Friday 6 June 2014

Newton House and Dinefwr Castle

Tis Friday, and our last full day in this part of Wales. For something different, Robyn decided to visit a castle ! This castle is a ruin of course, and about a kilometre from the parking area; on top of a hill. It's Dinefwr ( said Dinever) castle. Like any other castle dating from the 13th century, bits have been broken off, stolen, refurbished, patched up, reused etc. The Rhys family lived here until they moved to Newton house in 1660.

The best story about the place was the Victorian era owners, who built a "Sumer House" (a room) at the top of the old round tower. More money than they knew what to do with, obviously.

 Yep, the round bit in the middle used to have a floor and a roof. The owners would come here for the views, which still are gorgeous.

 

The castle as a whole was a "Romantic Ruin", which the Victorians loved. It is all ruins now; not even The Block or Renovation Rescue could fix this one.

 

Near the castle is Newton house, which is where the estate owners lived from 1664 until 1976. Between the two sites is a deer park - with real fallow deer, and a few cattle. The deer have been here since before the house was built (450 years or thereabouts), while the cattle have been on this estate for 1000 years. They are White Park cattle, a rare breed. There are about a dozen more in another paddock nearby. Needless to say, we couldn't get a White Park burger at the café. The deer are cute, and protected in the deer park, which dates from medieval times. It is now a nature reserve.

 

Don't upset this girl. She weighs 450 KG and those horns are real.

 

 

 

Bambi here is much cuter. They come in three fashion colours - dark brown, light brown, and spotted. There are about 140 of them saving the gardeners the trouble of mowing.

 

 The house was typical of estate houses. It is old, three stories plus a basement, and has been remodelled twice. It was sold off in 1976 to pay family debts. The National Trust bought it in 1990 and put 1.5 million pounds into repairs and decoration. That has stopped the place falling down, and they've done a pretty good job of furnishing and presenting the place. They also managed to get back most of the original portraits of the Rhys family. One of these paintings is about 9 feet tall; so big it would not fit (upright) into most houses. The others are nearly as big. Very impressive.

 

We had a tour that only N.T. members get. This included going into the ceiling space, and then onto the roof. From there we could see all around the grounds, the gardens and the deer park. The house is home to two kinds of bats - both protected. This means that the bats cannot be moved out of the roof space where they roost. In fact only people with a "bat license" are allowed in with the bats. The N.T. guy even needs to be licensed to keep dead bats, and he is limited to 20. Now what would he be doing with 20 dead bats ? Funny kind of a hobby if you ask me.

 

Just to show my appreciation for the guided tour, I went to the house shop- and bought a bottle of their local porter (dark beer). When I got home, I drank it in the same generous spirit.  Twas good too.

 

Then it was time to hurry home. We have to pack and get ourselves ready to go to London tomorrow. According to Google, it's about 3 1/2 hours drive.

 

Must go and start that (it's 10:30)

 

Ta Ta from Wales

 

Lex and Robyn.