South Wales

For the last half of half term, I rented us a cosy, little cottage in South Wales.

It even had a playground and hot tub.

While we were there, we hiked up to the Carreg Cennen Castle located in the Brecon Beacons National Park not far from our cottage. The castle dates back to the late 13th or early 14th century.  Human remains found at the original site of Castell Carreg Cennen date human activity at the location back to prehistoric times. The site may well have also been an Iron Age hillfort. Roman coins from the 1st and 2nd century have also been found, although it is unlikely the Romans occupied this site on a permanent basis.The autumn leaves and colours were gorgeous! My pictures don't do the colours justice.

Here is Abby with some proper Welsh cows with huge horns located at the bottom of the hill where the castle was.

Sadie insisted on hiking up the hill. She would get very upset if we tried to pick her up. It made for some slow walking but she was determined.

The girls never tire of exploring castles. They always love running from room to room, up and down imagining what life would have been like.

 In the south-east corner of the inner ward a set of steep steps lead to a vaulted passage and a natural cave beneath the castle, which leads deep into the hillside. A fresh water spring rises in the cave, which would have been a useful supply of water in the dry weather. I went down with the girls while Charles stayed with Sadie. It was very slick, dark and narrow. We didn't have a torch so I used my phone camera for light and made the girls go much further than they wanted to. It reminded me of a proper dungeon. I would not have been surprised if we would have stumbled upon a skeleton of some wretch who had lived there suffering the last few years of his life for some crime. There were three small holes in the stone at one point, and I could imagine the old man having these as his only view out to the real world while he was locked up. We could have gone a lot further if we would have had a torch. I sure wish we would have known to rent one when we paid to get in. Oh well, it was really exciting going as far as we did.

This is the slippery tunnel down to the caves.

Looking out a small window from the tunnel to the caves. Its a long way down... 

Alex in the castle kitchen oven.

This is outside the castle. It would have been a well-fortified, protected place being on top of this huge hill.

Here we are on the opposite hill from the castle. Sadie wants to get down and walk so she can fall over the edge. I am not letting her.

Alex standing behind the castle.

This is the hill the girls and I are pictured on where Sadie wanted to go walking off the edge. You can see why I am holding her....

Abby contemplating life...

And now, the walk back down and Sadie is back to walking.

We enjoyed cosy fires, lots of hot chocolate, old Halloween movies and loads of good food! It was a really good break!

Hellfire Cave and other Half Term Shenanigans

We had lots of friends over during the half term and lots of sleepovers. Here we have best friends tying leaves together to let them go down the river together. Ah, How sweet! BFFs Forever!  

One of the days during half term, I took all the girls to High Wycombe to the Hellfire Caves. They were having a "CarnEvil" that day too for Halloween with little booths set up for face and pottery painting. 

All through the caves there were spooky scenes for Halloween.

Sammy and Abby's friend were freaked out by a few of the Halloween scenes. I love the fear and horror on their faces. The caves were actually kind of scary because in parts it was quite dark. I was trying to carry the baby and had Sammy and Alex clinging on to me for dear life in certain parts, as well as a bag hanging from me. It wasn't exactly easy to navigate. Then Sadie got brave and started walking off into the dark. That was fun too. They have a special night Halloween tour that I definitely don't think the girls could have handled. The caves are made up of long, narrow passages that go about a mile and a half into the ground. There is a large room called the Banqueting room and other smaller rooms with chambers of statues of the various Hellfire club members from the past. The final destination is the inner Temple which you reach by crossing the River Styx. The cave dates back to the 1740s when they used to mine for chalk. The Knights of St Francis of Wycombe or the Hell-Fire Club as it was later called was a natural progression from earlier clubs founded by Sir Francis Dashwood in the mid 18th century. Sir Francis formally re-opened the Caves in 1951 at a charge of one shilling and with candles provided free. A wave of publicity ensued and visitors started to roll in, especially when the local vicar, Father Allen, told the Daily Mirror that 'my tummy wobbles like a jelly every time I pass the entrance.' He followed this with a sermon denouncing the evil influence which emanated from the Caves. The main purpose of the Club was "a set of worthy, jolly fellows, happy disciples of Venus and Bacchus, got occasionally together to celebrate woman in wine and to give more zest to the festive meeting, they plucked every luxurious idea from the ancients and enriched their own modern pleasures with the tradition of classic luxury." You can read all about the fascinating history of the caves and the hellfire club here. Apparently, Benjamin Franklin was one of the most famous visitors to the club.  

After exploring the caves, we went on top of the caves to a huge mound where the church of St. Lawrence and the mausoleum are. The girls had a great time rolling down the hill and looking out at the gorgeous autumn leaves.

Sadie even got in on the haunting!

Here are some of the girls siting on the wall of the mausoleum

Anyway, all in all it was a perfect day out for the week of Halloween....  

LEGOLAND

Near the end of September, we went to LEGOLAND for Alex's birthday. She didn't want a party this year. Her only wish was to go to LEGOLAND. We could not have picked a more perfect day. Blue skies and not a cloud in sight, meant for huge crowds, which was the only downside of the trip.

Lego castle where the girls found their favourite roller coaster

Sammy posing with the Lego pharaoh

Lego Friend

Alex is absolutely obsessed with the Lego movie. She has watched it hundreds of times. She had to pose by this figure from the movie. (I can't remember its name.)

They had famous landmarks and buildings from different countries. It was fun to walk around and recognize each country and their famous Lego landmarks.

Alex was so thrilled to be at LEGOLAND. I think she told the whole school and whoever else she met on the street that we went there. She is still talking about it and its November!

Here is a familiar one.

Here is Sadie playing in the playground while the girls go on one last ride.

These aren't from LEGOLAND. I just threw them in because they are cute.