Grand Tour of England detours to Wales

We had a good night’s sleep and after securing one of the two Guardians on sale in the village shop, we headed off en route for our next site near Brecon.

I like to plan a stop in order to get a walk and a picnic on the way, and Powis Castle was not far off the route so we went there for a wander.

It is a NT property and though at weekends a timed slot must be booked, during the week we could just turn up. It has one of the
prettiest gardens of any NT property, obviously at its best at this time of year. The view from the castle looked down to its terraces and formal gardens then across a fertile valley to wooded hills. The roses were blooming. Everything was so sheltered. We walked along the various terraces with gorgeous scented wisteria hanging from the above terrace to the bottom of the gardens where a peacock flew in to show his glorious display. Making our way back up we walked by a lake which had yellow irises. This walk gave onto a rhododendron area with some very pretty azaleas as well. I told Mr C we’ll dig up the dead frosted fuchsias and get an apricot azalea or maybe a white rhododendron. He looked doubtful.

The blip is the castle from the walk. It is famous for its cloud formation topiary. We didn’t go inside as there seemed to be lots of people and it didn’t seem a good idea in these times.

We took the scenic route by the Wye Valley. It’s all very wooded and green. Our site is by a stream. The cloud is down so we can’t see the Brecon Beacons. Hopefully tomorrow.