Monmouthshire

Start Date - Sunday 05th May 2013

Full photo album here.

Whilst the date of this adventure was planned, there were some last minute changes which meant that there were some differences to how it would normally be dealt with, some of these differences were;

a)      The sofa bed which is usually used had been sold a few days prior.

b)      Some VW bench seats had been fitted that week, with the intention of using the folded seat and parcel shelf along with some other fabrication as a bed.

More info about this can be found on the build thread here…

We set off as normal around Sunday lunchtime, and we first drove round the outskirts of Gloucester intending to get to Westbury Court Gardens on the A48 as soon as possible. Neither my driver nor his girlfriend are much in to gardens, but decided to make the most of their National Trust membership.

Arriving at the gardens around 3pm we were blessed with wonderful weather.  I was parked on the main road whilst those two, along with my driver’s eleven year old son walked down the drive to the garden entrance.  The first thing of note here is lady who takes the payment offers food pellets to the youngsters so they can feed the fish…

They walked through the entrance to be greeted by a small two story building on the right, this was great for for getting an elevated view of the gardens, the only criticism here is that it would probably be better to get this view at the end rather than the start so you can see where you have been, rather than where you are about to go.

Next to this building was the start of the gardens “canals”, there were two of these which were joined at the other end from where the entrance is. The rather clever fish had gathered at the end near the entrance as they had realised this is where people stand and drop the food pellets in to the water. The fish had their heads out of the water and were almost trying to catch the food as it was dropping towards them! A very strange sight indeed!

Fish "catching" food.

Continuing on, my lot entered in the part of the garden which had manicured lawns and well tended flower beds, before going to the far corner and finding another small building, this time it was single storey and had drawings of Westbury Court plus other large estates in the area. Behind this building was a secret garden, where they sat and relaxed for a while.  Next to the secret garden is a rabbit warren, surrounded by high walls and fences to protect them from foxes, the rabbits are free to run around their little bit of the countryside eating the grass and dandelions.  Not noticing the signs saying “Do Not Feed the Rabbits”, my driver collected more dandelions to throw over the fence to them. Needless to say these didn’t last very long, those little rabbits made short work of eating them.

Walking across the top end of the garden, they reached to opposite end of the canal from the entrance. Here there were more fish waiting to be fed, and a large fountain which appeared to have it’s water pumped from and then drained back to the canal. Finishing up at the garden we set off further along the A48 travelling though the Forest of Dean, there appeared to be outdoor cooking areas within the forest where people could set up their barbeques.

The large fountain with canal backdrop.

Deviating from our route we drove away from the A48, through the forest and towards Brockwier, before turning back down towards the Chepstow intending to find a campsite for the night.  We found a campsite located behind a pub, but for neither love nor money could find anyone to speak to about pitching up? Deciding to get some fuel and first and scout out other sites, we drove to some services at J23A on the M4 (the only place still open), where it was noticed that a hotel room would only cost £19 when the campsite was £14? A hotel would not normally be an option, but at the start of the blog I had highlighted that the sofa bed was no more and the new bench seats were not suitable for sleeping on.

Next day started with a trip to Llanthony Priory, and for somewhere which is quite tucked away down a long, narrow and windy lane, it is surprisingly busy. The priory ruins are still fairly intact considering their age and history. In one part there is a “cellar bar”, which whilst unique was quite crowded and had overpriced food, so a quick drink and some teacakes were all that was had here.  This started the task of trying to find food in this part of Wales on a Bank Holiday Monday!

Llanthony Priory

After leaving Llanthony, we travelled further along the same narrow, windy road past Lord Hereford’s Knob and the sign warning of a hypnotist ahead, towards the northern tip of Brecon Beacons National Park, where we turned left and went past the dead badger.

Following the road and hill back down to Crickhowell in search of food, was disappointing. It seems that nowhere was serving food on this day, eventually my lot managed to find some sandwiches from “The Bridge Inn” at Crickhowell. The food was sufficient for keeping them all going for a short while, they sat by the waterside eating their food, whilst I was still parked at the top of the town. My driver came and collected me and drove me down through the town to collect the others, after which we went up the most ridiculously steep hill near Llangattock.  This was so my driver could test his new climbing rope on the cliffs at the top of the hills, however the bad weather we’d had earlier in the year made the rocks unsuitable for climbing as there were still so many of them loose.

The hills above Llangattock

We spent about 3 hours on the hillside before coming down a different route in to Abergavenny, after which we stopped to admire the roadside waterfall on ????.  Food now being a high priority, we headed back towards “The Skirrid Inn” which is at the start of the road leading to Llanthony.  This is apparently the most haunted place in Wales with some interesting resident ghosts and notches in the beam on the stairs from where they hung people in years gone by.

Whilst ordering food the publican told my lot that once they’d eaten they were welcome to look around upstairs.  The food at this place was pretty decent and at a fair price too, one child of sausage & mash plus two adult mains of lamb shank, (did we have dessert?) with three drinks came to just over £30.

After food, they were given the keys to the upstairs rooms and allowed to roam freely, room one was by far the best of the three! After opening the door they were greated with a small hallway, this opened in to the main room which was both the lounge and bedroom depending on which side you looked at. Off the lounge was the bathroom which had stairs leding down in to it, this gave a small landing which overlooked the bathroom. Strange concept but it added to the ambience.

Lower level bathroom

The second room had a similar layout but was much smaller, also the bathroom was at the same level. The third and final room was so small it was difficult to stand and take any form of meaningful photographs. Each room had a dated coloured bathroom suite, which again seemed to add to the ambience? After they had finished browsing the rooms, they came back downstairs and handed the keys back to landlord, and thanked him for his hospitality.

From here it was a slow drive home.  

If you enjoyed reading about this little adventure please make a comment below. 

Thanks and remember...
One life... Live it! - Bertie.
For more photos please click here...