Gareth Hughes
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- Location
- In the wilds of East Anglia
Just back from a week in (not entirely wet and windy) Wales, and thought you might all like a couple of recommendations of places to visit -
Plas Mawr in Conwy I've suggested before, but a return visit did nothing to put me off suggesting it again. (And the butcher's shop next door does wonderful sausages).
Gwydir Castle is a long-term restoration project that's well worth seeing, but bear in mind the owners have a long way to go in putting back all the plaster that was hacked off the interiors by previous owners to make it look like a Hollywood dungeon, though they have recovered and reinstated the panelled and gilt-leather dining room that was shipped to the US in 1922
Rhug Chapel near Corwen (which is a dull and ordinary Victorian church on the outside) has an astonishing 17th Century painted roof and a candelabrum that looks like a Scandinavian Christmas decoration.
Ruthin has the fairly-recently opened Nantclwyd y Dre, the oldest timber-framed town house in Wales, very well restored (after a previous disastrous attempt to strip it back to its mediaeval origins thankfully ran out of money and/or energy before every last scrap of Georgian panelling had gone in the skip). It's very well presented and interpreted.
Ruthin also has an excellent bistro just round the corner, "On The Hill" - well worth popping in for lunch, and there's a good book shop next door too.
On the subject of books, CADW have published "Living Rooms. Interior Decoration in Wales 400-1960", which I hadn't heard of before but is an absolute must-have (as English fashions obviously followed similar patterns), and very, very reasonably priced at £8.95. I can't really recommend it highly enough.
Plas Mawr in Conwy I've suggested before, but a return visit did nothing to put me off suggesting it again. (And the butcher's shop next door does wonderful sausages).
Gwydir Castle is a long-term restoration project that's well worth seeing, but bear in mind the owners have a long way to go in putting back all the plaster that was hacked off the interiors by previous owners to make it look like a Hollywood dungeon, though they have recovered and reinstated the panelled and gilt-leather dining room that was shipped to the US in 1922
Rhug Chapel near Corwen (which is a dull and ordinary Victorian church on the outside) has an astonishing 17th Century painted roof and a candelabrum that looks like a Scandinavian Christmas decoration.
Ruthin has the fairly-recently opened Nantclwyd y Dre, the oldest timber-framed town house in Wales, very well restored (after a previous disastrous attempt to strip it back to its mediaeval origins thankfully ran out of money and/or energy before every last scrap of Georgian panelling had gone in the skip). It's very well presented and interpreted.
Ruthin also has an excellent bistro just round the corner, "On The Hill" - well worth popping in for lunch, and there's a good book shop next door too.
On the subject of books, CADW have published "Living Rooms. Interior Decoration in Wales 400-1960", which I hadn't heard of before but is an absolute must-have (as English fashions obviously followed similar patterns), and very, very reasonably priced at £8.95. I can't really recommend it highly enough.