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Observations About Wales: From Travel To Business & Politics |
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May 1996 |
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A Journey Through North Wales
Getting to North Wales Chester, A Good Neighbor Hitting the Road A Few Words Erddig: A True Original Hailing from the late 17th century, Erddig is a true original. The mansion's fine collection of 18th century furniture is the actual furniture that has been in the house for over 200 years ago. This presents a unique opportunity for the visitor. Most furnished properties that are open to the public only show recreations with period furnishings that were not originally part of the household. Such places show you how a home might have looked. Erddig is about as close as you can get to a virtual "Upstairs/Downstairs" experience. Although Erddig was a private home until 1973, most of the rooms had no electric light. Today the rooms are still kept free of artificial light in order to preserve the centuries-old art and furnishings. As you tour Erddig, if you're lucky, one of the friendly guides stationed around the mansion may show you a bucket. The home's last owner, Philip Yorke, III, used buckets to catch the water that would come in through the aging roof during rainstorms. Another guide might pull you aside and whisper that you should peek under the canopy of the bed next door so you can see the exquisite needlework hidden there. Beside the requisite portraits of its owners, Erddig also features portraits of its servants. The Yorkes treated their servants well, and even wrote descriptive poems about the people who lived on and maintained their property. The tenderness and immediacy in these little tributes is haunting. Exploring the ground level at Erddig, you will find several generations of household appliances, cars, bicycles and farm implements neatly stored in their proper rooms, garages and sheds. Erddig is a working farm to this day. A tool that you may be observing as a one-hundred year old relic today may be out in the field tomorrow. There's a wonderful, good humored spirit to Erddig. You may want to extend your visit by renewing body and soul with lunch at the National Trust-run restaurant. I highly recommend their leek and cheese flan with a glass of rustic Welsh wine, followed by chocolate cake with frosting made using real Welsh butter. You're really going to like the food. The chef for the restaurant at Erddig is a vegetarian gourmet. She knows her way around the local herbs, and insists that only the freshest seasonal ingredients cross her kitchen's threshold. Don't worry if it takes meat dishes to satisfy your taste buds. These are available, and are prepared no less meticulously than the vegetable ones. After lunch, take pictures in the restored 18th century garden, visit the lavish gift shop, where (if it's not too busy) you can have a nice chat with the women who run the shop. My husband and I were "busted" in this shop. Even as we discussed Celtic symbols and Welsh cooking, the perceptive shop lady intoned in the middle of our erudite conversation "You wouldn't be Prisoner fans, would you? " We admitted we were. She said she thought so, since we were on our way to Portmeirion. Long live pop culture! Topping the afternoon with a small cone of homemade hedgerow fruit ice- cream offered from a cart that appeared just in time in the courtyard put the finishing touch on a lovely afternoon. Don't pass up the opportunity to try one of these. You won't be told exactly what the fruits are; but you won't find this ice-cream anywhere else. Following the Sun On our first trip to North Wales in 1983 I couldn't even tell that the landscape included mountains. An impenetrable fog had settled like wet, grey candyfloss upon the countryside. This past May (1996), however, my husband and I, and everyone in the counties of North Wales, could not have been blessed with more benevolent weather. On our first day out in the strangely pellucid weather, we shrugged off our plans (a year in the making!) to make a slow, umbrella'd pilgrimage from manor to castle to chapel. Instead, we rolled back the sun roof of our nifty Ford Scorpio (no longer available. The car was disparaged as having a frog face and faded from production.) and headed for the mountains, valleys and lakes. Along the A5 names familiar from my guidebook slipped past: Plas Newydd. This was the late 18th century home of three uncompromising women. They were called eccentric in their day, but in ours would have been hailed for their uncommon senses of style. Llangollen. This sturdy town is the home of the annual International Music Eisteddfod. Today, Sunday, it is ensnared by the largest traffic jam I'd ever seen in Wales. It is certainly the most well-mannered traffic jam I'd ever seen. (Mind you, I'm a native New Yorker.) Most of the vehicles, backed up for about a mile, belong to motorcycle enthusiasts coming to town for a special event. Ah, there goes the turn off to Rug Chapel. I vowed to return to see its lovingly painted interior. Maybe it was the altitude (we were just on the edge of Snowdonia National Park), but driving under the enormous blue sky made me feel slightly giddy. I felt as if we'd just raided God's cookie jar. Near Druid we joined the A494 toward Bala. A couple of striped sails lingered on the glistening water. I couldn't tell whether they belonged to small boats or windsurfers. Picking up the A4212, the little black Scorpio purred along the smooth road through the thick of hills. Llyn Celyn glittered in the late afternoon sun. The signposts promised enchantments: Trawsfynydd (change to A470 North), Gellilydan, Maentwrog (continuing on the A487 West), Penrhyndeudraeth. The familiar blue-brown waters of the area appeared in the riverbed just below the road. Next stop, Gwynedd, a county that is rich with history and natural beauty. PART 2 Betws-y-Coed A nearby well-stocked mountaineering shop is filled with rock climbing ropes and the shiny tools of the trade as well as the latest in practical out-door clothing in colors and styles you want to be seen in. Between the all-weather parkas, versatile with zip-in, zip-out, zip-up and zip-off choices, and the deep purple and royal blue offerings of polar fleece you can easily kit yourself and your family out for next winter. I don't know about you, but I enjoy practical souvenirs a something that I can really use and will remind me of my visit every time I do use it, rather than something that'll sit on a shelf. Other shops in town carry vast assortments of small gift items. But the real treasures are hidden toward the back of the shops or upstairs away from the more touristy distractions. There are knits, for example, ranging from outrageously patterned pullovers to fine, sophisticated sweater sets (with or without the Chanel- inspired grosgrain) native to Britain or imported from Italy. There are also wool blazers (navy with gold buttons), skirts and slacks, some with pedigree labels. The moral here is don't take any shop at face value. If you get a kick out of shopping, poke past the ticky-tacky, and ask the nearest clerk whether there are any good knits and woolens to be had. It may turn out to be your lucky day! After a little effort I came away with a couple of tunic-length washable wool-blend sweaters (from Celtic Shops) that I have teamed up with leggings and am happily living in, and a creamy soft cardigan in silk and cotton with horn buttons and pockets (from Celtic Woollens). I also added to my pewter Celtic knot accessory collection (at Anna Davies). My husband found a handsome Irish (Thomas Keeling brand) charcoal grey wool crewneck sweater with braided weave detail on the front and a complementary round-nubbed weave design on the back. It was just what he was looking for. And there's more. At one shop, at the register, we found that all the nice, fairly-priced merchandise we were buying was on sale. Sometimes there just is no end to joy. Betws-y-Coed has a few friendly pubs and eateries you might want to try; many of them have vegetarian dishes on their menus. But you might also want to pop into one of their grocery shops and pick up a good sampling of some of the fabulous cheeses you won't find anywhere else but Wales. You'll have your Stiltons and Bries, that's for sure. But there is also an assortment of unique Welsh cheeses, hard and soft, mild and sharp, and flavored with herbs, whisky or laverbread. Keep in mind it's not a bad idea to stock up on a few snacks if you plan to take on a mountain trail later today. The same shops will also have preserves that you might want to take home as gifts. one brand is called Welsh Lady. The label has a color drawing of a lady wearing Welsh national dress. What can make a more appropriate gift? Porthmadog Unfortunately, I didn't spy a single sailor in a saucy hat. Porthmadog's glory days are in hibernation for now. But it's another town in which a curious shopper can come away with an exciting find. Don't go on Wednesday afternoon, however. You'll find many shops in Porthmadog and other towns locked up tight. Porthmadog has several gifts and crafts stores within steps of one another. Some of their items appear to have been salvaged from grandma's attic. You've each heard the saying one woman's trash is another's treasure. Well, I'm not calling anything trash. But I will let you in on a little secret. Sometimes a turned-up treasure can surprise even people in the know. I found in one of the little stores a delicate silver brooch in the shape of a Celtic knot. I bought my treasure and carried it to another shop where I showed it to the saleswoman as an example of what I am looking to buy. She exclaimed the beauty of my little brooch and marveled at the price. My husband had also scored that day buying a pair of silver Celtic knot cufflinks. Besides being a place to find attractive accessories at reasonable prices, Porthmadog is also a good place for finding yourself. There's a stationery store in town called Read and Write where you can find some excellent maps and guide books, for motoring or hiking, such as those put out by the AA (Automobile Association). A word to the wise, if you do see books and maps that you think might be useful, buy them right away. We found Read and Write's variety of books to be exceptional. However, there was only one copy of each. At the Rob Piercy Gallery you can find water colors of local scenes. This is a really neat way of bringing home a little bit of North Wales. Small, unmounted prints can be had for a song, are easy to pack and make thoughtful gifts. Also in town is a Portmeirion shop where you can find among the offerings a large selection of Portmeirion china. Even though Portmeirion itself is only a few miles and a bridge away, there's an advantage to buying your china here. Anglesey James Pringle's offers plenty of Wales-o-bilia including t-shirts and sweat shirts bearing the Welsh flag or just a red dragon. There are cutesy red dragon mugs, ashtrays, kitchen magnets and other nick-nacks, some made of coal. I think the coasters made of slate with cork non-skid bottoms make useful gifts for oneself and friends. In case you're wondering, slate turns out to be excellent coaster material! Nearby is a display of books (in English) on Welsh history, legends and politics. A couple of things I did find lacking here, and in every other bookstore and book department, was a really solid Welsh phrase book with pronunciation for English speakers and a good Welsh-English, English-Welsh dictionary with pronunciation. Beyond the small items, Pringle's stocks woolens to your heart's content. There's even a large selection of pure cashmere products including capes, scarves, shawls and sweaters. Among my finds at good prices were a mohair scarf that has all the colors of a moor at sunset and a wonderfully witchy wool-and-cashmere blend cape (made in the Republic of Ireland). By the way, not all the merchandise at Pringle's is their own brand. You can find woolens and other goods by many other manufacturers here in all price ranges. The golfers in your family will especially appreciate Pringle's with its overwhelming collection of golfers' argy1es: polo shirts, v-neck and cardigan sweaters in wools and cottons and socks. There are even argyle-patterned golf umbrellas. Fear not, the look can be softened with matching solids! You probably will be able to find your own bargains and treasures while shopping in North Wales, too. Besides looking in the shops you might come across a fair or market that will have crafts for sale. Keep your eyes peeled for handmade signs, just like the ones advertising jumble sales in the U.S. Final Words So I have my mission for next time: visit a mill or two. And I will also endeavor to explore the shopping of other North Wales towns we did not get to, such as Llandudno, Bangor and Wrexham. Until then, please let me hear about your experiences in Wales. |
