It started... not badly, but, well, getting stuck at Hopwood Services for an hour while Mum was stuck in traffic on the M6 is not the ideal start to a holiday. Worse for Mum, bless her, trapped on the motorway with two fidgetty dogs in the back.
Got going eventually though and after a nice scenic drive into Wales, we made our way up the narrow winding road to our cottage at Berth Fedw Farm in the hills above Talgarth. Gorgeous views across the valley and some lovely sheep in the field at the back, which Poppy (the older dachshund) promptly tried to say hello to by squeezing through the fence. Good job I hadn't let her off the lead...
Holiday proper started with a super lazy morning and then a short drive to Brecon, a lovely little market town. It was rather damp, but having the dogs with us it was a bit difficult to find anywhere we could go inside. So instead, the rain having stopped, we sat outside Cariad Cakes and had a lovely cup of tea and a very yummy cupcake each.
Most delicious. The weather still wasn't looking great, but we decided to try for a walk along the Brecon-Monmouth Canal anyway.
Of course, at that point it decided to rain on us so we turned back towards the car park. Passed these lovely little canal-side cottages on the way.
Brightened up again, typically, as we reached the car park so we decided to brave it again and this time head out along the river. Turns out the riverside path opens out into a nice little parkland and the dogs got the chance to run around off the lead for a bit. Snapped this spooky looking old house while the pups made friends with another dog.
And then it was back to the cottage, up the winding roads for a lazy evening.
On the Monday we headed in the other direction to Hay-on-Wye, the town famous for its secondhand book shops. It piddled down for a large part of the morning, which we spent sheltering in the old Butter Market and Cheese Market Halls (recently restored, I'll have you know) and poking around in some of the lovely bookshops. This got even better when we found out the dogs were allowed in most of the bookshops as long as they behaved. Which they did, fortunately. Of course, Poppy then decided that since she was allowed in the bookshops, she must be allowed in all the shops...
Had lunch at Kilvert's pub - really nice, reasonably priced food. Drinks seemed a bit overpriced to me (£3.10 for a pint of Pepsi?!), but totally made up for with the grub. Plus the dogs were quite happy to sit outside with us and bark at anyone who went into the pub.
After lunch we had a little wander around the rest of the town centre and had a quick walk in the park behind Hay Castle.
Raided tourist information for a map and then toddled off down to the river for a nice little afternoon walk. Got a bit excited for a moment when I thought I'd seen a Red Kite, but it turned out to be a buzzard on closer inspection. Damnit. Gorgeous walk, though.
And then we returned to the cottage for the evening. Obviously.
Took the dogs out for a walk in the field and Poppy promptly rolled in some sort of shit. She loved it. Mum was not so impressed. Henry, the younger dog, was quite happy to just run around pretending he's still a puppy.
Must have been tired though, our Henry. He decided to play dead on the sofa when it was time to go to bed...
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