Tuesday 29 October 2013

The Tale of Devil's Bridge

Recently my Baby and I took a road trip!  Winding roads that made me feel car sick were worth it, to stay in an interesting old hotel, eat good food, wear my new Collectif cardigan and see some amazing scenery.  We went to mid West Wales, just outside of Aberystwyth to a place with the fittingly Halloween type name of "Devil's Bridge".  Here there is a deep gorge with the Mynach and Reidol rivers running at the bottom, and there is not one, but three bridges crossing it.  Unusually, they're built one on top of the other, the first in the 11th century, the second in the 17th century, and the bridge that is still in use today and carries the road was built back in 1901.

Hafod Hotel
 View from the bottom of the gorge up to the hotel on the top right.

Next to the bridge stands the Hafod Hotel, which very much gave me the impression of the hotel in the film 'The Shining' but on a smaller scale and not as remote.  It was originally a hunting lodge, but has been turned into a grander building with its beautiful windows, and the huge overhang of the roof.  Our room had a sort of faded charm, and looked out over the gorge.  My Baby was playing a gig there, and we were treated very well.  The food was particularly good, sourced from local produce - I had a lamb and orange tagine, and my Baby had a beef casserole.  Hearty, flavoursome dishes, that you need in this weather when there's a damp chill in the air.  (As an aside, very reasonably priced too, I think most dishes on the menu were between £8 and £11 and the rooms are from £85, including breakfast).

Hafod Hotel

We left it until the next morning to explore the gorge and the bridges, taking a walking tour that takes about an hour and leads you past waterfalls, down ladder-like steps and through the remnants of caves, some of which have graffiti from tourists visiting back in the 18th century!

We were absolutely spoiled, and I can't recommend the hotel enough if you're looking for somewhere to stay in the area.  I'll leave you with some pictures - but in brief, it was a great place to visit, extremely atmospheric, and definitely worth going to if you're exploring West Wales.  If you're in the mood for a Halloween tale, I'll put that at the end.

 The tea rooms

Love the windows and the overhang of the roof

 
Collectif cardigan bluebirds
The new cardigan!!

 Lovely baby grand piano - wish I had room for one!

 Original glass

The three bridges!

 
Graffiti from 1906 - I couldn't find any earlier than the late 1800s, but apparently there is some from the 1700s if you look carefully


The Tale of Devil's Bridge
Legend tells of how the first bridge came to be built, by the Devil himself!  An elderly lady sat by the gorge with her dog, upset that she was unable to retrieve her cow, which had wandered across to the other side.  The Devil appeared and said he would build a bridge for her overnight, as long as she promised to give up the first living thing to cross it in the morning.  The old lady knew that the Devil was expecting her to cross it first to fetch her cow, but she agreed anyway.  In the morning, a bridge had appeared and the Devil was there waiting for her.  She then pulled out a loaf of bread from under her cloak, and threw it across the bridge - her dog raced after it, and the Devil then had to sulkily accept the dog instead of her.

Friday 25 October 2013

Poirot Disappointment: The Big Four

Who watched 'The Big Four' on Wednesday evening?  It's the first in the final four interpretations of Christie's Poirot novels to be screened over the coming weeks.  As an addendum to this post, I will point you over to Bruce's blog, Eclectic Ephemera, where he also discusses this episode.

'The Big Four' must have been particularly problematic to bring to the screen.  If my memory serves correctly, it was originally a set of short stories, which already makes it difficult to put into one single tale.  Christie used these original short stories to cobble together the novel in 1927.  The tale was also very complicated, set over a long period of time, and had Hastings dashing off to Argentina, and was the ending somewhere in Europe?  I can't quite recall.

The media at the time gave it less than glowing reviews, this was one by the Scotsman, 17 March 1927:
"The activities of Poirot himself cannot be taken seriously, as one takes, for example, Sherlock Holmes, The book, indeed, reads more like an exaggerated parody of popular detective fiction than a serious essay in the type. But it certainly provides plenty of fun for the reader who is prepared to be amused. If that was the intention of the authoress, she has succeeded to perfection".

Anyway, in order to a) make the story simpler, b) set it over a shorter timeframe, and c) to avoid filming abroad, the story presented on our screens bore little resemblance to what Christie actually wrote.  They kept all the cliched bits that in retrospect Christie probably would have edited out, and then added more cliches in there. 

The Grand Reveal, in particular, was a little cringe-worthy.  All that standing around talking when there were two people poisoned with a paralysing drug, surely a bit of haste in getting them to hospital was required?!

Overall, the main theme of Christie's novel, international espionage, turned out to be nothing more than a red herring in this version, so they could trot out an even more implausible conclusion that it was a madman acting out of unrequited love for a woman he hadn't seen for a decade.

I have to admit I was also disappointed with the Poirot Christmas special they did a couple of years ago, an incredibly dark and depressing version of 'Murder on the Orient Express'.  Let's hope that the final 3 episodes give more joy.  There's always the old boxsets to return to, for restoration of faith in Monsieur Poirot, and some classic wardrobe moments displayed on Hastings and Miss Lemon.

What did you all think?

Monday 21 October 2013

My New Valley

I know you'd all love to see some more photos of the house, but until it's looking a bit more presentable I thought I'd share some more photos of the wonderful scenery we've found ourselves in.  One Sunday, we woke early and decided to drive up the mountain that our house sits below to see the sun rise.  It's only a three minute drive, but it's a very steep hill, so it would take you a while to trudge up it!

At the top of the mountain, you can see up and down the Rhondda valley, and across the golf course to the hills and mountains surrounding the other valleys that run South, where they converge into one like tributaries to a river.  The views are breathtaking - see what you think.









 
My Baby was talking to an elderly local man recently, who was telling him about how much the landscape has changed since the closing of the coal mines.  The gentleman remembered the Rhondda Valley when the hills used to be literally grey - covered in fine coal dust - and were relatively bare, as many of the woodlands we see today hadn't been planted then.  Today the landscape is incredibly green, and despite how the towns have sprawled out, and the addition of things like radio masts and wind turbines, the Rhondda's looking good and I'm very happy to call it home.


Wednesday 16 October 2013

1930s Reproduction Evening Gown

Look what's arrived over at vintage repro retailer 20th Century Foxy - a champagne, slash sleeved, satin 1930's style evening gown, available for £280.



I want one.  It would match my house.

Monday 14 October 2013

Kitchen: Healthy Macaroni Cheese

Macaroni Cheese?  How American.  To be honest, I've never liked it and have preferred Cauliflower Cheese as the addition of a single vegetable makes things much more palatable.  But wait, Healthy Macaroni and Cheese has two vegetables in it - broccoli and spinach.  This sounds even better.

I had a go at the Healthy Mac and Cheese recipe from The Picky Eater's blog.  Here's how it turned out.



I don't like those funny bent tubes traditionally used in Macaroni Cheese, so I used wholewheat fusili.  I also omitted the garlic powder and used chilli flakes instead of crushed red pepper.  I also think I made too much sauce, because the recipe is in American measurements and I had to guess what a 'cup' is.  But, it was super tasty and not too much effort, though three pans on the go at the same time is about my limit!

Sometimes I struggle with making a good cheese sauce, but the method Anjali describes worked really well for me, and you could use the basic sauce recipe for a plethora of different recipes.

Wednesday 9 October 2013

Home Sweet Home: The 1930s House


FINALLY, my Baby and I are homeowners, and I think we've done pretty well with a fabulous house that was built in 1935.  Squeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee!!

It's a beautiful, beautiful home - and as we get through the list of DIY jobs I'll share some before and after pictures of rooms.  Our bedroom isn't looking too shabby seeing as we've only been in a week, and you can't make out the woodchip on the back wall in this pic!


We are feeling incredibly lucky, there are some wonderful original features to behold around the house, including a nice bit of parquet and a porthole stained-glass window.  I'll get around to photographing them soon, once I've finished with all of the boxes still piled up in the dining room!
 
As soon as I've unpacked a 1930's dress I'll be pretending I'm in an episode of Poirot.  It's going to be fun, fun, fun!!!

Now, is it a step too far to purchase a 1930's sideboard?  Hmm...

Friday 4 October 2013

The Pierhead Building

The Pierhead building in Cardiff Bay is an imposing, orange bricked Victorian affair that once housed offices related to the coal trade.  Grade I listed, I've often marvelled at the exterior but had never been inside until a month or so ago during the Harbour Festival.

Originally built for the Bute Dock Company in 1897, it became the administrative office for the Port of Cardiff in the late 1940s.  The architect was William Frame, who was mentored by William Burges - the architect in charge of rebuilding Cardiff Castle and the fairytale fantasy that is Castell Coch.

The outside is impressive, but just have a look at my photos of the beautiful windows and amazing tiling on the inside!










The clerks coming to work in such an imposing building must have felt very proud and important!

If you're ever in Cardiff for the Harbour Festival I'd recommend it, there's so much to wander around and see down Cardiff Bay, and the catamaran and sail boat races are pretty spectacular.  There were also nice people wandering around handing out free samples of Cornish ale Doombar - an agreeable drink!


Wednesday 2 October 2013

Kitchen: Buckwheat Salad

Another chickpea recipe (!).  This one is from the Domestic Sluttery blog, a new read to me, and so far some great recipes have appeared on it.

This one involves buckwheat, chickpeas, dried apricots, red onion, ras el hanout spice blend, tomatoes and cucumber.  I didn't have preserved lemon so just used a bit of lemon zest.  I also fried the onion as I find raw onion too strong in salads.

A word on dried apricots: try Crazy Jack's organic dried apricots.  These are the most deliciously dark, sweet, date-like apricots.  Once you've tried them you'll never go back to those sulphate-laden orange versions.  I get mine from Tesco.


For the full recipe please visit the Domestic Sluttery blog here.

Good news - only one tin of chickpeas left in my cupboard now!
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