- I woke about the same time of 6am, as I am starting to do every morning, but felt very snuggly in my bed, had a good nights sleep, regardless of the wind and rain.
It was an hour’s journey to Powys Castle, again through countryside. The weather started off bright sunshine, so I was optimistic for the day, but enroute I drove through a sleet shower, was this settling for the day? Also, along the way I noticed a few sightings of Red Kites, which was very distracting from the road! These two occurrences were to be the theme of the day!
On reaching Powys I was lucky to hit a dry spell to get inside the castle. Ive only been to Powys Castle once, and then I only went round the gardens. To go inside the castle turned out to be a real treat. Although there were some areas we couldn’t go due to the electrics being updated, it was most definitely worth the visit.
There was an exhibition on Clive of India, and although one of our school houses was named after him I have to admit I knew nothing about his life. The exhibition had a new look to it with an audio aid to provide a story to the history, and new look display cabinets. I hadn’t realised chess had originated in India, with chess pieces depicting elephants as well as infantry and chariots.
The main part of the castle told the history of the building through the décor and layout. I was amazed at the 18 + glass cabinets of taxidermy birds. And the extravagant paintings on the majority of the walls and ceilings, depicting battles, Greek mythology and royalty as well as the numerous portraits and busts collected by the family. To see the Gallery where the family would ‘exercise’ on wet days, with it’s original wooden floor and Tudor ceiling. I just love to think about all the people who have witnessed, used, touched the same surroundings I am witnessing now. It really gives you that sense of connection and realism to these people and events, that they weren’t just words on a page.
Throughout the day there were moments of fantastic sunshine, which made me sad to be indoors, but then in the same breath came a cold shower of rain, sleet or snow. Better get a hot choc before venturing outside! Oh and what a lovely hot choc it was, hot, marshmallows under the cream to allow them to melt without falling over the side. These things make a difference and are useful bits of info to provide future visitors before they spend good money on it.
So on came the woolly hat and I cursed as my hands froze in my pocket as I went to walk around the grounds. Hang in there, it’ll change in a minute I thought…. And it did. Beautiful sunshine illuminating the spring flowers and bringing everything to life again. I don’t mind the rain, but everything does look so much better in the sun. The plants look brighter, the animals seem happier, things are more optimistic. It’s the same when you’re lost on the hills. When its sunny you feel happier being lost, yeh we can get out of this, it’ll be fine. But bring on the rain and you start worrying about the path ahead, should you turn back, should you stay put, where is everyone?
I spent some time watching the resident red kites circling the skies, the lambs in the field, the pheasants creeping through the grounds. A great end to my visit, especially as there were to be two more showers before I would settle for the night at my next Brit stop location.