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Valentine's Ventures

Wednesday 21st February 2007

For my birthday this year, we rented the wing of a farmhouse in the secluded Llanthony valley. This particular farmhouse is built onto the side of the remains of Llanthony priory. The wing where we stayed is believed to have been the prior's lodgings.

The weather for most of the week was pretty grim, but Valentine's Day was an exception. The sun came out early and remained out all day. I was determined to make the most of it! As soon as the blue skies emerged, I was off round the priory capturing as many photos as I could while the weather held.

Once I was satisfied with my efforts, my partner joined me for a morning stroll up the hill.

During the 19th century, the lands around Llanthony were purchased by the eccentric English academic Walter Savage Landor. He'd planned to build a country estate in the valley, but this never came to fruition. He had plans for a secluded, utopian community in which the priory would have served as a school-house. He found the locals unsupportive and uncooperative, and consequently his stay was brief. However, he left his mark on the area in the form of a massive tree-planting program.

We headed back down from the hill and wandered off along the lanes towards the priory's tithe barn. It makes for quite a splendid sight set alone against the backdrop of the valley.

Adjacent to it can be seen what are presumably remains of some monastic construction.

We headed back to the farmhouse to pick up the car, stopping at the ruins of Llanthony's ancient dovecote along the way. This is believed to be unique in Britain, being the only known dovecote to have been buried under earth.

Our plan was to visit Raglan castle next, but as we were driving down the valley, I glimpsed the village of Cymyoy off to our left. The sight of the sun illuminating St Martin's church in the distance proved too much to resist. A detour was arranged.

St Martin's church is a real fairy-story building. The geology of the underlying rock has caused slippage that's left a twisted and misshapen structure. Combined with the picture-book countryside and the remote and secluded bucolic location, this place is pretty much my idea of heaven.

Entering the church is a bit like stepping into a Dali painting! It's quite disconcerting, especially when some of the odd angles are glimpsed in the periphery of your vision.

We were reluctant to leave Cwmyoy and will certainly be back on a Summer's afternoon for a picnic!

The last time I was at Raglan Castle was exactly three years ago. I'd wanted to re-visit for a while and capture some better photos, but I'd been growing reluctant. On our last visit, we met two lovely cats, one of which accompanied us around our entire tour of the castle. It followed us everywhere we went, patiently waiting for attention. It was an old moggy at the time, so I was certain it would already have passed on. Raglan just wouldn't have been the same without it! Well, I was pleasantly surprised to see the old mowler had survived and was still just as friendly and attentive.

It's ginger colleague also seemed in good health still, if slightly lazier on this occasion.

Can't be a bad life!

Raglan can't fail to impress. It's a mammoth structure with some unusual and dramatic features. It'd be easy to spend a whole day here with a camera.

This was the first time I noticed the remains of decorative paintings on the walls of the recesses along the moat walk. Can't believe I missed that previously!

After saying farewell to the cats, we made our way back to the car. My eye was caught by a particularly photogenic tree at the edge of the car-park.

Our final stop of the day was Abergavenny. The castle ruins aren't particularly impressive. but they did offer up a photo or two.

We had a brief wander before heading back to Llanthony for an evening in front of the fire.