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Tuesday 15 May 2007

Beautiful Wales

Look where I have been this weekend for 4 days.............I am tricking you it wasn't all at this lovely little stitching shop! We were on our way to our holiday weekend when I asked DH if we could make a 'd'ear-tour to The Nimble Thimble, this is a shop owned by Chris a lady I have got to know through going to several stitching shows. This is in a beautiful location at Llangedwyn Mill in Llangedwyn which is near Oswestry. We made it to the shop just in time and I was so glad we did, this may be a small shop but it is packed to the brim and one of our 'best' of the very few we have here in the UK. I especially wanted to visit this shop as Chris stocks the Shepherds Bush kits that I love so much. I got myself 3 gorgeous SB kits and DD 2 little SB kits that have the 10ct Tula in them, a small cut of vintage 32ct linen and 2 GAST threads. I would have loved to get much more but I spent quite a bit on what I did get so thought I had better not seen as we were on the way there not back!! I have definately seen some other things I now have my eye on for next time.




I expect you US ladies have never seen such a small stitching shop...lol, this is Chris behind her counter and straight ahead from the door is the SB, DT LH, CCN section. I was in drooling heaven...on the wall from them to the door frame were loads of kits and charts. The table you can just see to the right of the doorway is full of charts, every variety you can think of. There is another shelved section after the front window with kits and charts, the floor area has a wooden clothes airer with afghans etc all beautifully hanging from it, then there is the shelves full of threads and then linens leading up to the counter. The WDW and GAST and Caron threads are on little stands that you can maybe just make out near to the counter area. There are also little baskets dotted about with small SB kits and Sweetheart Tree kits with the walls covered in tempting beautifully stitched pictures :-)) I liked!!




Moving on from there as it was sadly closing time and I had spent up for the day we next came to this beautiful view even in the rain we were driving through. This is a view of Snowdonia National Park. I cannot tell you just how beautiful Wales actually is, I am truely in love with the place :))) I have been when I was a child but knowing me I was asleep on Su's lap as I used to be terribly travel sick, so cannot really remember it from then ! As you can see even through a rainy car window driving along it looks beautiful.




On from there and the beautiful scenery all the way, we eventually came to this... which is just before you drive into Porthmadog town.




The specially built and very beautiful village of Portmeirion (where the Pottery is from) is in the same location and is definately worth a visit. Very, very pretty!!




At the place we stayed it was right on the coast again a very beautiful location, this was our first holiday of this type in a holiday camp. Superb for families with actually a bit 'too' much to do so we did out best. There was a boating lake that housed Swans :) we got a picture of this one with her signets, they were so sweet. We went to the huge swimming zone which has wave pools , flumes and slides. We went Go-Carting which was a laugh as DD was getting cross with me for going so slow but my feet hardly reached the pedals so I could not go fast! We went bowling amongst other things, out for meals and really had a fun packed time.




I personally was made to feel very welcome in Wales as you can see in this collage below ;-) Many of you know my real name is Helen so I was tickled to see it all over and just had to take pictures as that is not something you see everyday :-))




I was most impressed by how 'Welsh' Wales is...everything is in Welsh first including road work signs then English and they are all bi-lingual right down to the toddlers and I thought it was great. Welsh flags are swaying from such alot of houses and it felt so incredibly miles away from England in one sense as it is so different but similar in another of course but definately a lovely surprise in the ways it is different. Here is Caernafon Castle we visited on Saturday which is in Caernarfon this is the sight you see as you drive into the town.




This is the Castle from the other side for a better view of the massive turrets which are on the far left of the picture above. This must be the biggest castle I have ever seen in my life up to now and I have visited a good number of them!!




All in all a wonderful weekend, I am totally worn out and need another holiday to recover ;-)) Mainly because these pesky seagulls were having a disco on our roof ALL night long I think!! Noisy little things they kept waking me up...so I am extremely tired but happy :-))




Lastly but not least on our way home to England we called in a historic Chester, it is a fabulous city with a huge Cathedral and the heart of the town has all the shops built into the original tudor buildings. It is quite unlike anywhere else in England... the nearest it is remotely like is hmmmm.......maybe York..... but really York is quite different again so they cannot really be compared. Here I am with my hands full ;-) charging off way ahead of DH, as usual......he walks so slow, or is it I walk so fast!!?? ;-)




Most of the pictures were taken through the car window as it rained quite a bit in true British fashion but I think you can still make them out OK :-)) I didn't get alot of stitching done in Wales as it was a busy long weekend but my next postings should be of the Pinkeep exchange. Mine should surely be arriving as it is over a week ago it was sent and I have yet to receive mine. I am so sorry I have not had time to catch up with all the blogs of you lovely ladies who leave me a comment, there are just not enough hours in my days. I won't be able to do alot of blog commenting just now either as we are having our house decorated so I shall be very busy for a while with the upheaval of that and trying to fit a bit of stitching into my day if I can somewhere along the busy line ;-) I do thank-you all for coming to my blog, it is great to 'see' you all.

Take care all and enjoy your week...until next time :-))

23 Comments:

Blogger Deb said...

Helen, Thank you so much for taking me "hone." I lived a good part of my live in Europe and these pictures made me recall those happy days! I loved them! You must have had a fabulous time!! So beautiful. Thank you for sharing. PS: Pack on its way!!
Hugs, Deb

1:34 am  
Blogger Annemarie said...

Sniff... Can you believe I lived here for a year, Helen? Your tour through North Wales made me truly homesick. And Chester too! I want to move back there NOW!!! Thanks (or should I say diolch?) for sharing these lovely pics and raving stories.

6:34 am  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

That seemed to be a pretty small shop. Good courage for the decoration

7:31 am  
Blogger Cheryl said...

Love all of your pictures! I'd love to see more of Wales. That little shop looks great - they seem few and far between (certainly haven't found anything like it up here in Scotland yet).

10:46 am  
Blogger Cindy said...

Thanks for sharing those beautiful pictures. The stitching shop looks so cozy...

10:47 am  
Blogger Vero M said...

Oh...I would love to enter this tiny shop...I love your photos. Thanks for sharing :-))

11:38 am  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Great pictures! DH and I are thinking about going to Chester later in the year - it's such a pretty place.

11:44 am  
Blogger Nancy said...

Helen I enjoyed your pictures very much! Wales is absolutely breathtaking from the scenery to the castle to the mother swan and her children. And, the cross stitch shop may be small, but it is the most beautiful shop I have seen. Good luck with your house redecorating! One of the things I love to do!

Nancy

12:52 pm  
Blogger Vonna Pfeiffer said...

Thank you for all of your beautiful holiday pictures you've shared with us! It looks like it was a beautiful, fun filled time :)

1:40 pm  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

What a nice weekend ! and nice pictures too ! We'll wait to see what nice things you will do with your purchase...

2:39 pm  
Blogger Katrina said...

I enjoyed your pictures so much, what a lovely trip :-). And Shepherd's Bush stash too, sounds perfect to me.

2:59 pm  
Blogger Susimac said...

Love your pictures H. Chester is one of my favourite places. Ooo and thanks for sharing pics of the Nimble Thimble - I know you said it was small but it certainly is cozy - wish I could have visited it too with you we would have to get a 2nd mortgage LOL!!!

4:26 pm  
Blogger Jacqui said...

Sounds like you had a great time. I love Chester, it's where I had my 3rd honeymoon, LOL!

5:37 pm  
Blogger BeckySC said...

WOW, you took some gorgeous photos of your trip :) I am so glad you had a lovely time :)

7:44 pm  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

thank you for the fabulous comment and pictures
i would love to visit the tiny LNS

about seagulls, it happened the same to us when we went to Saint Malo (Britain), France : we can't sleep all night as we stayed four days and nights LOL

9:55 pm  
Blogger Wendy said...

The best holidays are those when you get to visit a cross stitch shop as well and take some stash home with you! Lovely pictures! And good luck with your house decoration.

10:10 pm  
Blogger mainely stitching said...

I've never been there, but I'd like to go more now than ever! Lovely photos, Helen!!

10:47 pm  
Blogger Von said...

What a beautiful place Wales is!! My list of places to see is getting to be awfully long thanks to friends like you, Helen! :D

What a darling needlework shop - like a picture in a storybook!

11:43 pm  
Blogger Cheryl said...

Oh yes, the seagulls...aren't they awful?!!

1:30 pm  
Blogger Stitch Wizard said...

Wow Helen, I have really behind on my blog reading! I just saw your wonderful pictures here and I just love them!! You seem to be quite the photographer as well as a good designer after looking at your newest post!! What a talented girl you are!!! Wonderful scenery and I love the bird picture as well!! Thank you for sharing with all of us! Debby :))

4:09 pm  
Blogger Elizabeth MacGregor-Kirkcaldy said...

Thanks for sharing the Lovely, lovely piccys of Wales, Helen!!! They so remind me of Scotland... Sounds like you had a wonderful time and so glad you got to stop by the stitching shoppe! :-)

On of the things I miss most about Scotland is the plaintive cry of the gulls... and the sea. I know they can be pesky... but I so love to hear them call to one another... ;-)

Hope you house decorating goes well! That can be such a bother whilst in the middle of it... but it's so wonderful once you're all done! :-)

10:05 pm  
Blogger stitcherw said...

What wonderful pictures, thank you for taking me on a little tour of what all you saw and did. I would love to visit this area sometime, it is so lovely. The needle shop looks like it would have been lots of fun too, I so love going into a shop with different models to see and all kinds of fibers and patterns and such. I'm glad that you had such a grand time.
Sue

5:28 pm  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

These are beautiful photos. Sounds like you had a nice visit. I love the quaint shop. Maybe someday I'll see your part of the world. Still need to see most of the US though.

4:40 am  

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