South Wales, UK

When we were up in Usk a few weeks back we visited the natural burial ground at Usk Castle Chase. My mother is buried there.  By coincidence they were having an “Open Day” which I must admit I found a bit bizarre but I suppose even burial grounds and funeral directors need to do a [...]

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Yesterday we visited Ogmore Castle. The castle dates from about 1116. It’s pretty unusual as it is low-lying and right next to the river Ogmore. There is a moat that apparently used to fill at high tide (the River Ogmore is tidal here). Not much remains of the castle now but it’s [...]

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We went a bit further afield today to the Newbridge Inn in Tredunnock, near Usk (map). The Newbridge Inn is a pub / restaurant and hotel owned by Chris Evans of Radio and TV fame. The head-chef is Iain Sampson. We had booked for lunch, but there wasn’t any need as it [...]

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Somewhere a bit different today - a visit to a Neolithic burial chamber right in the middle of the Vale of Glamorgan. I’ve always seen the signs to Tinkinswood but have never visited. It’s pretty amazing and compliments the nearby St Lythan’s Dolmen - you can visit both in a couple of hours [...]

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We went for a little trip along the South Wales coast today from Nash Point to Llantwit Major. When we got to LLantwit it was getting quieter but the cafe was busy because of the high tide. At high tide the beach is totally covered apart from some of the pebbles at the top.

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We had a great meal in Cardiff Bay last night in Signor Valentino. The restaurant is a very good Italian with great food and good Italian service from what appear to be native Italians. Though some of my colleagues had suspicions that some of the waiters originated from Splott
We were lucky to [...]

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This weekend we had a lttle trip out to “BlueBell Valley” near Castle-upon-Alun between Wick, Ewenny and St Brides. We have always called it this because of the splendid display of Bluebells at this time of year.
It’s not the sort of place that you’d find in passing - you need to go down some pretty [...]

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An interesting point of view from Kevin McCloud on the Celtic Manor Hotel - Celtic Manor is ‘huge monolith’. I must admit that when I first saw the newly built Celtic Manor resort it towered above the old Celtic Manor hotel and the M4 motorway. As time has gone by I guess [...]

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We had a very nice lunch in Cardiff Bay this week. The restaurant is called Demiro’s. It’s located in the Mermaid Quay complex just across the Oval Basin from the Millennium Centre. We normally grab lunch in Coffee Mania but decided to try somewhere new. I’m normally put off by the [...]

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We visited the British Drift Championships at Llandow Circuit yesterday. I was surprised to see that one of the top drivers is Shane Lynch of Boyzone fame. The photo shows Shane drifting around the first bend. Nice car! It’s a Skyline R33 GTS-T. The photo was taken by Kee. Have a [...]

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