling In

I'm reluctantly not spending time in my garden lately, nor are we exploring our environs much since we have so much arranging, re-arranging and then re- re-arranging to do. No sooner do we get things fitting in perfectly, than another 4 bowls or set of coffee mugs gets unpacked from within the depths of an efficiently packed armchair or display cabinet. Then it's back to square one.

It's just hard assessing where to put stuff when things come out in dribs and drabs. Today I found this long-awaited item, which I have missed since we packed it away. It's the small, useful and meaningful things that one misses.

We are being patient, and busy. It's been pretty warm, so assembling things in the 'greenhouse' (aka our Conservatory) has been very challenging. We opened up doors and windows to get some airflow through (we hadn't found our battery fan at that stage) and we ended up with swarms of flies in the house which almost sent me to a mental institution. I couldn't deal with them and was obsessively swatting with dishtowels (no fly swatter), and the battery operated zappers that materialized needed batteries. There's a veritable fly cemetery in my kitchen. Yes, it's gross ... but it feeds little robins, and gives the parents a break!

I'm glad to have found some summer clothes that were used as packaging to protect ornaments and memorabilia. Dale has found some of his passenger coaches had dis-assembled themselves on the long journey! This little luxury item turned up at last - again, a small simple thing: my wooden toaster tongs. How did we manage without it?

Strawberries here are amazing! Small and sweet, not enormous and tasteless

Dale concluded that there'd be no point in properly arranging and transforming the garage until he'd laid out the rubber floor covering first, since everything else stands on that. What an effort he put in, but it does look (and feel) fantastic. And we can get the car back inside again.

Photo: D. Schultz

Dinner at the Palace

Yes, we dined at the Palace a few nights ago, where they served the most amazingly delicious Indian food. We didn't sit at the same table as Charles or Camilla though!

The restaurant and take-away is only 6 miles from home in a town called Llansantffraid-ym-Mechain. I drove, but I could tell Dale was on the edge of his seat and couldn't wait to get out. We tried the special Wednesday night offering, which is any starter, main, side and naan (or rice) for a set price. We each picked different items and shared the delectable dishes. Wow! Did we enjoy the varying flavor combinations.

I didn't take any food pics, sorry. We did ask if they had mango lassi, but without any luck. They said they'd try and do that in the future. This restaurant is near a free public parking lot (added bonus).

The name of the restaurant reminds me of a kid's story book that was a favorite for a long while.

Community Garden

Another function hosted by B.R.A.C.E. this week to strengthen community was an open day at the community garden. There were refreshments, plants for sale, a live jazz band, a clothing swap and garden tours.

We can bring compostable materials here if we wish (just a walk down the street)

We've met a lot of like-minded people in this group

Volunteers work here twice each week to maintain the lots, which are not individually owned

This particular tea was among many donated to the event.  Ain't consumerism wonderful? Do you consider yourself to be a strong, down to earth and spicy man? Then this is the tea for you! Or does it mean if you WISH to be  strong, down to earth and spicy then drinking this tea will help?