A Week with Big Brother

GB arrived on Thursday last week and on Friday we wandered around the city of Chester. Chester has been an important places since Roman times as it was not only a port but a major crossing point of the roads from South to North and East to West. It also sits on the border of Wales and was an important base for making incursions into that country in days gone by. The Cathedral was far more interesting than either of us remembered it.

In particular the cloisters were delightful.

If I were a lot younger I would begin a series of photos of Saints as depicted in stained-glass windows.

The Medieval carvings in the quire included this elephant - obviously carved by someone who had never seen one.

And some other weird and wonderful creatures.

We had lunch in the college refectory and after a wander around the city we had a coffee in Duttons. When GB is not doing crosswords he's sending texts...

On Saturday we went to Tatton Park - the best part of which was the gardens. The Japanese garden was probably my favourite.

Sunday saw GB take Jo and I to Llangollen where he treated us to an excellent lunch at the Greenbank Restaurant.

It had a fine view of Castle Dinas Bran.

After lunch we visited Plas Newydd, the one-time home of the famous Ladies of Llangollen.

Since I was last there, in the 1960s, the back part of the building has been demolished and the right hand end tidied up.  You can see how it looked earlier in the twentieth century here.

We came home past World's End and over Esclusham Mountain.

On Monday GB and I had coffee at Roses in Heswall then the three of us went to Carr Farm garden and gift centre and then on to New Brighton.

There were Redshank and Greenshank on the sands.

The view of the Liverpool Pier Head from New Brighton.

On Tuesday Jo was back in work so GB and I went to the Welsh Mountain Zoo near Colwyn Bay. The best part of the day was the bird display which included this Barn Owl.

GB thought this bear looked sad but I'm sure he's smiling here!   Well, his mouth turns up at the corners.

The Green-winged x Scarlet Macaws were preening their feathers.

GB was taken with the Harris Hawk display.

I was more enamoured of the two Blue and Yellow Macaws which flew free.

"Gerrofff. That tickles."

 We had a quick trip through Old Colwyn Bay and needless to say we gravitated towards the second-hand bookshop there.  I bought 'How to Read a Church', an interesting looking volume by Richard Taylor.

We returned via St Asaph, where we had coffee and stopped off at the Cathedral where a recital rehearsal was in progress.

Wednesday saw us visit Church Farm for coffee and West Kirby for charity shops - where I bought Sam Savage's 'Firmin - Adventures of a Metropolitan Lowlife' and 'The Great Plague' by Pamela Oldfield. 
Then GB departed for a  friend's house and began the trip back up to the Isles.

A most pleasant week and even if the weather was not brilliant it was reasonable for most of the time.