Saturday we woke to a thick covering of snow, the thickest we have had yet. Ella had a friend staying and after breakfast it was on , a huge snow ball fight. Gwynfor of course in 3/4 pants and slides( as you do when in the snow!) was attacked big time from every direction. I got it on video alot more that on still shots. but this is what it looked like.

There wasn’t much snow left after the kids had finished but the next morning it had snowed again to refresh it all. We don’t get it that often so it is always a surprise when you wake up in the morning, I love it when the sun is shining onto the snow it looks so fresh.

Gwynfors Aunty Ann is someone that never forgets a birthday and always sends the card at least 2 -4 weeks early, very organised. I took Mair and the kids over to where she lives ,on her birthday and took her out for lunch. It was very nice to share her birthday with her. We went to a lovely pub with a big conservatory for lunch then we went for a bit of a drive and back to Aunty Ann’s for a tea party, she had laid it on with sundaes , cake and other food, the kids were in their glory. Nice way to finish school holidays.

School hoildays were nearly over, we thought we would make use of the glass house in the garden. Another reason for planting flower seeds were for the kids cousins wedding in July, she is having a garden tea party theme and wants bunches of flowers from the garden to put around on tables etc. So we thought we would grow some for her, and it would be something the kids can look after and have an interest in. 2 weeks on they have been in there everyday to water and check up on them, Rhys and Ellas have sprouted ,but Aislin and Jack are trying to be patient for theirs to come out. We have just put them outside for a bit of rain watering. Hopefully when we move(2 weeks) they will be big enough to survive without the glass house???? We will keep you up to date with the progress of the flowers, fingers crossed they will have some at the end.

We got into Cardiff at  Tea time after being in Bath , we were staying with Eryl and Celyn , Eryl and Gwynfor went to school together. They also have a Jac (minus the K which is the Welsh spelling )and Alys, similar ages to the kids. The kids were in their glory with having a toy room with toys. It’s always nice to catch up with Eryl and Celyn , nice dinner and a few catch up drinks. The next day we went into Cardiff Bay which is separated a little from Cardiff city, and I had never been there only into the city.

This odd looking building is the Millennium Centre, if you look either side of the wording you can see rows of slate on the building. Gwynfors brothers buisness did all the stonework which was a great thing to show the kids . We told Jack that they had done it ,and that they will be able to bring their kids here ,and tell them that their uncles company had done it, Jack’s mouth dropped in amazement. They hold alot of theatre productions, singers and exhibitions here. Had Lunch and had a 3 hour trip back up into North Wales, then the holiday was over with lots of washing to do ,hehe!

Bath was only about a hour drive from Stonehenge. Bath it notorious for getting lost in, but Madge got us in and parked with out any fuss. This is a place I would love to spend another 2 or 3 days in, it’s a lovely looking city, you can see the how the Romans influence some of the architecture . Two of the places we loved were Bath Abbey and the Roman Baths.

                                                                                                       Town houses in Bath                                            Bath Abbey

These thermal springs are the only ones in the UK, and that’s why the Romans built these public baths on top of them ,nearly 2,000 years ago. They believed that the springs were sacred and that they were built for Sulis Minerva, the Goddess of the thermal springs. Again  we  had hand held audio guides and the kids had a special setting and had to complete a work sheet and got a certificate at the end ,it kept them really interested. The way the Romans built the different baths and rooms is quite amazing with the underground drainage , decoration and detail of stones.

This is the gilded bronze head of the statue of Sulis Minerva, it was found in 1727 by workman digging up a nearby street, can you imagine finding it and finding out just how sacred it was . They found loads of coins and artifacts while restoring this ancient site. It is no longer used to bath in, I thought it may have been I was all geared up to take a plunge. Awesome place to have a look at.

We got to Stonehenge about  10:30am, it wasn’t  far off the road, we had mixed comments about it before we went, but we really enjoyed it. We all had audios that stopped you at different spots and pointed out what the different stones were and how they contributed to the circle. Actually they are doing more research on it as we speak they are digging up parts of the ground hoping to find charcoal fragments so they can more accurately date it. I didn’t realise that it was built at 3 different times adding different  materials ,starting off as a circular banks and ditches 5,050 years ago, then wooden structures 4,600 years ago then stone monument arranged and rearranged over 1,000 years ago.  They know where the stone came from but how it got there is a bit of a mystery .There is no definite known reason why it was built , but I think it must have definitely been built for some religious gathering place. The stones are so accurately placed that the sun shines through certain ones so you know what month it is.

The kids had heard of Stonehenge before and found it really interesting, the audio systems were great, and made it so much more informative. The stones were actually tongue and grooved so they wouldn’t  slip off the top and so they slotted in sideways.