Tretower Court and Crickhowell- the further adventures of the parents of a cycling enthusiast

I won't go into details of the whys and wheres. We got the P&J out of the house at a reasonable time to  drop him off in Brecon, for another crack at the Taff trail. Some people never learn. I stoked him up with a cooked breakfast and sent him on his way. He tells me there will be a video (can't wait... yawn), but it went dark half way through (which means- a) it's so boring you'll fall asleep halfway through, b) he's been cycling with his eyes shut, or c) he should have got up earlier. Take your pick- each is as likely as the other). On the way there the OH and I noticed a sign suggesting there might be another castle to cross off our imaginary tick list- Tretower Court. Never heard of it? Neither had we.
So on our way to Crickhowell, we detoured (I was going to say deviated, but some of you might choose to get the wrong idea), thinking 10 minutes, a couple of snaps for the blog, and on our way. Nooo! This is what we found.

Hmm, we thought. Interesting. We might have even said it. Who knows? We're both of us a bit long in the tooth now, and neither of us can remember the P&J's name half the time, let alone what we said four hours ago.
 Anyway, as the OH mumbled something about paying, we went and had a look. The young lady at the till (young lady- that's when you know you're getting old!) was very pleasant (another word I've started to use- it's my age) and informative (like a  bus time table, but more interesting) and charged us £5 each, and £ 2.50 for a guide, so I didn't have to take notes or remember stuff.


Well, what could we say? What a little gem!  Brief history?
Established at the end of the eleventh century, it was eventually claimed by a chap called Picard, and it was he who built a mott and bailey at the site, which grew, via a succession of Picards, into a proper castle.
The Picard line died out in the fourteenth century and the castle went to the Berkeleys, of Berkeley Castle fame. It was purchased from the Berekleys in 1429 by Sir William ap Thomas and passed on by him to his son, Herbert, who settled it on his stepbrother, Roger Vaughan. It was Vaughan who built Tretower Court. The Vaughans were Yorkist, and after Richard III's death, rebelled against the new King. Vaughan was, however, later pardoned. The Vaughans held Tretower Court until 1700, and abandoned it soon after. They offered it to to a local family and it was bought by William Parry in 1786 as a working farmhouse, eventually falling into disrepair.
The  building was bought for the nation, following an appeal in the late 1920s. There were many efforts at conservation and preservation, the last one taking place 2009-10.
There is, of course, a Wiki page, and a Castles of Wales page, for more information. This is a summary of the guide. But you want some more pictures, don't you? Here's a few. I'll post the rest on my Pinterest account, in due course and put a link here.

                                                                               

 This plan is an artists impression (by Terry Ball)  out of the guide. It's to give you an idea how the tower and the house go together. If you want to know what the numbers stand for, go to Tretowers and get your own copy. It'll be a nice day out. I'm sure I saw some nice pubs/ coffee houses en route...  

And then on to Crickhowell, where we were intending to go, before we were interrupted by Tretower. Crickhowell also has a Wiki page.
It also has a castle, but, quite frankly, it's a bit like watching your mum on a karaoke machine
after you've just been to see Peter Gabriel.

It does, however, have some nice coffee shops, and when we arrived, there was a persian carpet sale going on in one of the halls.

So, these are some of the bits of castle we were able to find-

Can you see it?

You can see that it was quite substantial, and has its own entry on castlesofwales

What else did we see? Oh, yes- the seventeenth century bridge

And a river. The Usk I believe

There is also an iron age fort

That's it, that bump on the right. I was using a wide angle lens here- the hill isn't that small or that far away.

There's also this, which I'm told is Gwernvale Manor, one time home of  Sir George Everest,

famous for his mountain in the Himalayas.

There may have been more, but we had to go in search of the P&J in darkest Pontypridd.

He found a convenient pub to wait by (practising for when he's 18), but we couldn't find it for a while, and by the time we did, he'd gone from being a hot sweaty teenager, to being a cold, smelly one. But he's just had a bath, so all is well. And I regret, this will probably be the last blog about our travels until Spring, as the days are definitely too short for getting lost now.

Going Green- Shampoo and Toothpaste and getting rid of those plastics.

I'm feeling inspired today. Instead of getting depressed about the endless stream of bad news on how
we're trashing our planet, I have decided to make a bit more effort myself. If we all try a bit harder, maybe we can collectively make a difference, right?
So, I'm going to try and cut down on my pollutants- not just the ones I disperse into the environment, but the ones I disperse upon and into myself as well. I'm starting with simple things- I am, after all, a very busy person, with seemingly never enough time to do what I have to, let alone saving the planet. So, this week, while I'm off, I'm going to try alternatives to commercial shampoos and conditioners (and I have to say I'm sceptical) and toothpaste (which I'm less sceptical about). When my box of ecofriendly washing detergent runs out, I might have a go at that, as well.
These receipes have been gleaned from Madeleine Somerville

So, here's the shampoo-



Mix one tablespoon of baking soda into 250ml of warm water. Stir until dissolved, then pour it over wet hair. Massage this magical mixture into your scalp and rinse well.


And here's the conditioner-

a tablespoon or two of apple cider vinegar or lemon juice diluted in 250ml of warm water will do the trick. Pour over washed hair, leave to set in for a few minutes, then rinse.

The toothpaste is simply good old bicarb of soda, brushed onto the teeth. I have given up on the household brands and their micro plastic balls, but the alternative still comes in a plastic tube, so I'll try the bicarb so I can get rid of some more plastic containers.
  Like you, I thought what I'm prepared to give up won't change the world. But then I read Madeleine's shampoo article and her closing words-

"If you were reading about my strange little shampoo situation above, shaking your head and thinking, “There is no way this strange Canadian lady can convince me to wash my hair with the same stuff I use to unclog my kitchen sink,” does that make you a crap environmentalist? No.

Not doing anything because you can’t do everything? That makes you a crap environmentalist, and a defeatist. No one likes a defeatist.

Do what you can and ditch the guilt. You don’t have to wash your hair with baking soda to make a difference, although it would make a certain strange Canadian lady immensely happy if you did. Even just once."

The Guardian article is here

I'll let you know how I get on.



Update 6 November 2015


Well the hair wash of bicarb and vinegar has worked surprisingly well. My hair ( which, I have to say, is quite short) looks and smells clean, and my scalp, which can get maddeningly itchy, isn't half as irritated. The bicarb toothpaste is okay- my teeth feel as clean as with a regular toothpaste. There has been a wee bit of a setback, in that one of my molars broke at the side. This was not as a result of the new tooth regime- it had been an ongoing problem which my dentist hoped would sort itself out- which it obviously did. At least I can eat on that side now, which I haven't been able to do for some months.


The only problem I have is that I can only get 180g tubs of bicarb locally, and the tubs are plastic. Admittedly, they're more reusable than toothpaste tubes, but they're still plastic. So, I'm now in search of a larger, more recyclable pack. Watch this space..


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